On Wednesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy raised the possibility of extending the mandatory retirement age for air traffic controllers, citing concerns over ongoing staffing shortages.
As an airline pilot having flown into the major east coast airports I asked myself, would I be able to keep up the rapid fire communications for a shift. No thanks, the relaxed atmosphere, positive climb, gear up, flaps raised and on to our cruise altitude was welcome as we slipped the surly bonds of earth.
And therein lies the problem. Rapid fire should not be a part of communication. Clear, understandable communication should be the focus, not rapid fire, how fast can I mumble out something only the mumbler can understand.
So you suggest they speak very slowly so each communication takes twice as long?
Was your comment supposed to be a criticism, in support of the retirement age, or just a snipe that seems to be common these days
As a retired controller of 29 years, age 56 is too young to retire. In my case at Denver TRACON, I was forced out at 56, and within 3 months was being begged to come back to work as a contract instructor for Raytheon, teaching 20 somethingsâ how to work traffic in a lab setting,before turning them loose on live traffic, and of course, at about a 3rd of the pay. I did that for 3 years.
Iâve said for a long time that other than Police, Fire Fighters and military no government worker should be able to claim retirement pay until they turn 65-67 like the rest of us stuck with SS. Itâs BS that Iâve paid into SS for 50 years and Iâm still having to delay collecting my SS to increase the payments. On the other hand we have people living off the taxpayers and retiring in their early 50s and collecting from the taxpayers the rest of their lives. Retire whenever you are ready, collect retirement at 65 like the rest of us lowly taxpayers.
As long as theyâre proficient they should be able to remain as a controller. Itâs the pinnacle of hypocracy that a major airline pilot has to retire at 65 (or a controller at 56) based on government mandates yet we have politicians who are approaching 90 and still making decisions that affect millions of Americans.
I could not have said it better - why is it that a person who enjoyed the job security and incredible benefits of a government job can retire after a mere 20-25 years when the rest of us in the private sector toil well into our 70s to make ends meet? I live near Fort Braxton Bragg, NC, and am surrounded by all these very wealthy, very young, government retirees. I grind my teeth daily watching them enjoy a lavish lifestyle at my expense while driving my 28 year-old truck to my business making parts for airplanes I will never be able to afford, but some guy with only 20 years wearing a government-issued camo uniform at his / her desk job can. Thank goodness for DOGE!
Thereâs a serious problem in societies like Canada and the US of assuming people are very deficient after a certain age, when reality is that bodies and minds vary widely. There are fit and capable 92 year olds, and 50 yo vegetables.
The Peopleâs State of B.C. scapegoats elders by requiring medical examination every two years after age 85 when the high accident rate is with young drivers, boozing middle agers, and motorcyclists - inexperience and attitude and psychology are the causes.
A lesser practice is medical advice to take a medicine or vitamin after age 50, a lazy approach.
For ATC controllers, managing stress could be a challenge at any age, oldies are less prone I presume.
There are however physical deteriorations such as âfine motorâ ability, that brain and eye surgeons need to watch for. And a loss of mental ability to move the right control in a hurry.
I donât know if musician are limited by such.
Iâm retired from 35 years of ATC, some Navy ,some contract work and then FAA. Iâm also a private pilot. I was grandfathered in the FAA to continue past 56 to 59.5 to complete my full 20 years of service. The 56 retirement age is derived from decisions and reasoning from many decades ago and I feel it isnât perfect and should be adjusted. The Science is of aging better and there are acuity tests available if needed, also monthly or quarterly monitoring/critiquing of controller performance is required by management anyway! Most senior controllers have the repetition of the down pat and have the mental acuity necessary to continue ahead in their career if needed or desired at 56. At 59.5 I felt like I was in great shape mentally, still had the passion and was highly capable when I was forced to go. Letâs Make some changes or accommodations to the work force, keep bad sh*t from happening due to lack of experience and keep some good willing folks contributing.
Why are airline pilots perfectly fine to fly until 65, but controllers have to retire nine years early? It makes no sense.
Maybe a controller doesnât have to work in JFK until he retires. Thereâre plenty of less busy airports and centers.
Like most government unions, the ATC union is out of control.
Some airports , you can work until you drool all over the radar or mike. Some, by the time you hit late 40s, you are feeling the stress of rapid decision making all day and can actually feel you self slowing or hesitating and just donât want to be doing it any longer. One size doesnât fit all. I was 48 sitting at the ORD Tracon, six days a week. I realized i needed to back out to a slower place. Did so and retired at 58 with 38 years total and a last few as a sup staff manager kinda guy.
Controlling live traffic is a young manâs game at major airports. As people age they absolutely slow mentally. The physical aspects of the job (mostly the unpredictable working hours and mandatory overtime) contribute to this decline. If you were actually a controller you should understand the âold guysâ just werenât as fast to react as the young ones. The old guys relay on experience and seeing how others handled situations; but when something new happened they are plainly slow to adopt. Do you think slow reaction times is a good or bad trait for a controller.
Something no one has mentioned yet is why/how controllers deteriorate mentally and physically faster than the general population. Do you know their typical work schedule? Do you think you could handle this for 25 years and still be as sharp at 56 vs 25? The below work schedule is assigned by the FAA at 90% of facilities the last 15 years.
Day one : scheduled 3p-11p. Traffic is delayed so they require you to stay til midnight.
Day two : (get up at 7am to take kids to school) c work 1pm-10pm.
Day three : work 8am - 4pm. (Finally get to have dinner with your family)
Day four : work 7a - 3p , but thunderstorms roll in and they keep you working til 5p. (Wow, another family dinner tonight, Iâm 2 for 4 so far!)
Day five : some people would have gone in yesterday on day 4 at 10pm til 6am for the overnight shift. Some people work 530a - 130p.
Day six : Opps! Your facilities short staffed like most , the FAA is 3000 controllers short. So you are required to work on your âSaturdayâ at any shift time management wants to assign. Looks like you are yet again not having family time. Whomp-whomp. Your spouse is forced to yet again do everything.
Can you keep this insane sleep schedule and family schedule up for 25 years? It takes an unbelievable toll on you. You work holidays and birthdays. You work nights and days.
Regular 9-5, weekends and holiday off people just donât understand how taxing this is.
Right you are. I finally went to adm hours my last eight years. I had no idea how much I had missed during my first 30 years. I hated the thought of having to give up shift work, until the end of the first week of normal persons work hours.
Quite a few remarks here from non-career controllers who do not have a clue about the incredible physical and mental toll the job takes over the 25 or more years that most of us have worked. I gave 32 years and nine months of dedicated service to the government and the American people, and am proud of it. Every one of my colleagues, retired or still active, either have done, or are still doing the same. Try keeping track of 20, 30, or sometimes 50-100 aircraft in severe weather, all with 50, 75, 100 or more passengers and crew trying to get where they want to go as quickly and efficiently as they all can, all while ensuring their routes are correct, making last minute changes when necessary and assigning a different runway if required, etc. Many of my retired colleagues, as well as myself, are continuing that work as instructors, at a fraction of what was our normal pay, at some of the worldâs busiest airports or radar facilities, to help keep the pipeline running. On the flip side, many of my colleagues have passed away at a very young age as a result of the physical and mental stresses put on the body by the job. Some have had heart attacks as soon as they retired. Some have had strokes. Bottom line, before you go bashing the retirement rules for ATC, put yourself in our position. Even if just for one day.
(The following says it all: This is not my own, but it is extremely accurate. )
In case yâall forgot
The person that is an Air Traffic Controller.
First of all every one of us probably has some type of ADHD.
The job often sucks - Even for those of us who love it - We canât imagine doing any other job
We are not appreciated by anyone outside of our profession
We hold more lives in our hands in one average shift than a medical doctor does in his whole career
Pilots donât understand us or even listen sometimes but they rely on us to save them when they need us and will probably never say thank you
Everything we say is recorded
We have to be prepared to defend every word we say in a court of law should the unthinkable happen
We are responsible for knowing more rules than humanly possible and those rules are subject to daily change
We carry around in our heads the equivalent amount of data as the average metropolitan phone book
We donât have time to look anything up
We arenât allowed to make mistakes
We receive more training than physicians
We canât make our âclientsâ wait in a waiting room until weâre ready for them
We are always in control - We control everything in our environment
This affects our personal life in ways that a non-controller cannot fathom
Our spouses will never understand us or what we do and we canât bring the job home, but it is always with us - Most controllers have been married and divorced several times.
We all have crash dreams - We control traffic in our sleep
We never have to worry about a foot-high inbox when we come into work
We canât put an airplane back in the inbox to deal with later
We take extreme pride in the quality of our work, no matter how negatively the FAA, the media, and some politicians portray us
We arenât able to tolerate a read-back error at a drive through restaurant - We have a lack of tolerance for miscommunication
Indecision is unacceptable in any scenario
We didnât invent the âMooney spikeâ but we see the effects of it every day
We donât get bathroom breaks whenever we need them; we learn to hold it until we get a break
There is always something that needs to be done right now
We get grumpy when we donât have enough airplanes to keep us busy - We get grumpy when we have too many - We are the only ones who know where we draw this invisible line between the two
We love gallows humor
We expect people to say what they mean and mean what they say, everything in life is either black or white, there is no gray
We can drink a hotel bar dry in about two hours. We can drink our weight in Jim Beam as long as we are at least 8 hours from our next shift
We use anticipated separation when we drive
We canât understand people who donât know how to calculate speed differences to hit gaps on the highway
There is something âoffâ about ALL of us
We are not allowed to treat our depression or anxiety with FDA-approved medicine, or even admit out loud that we suffer from either, we will lose our jobs if we do
Most of us look 10 yrs. older than our age and act 10 yrs. younger
We know all the different variations of the word âstressâ
We are drawn to extremely dangerous pastimes
We will eventually be on blood pressure medication
We donât know what normal sleep patterns are
Weâre not allowed to use sleep aids
We work in the middle of the night and on Christmas and weekends and your birthday
We will never have ânormalâ days off - let alone a ânormalâ work schedule.
We will never have a regular social life
We canât participate in our kidsâ school activities
Our friends wonât understand that we canât just leave work or get off work or stop thinking about work
We are not âDisney-friendlyâ
People think that we are the guys on the ramp with the flashlights and that we get to fly for free
We make more money than you do, but you have the house and the cars and the vacation home and the time with your family - We have the clothes, the watch, the sunglasses, and the attitude
We are fluent in three languages: English, Acronyms, and Cursing
We speak all three simultaneously and loudly
Controller candy comes in two flavors: TUMS and Ibuprofen.
When a cold or flu strikes we just suck it up 'cause we canât take OTC cold medication without being medically disqualified
We are brutally, ridiculously, ruthlessly hard on each other
We have thick skin
We will be the last person a pilot talks to on this earth
We will hear the terror in his voice
We will calmly use every tool we have to bring him down safely
We will hear his screams when we canât
We will never forget it
We will relive it again and again
We will go right back to work the next day and do it again
We arenât allowed to cry
When one of us fails we will laugh at him
When one of us succeeds we wonât acknowledge it
We can chew gum, drink coffee, carry on a conversation with the person behind us, work our airplanes, and coordinate with the controller next to us, all at the same time! We can multi-task like you would not believe.
We donât have time to pat ourselves or each other on the back - We have airplanes to work.
No, you cannot imagine the stress
I gave up reading after the first paragraph. Cry me a river Dan⌠cry me a riverâŚ
Thatâs fine. You are free to choose. The choices we make define our character in this life.