Originally published at: https://avweb.com/aviation-news/house-funding-bill-boosts-faa-budget-backs-hiring-2500-controllers/
House lawmakers unveiled a government spending package that would raise the FAA’s budget to $22.2 billion in FY 2026,
Does this bill include anything to attract better qualified candidates for those controller jobs to address the staggering washout rate in training?
Is the DEI hire mentality and people pushing it dead and Buried? Otherwise it’s a useless waste of funds. Another idea, hire GA pilots that are IR. The way things were before the PATCO fiasco.
If they turn the money over to the same people who have either created the problems that exist today, failed to address them, or denied they were problems, the results will be the same as they have been. That includes DEI, NextGen wasting billions and producing very little value in return, increasing management and administration positions, and a myriad of other bad decisions. Not to mention the difference between hiring 2,500 controllers or hiring 2,500 candidates to train to become controllers and getting about 1,250 controllers, not accounting for retirements and resignations in the current workforce along the way. Simply throwing money at the problems will not resolve them, although it will take money but invested wisely for once.