Well, this isn’t very comforting. A team of aviation analysts called the National Airspace System (NAS) Safety Review Team (SRT), scrutinized the safety records of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and essentially hit the panic button over a surge in “serious close calls” between planes. Without more staffing, equipment, and better technology, the situation is only going to get worse, the analysts said.
The six-member group, headed by former FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, released a 52-page report on Wednesday, that is a shocking wake-up call as to just how much we take our safety for granted when we fly.
“The challenges facing the FAA developed over many years,” Huerta told the media. “There are no easy, short-term fixes for many of these challenges.”
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According to current FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker, the agency will review the report and its recommendations “to help us pursue our goal of zero serious close calls.”
The report shows that the FAA currently operates with approximately 1,000 fewer fully certified air traffic controllers compared to 11 years ago. Hiring plummeted by nearly half during the pandemic, and the agency's training center in Oklahoma City was described in the report as a "bottleneck."
“The FAA has made limited efforts to ensure adequate air traffic controller staffing at critical air traffic control facilities,” the report warns. Staffing shortages were particularly bad in New York and Florida, where flights to the New York City area had to be reduced this summer and fall. Adding to the risk is that more controllers are working overtime, which contributes to more fatigue and less productivity. Another problem is increased absenteeism, which forces supervisors to fill in at the expense of critical redundancy.
This is not a good situation, and sadly, it’s a crisis that won’t be fixed easily or quickly.
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