Summary
Trump is firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees despite recent fatal air crashes, CNN reports.
The AFL-CIO says terminations were issued Friday, with affected staff possibly locked out of FAA facilities after Monday.
Aviation safety union PASS calls the cuts “dangerous,” especially after four deadly incidents in the past month.
Critics argue these moves risk public safety amid ongoing air traffic controller shortages.
It’s worth noting that during President Obama’s eight year administration, there were no fatal accidents involving major commercial airlines in the U.S. And under a month of Trump we’ve had how many? Lost count.
As an aviator with a degree in aviation I can honestly say this. It’s a miracle it’s taken this long for something this bad to happen. No administration, from Regan onwards, has done anything about the ATC shortage (nothing effective anyway). I’m friends with controllers, I’ve been to several ATC facilities, what they do everyday is a fucking miracle. While it’s easy to point at the DC crash and the other subsequent crashes and say “see, Trump did it” the truth is far more nuanced and systemic than that. Also, in my opinion, the DC crash is 100% on the helicopter pilots.
Is what Trump doing now going to help the situation? Fuck no. We need more controllers. Better pay, better benefits, and more slots at the ATC academy.
As if the shitty Boeings they are allowed make aren’t enough to cause crashes.
I propose having no covfefe available to neither pilots nor controllers. Also, all airplane flight alarms should call the pilot derogatory names.
That would help things tremendously. We are looking for ways to improve chaos right?
The DC crash is interesting. Have you seen this video? https://youtube.com/watch?v=1IUJpRwzHZU
Seems like there were several factors. But we’ll need the black box analysis to know more.
The Helicopter pilot was certainly in the wrong place, but from their point of view, it’s understandable why they were in the wrong place.
The question is, did the controller give clear guidance?
And would a second pair of eyes on the situation have helped?
The Helo pilot said the words “traffic in sight…” In the world of aviation that is you saying “I am taking responsibility for traffic separation”. The controller isn’t in the cockpit, the controller has no choice but to take the pilot at their word. The pilot then followed that up with “…request visual separation.” Which is an even more assertive way of saying “I know what I’m doing, I am responsible for separation”. He said it twice. The ATC system is built on multual trust in eachother and professionalism.
The question “did the controller give clear guidance” is moot. The pilot took responsibility for traffic separation. At that point ATC is not responsible for traffic separation. If I want ATC to take responsibility for my safety I say “(Plane call sign) is looking for traffic” then ATC tells me desend, turn, speed up, slow down, etc…
Of course, but the AmeriKan attitude is do more with less.
…The Capitalist attitude… FTFY. This isn’t an exclusively American problem.
He did change the rules for trains tho allowing much longer trains. That required electronic braking systems. He didn’t make that mandatory and gave the companies 14 years to install them. He allowed the companies to force their employees to work longer hours. He was certainly responsible for the Palestine disaster. (the chemical accident not thre genocide)
The Norfolk Southern crews nicknamed 32N as “32 Nasty.” They knew a derailment was inevitable.
Tbf, I think it was just the 1 in DC. There was a military one and a small aircraft as well, but only one involving commercial airlines to my knowledge. Still, the number is embarrassingly high.
Was the military exercise being done in DC when the helicopter crashed being done as part of a normal schedule, or at the request of the Trump administration? From what I understand it was an excercise for having to potentially evac the white house
Also, the one in DC really sounds like a fuckup by the helicopter crew. The ATC warned the helicopter crew about the incoming plane twice and the helicopter crew indicated both times they saw the plane and were maintaining visual separation (watching the plane and keeping their distance).
There were none under Biden either if I remember correctly.
True. Even under Bush there was only this one incident in 2001.
You give trump too much credit.
Four deadly crashes so far
And it’s only been a month.
And I’ve barely heard about the other three. It took us barely any time to treat plane crashes as we treat mass shootings.
It’s not that uncommon for smaller or private planes to crash, I think partially due to private pilots not having as much training and experience as commercial pilots, and the fact that smaller planes probably aren’t as stable in turbulent weather. Pretty sure the one in Alaska had more to do with the weather than traffic controllers. We tend to only hear about the small crashes when they have famous people on board.
How many are there usually?
Well good to know ahead of time to not fly for the next eight years.
Damn. Didnt think Trump would be the president to curb airline emissions but he just might.
The Gang Fixes the Climate Crisis
It will take more than 8 years to repair the damage done so far.
Confirmed - American aviation is now unsafe. American trains are now unregulated and their safety compromised. I guess it is time to find pleasure in the little things in my home city again.
Back to the all time American classic, the automobile. It’s both what made America great and awful all in one useful machine.
Can’t even make the trains run on time.
Insane corruption, with Musks well documented hate for the FAA. He bought an election and I’d wager a large part of it was for this reason alone.
Interesting to be cutting oversight during a time when Boeing was having so much trouble with its planes.
I mean did you see what oversight did to share prices?
Oversight didn’t do that; fucking up the manufacturing did that.
Yes, in reality. But in oligarchy fantasy land, it’s regulations that get in the way profits.
I mean, regulations do get in the way of profits. It’s just that the profitable behaviors being outlawed by regulation are the ones that create harmful externalities, and it’s only in oligarchy fantasy land that they’re entitled to cause others harm for their own benefit.
Four deadly crashes and it hasn’t even been a fucking month yet.
Basically, it would be safer to fly over Ukraine and fucking Russia. An over worked and stressed ATC is higher risk than a bunch of drunk Russian bastards manning a SAM battery.
LOL US planes are even crashing in Canada now. I think the invasion attack just started. Defend yourself!
🤡
Blyat!
WCGW
Great idea
No room in his senile agenda for any variables
