Hundreds
Air traffic controllers shared those dynamics following an August interview with FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford published by the Washington Examiner. More than 400 individuals who identify as FAA air traffic controllers have privately reached out to the publication since then and warned that the nation’s aviation system has reached a breaking point.
These mounting problems have placed immense pressure on an exhausted, underpaid, and mentally stressed workforce expected to perform flawlessly every time they sit at the controls. The crisis has led to tragic and unprecedented outcomes: insiders note that suicides among controllers are eight times the national average, while tenured employees are increasingly walking away from the agency years before reaching mandatory retirement age.
Law enforcement authorities have charged two men in relation to an incident in which an air traffic controller at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina allegedly had possession of weapons of mass destruction. (AP Photo/The Charlotte Observer, Todd Sumlin)“We work hard every day and take a tremendous amount of pride in what we do,” one controller wrote in a text message. “Most of us are veterans. We have been completely demoralized for the past 5 years while trying to manage the busiest airspace in the world with more airplanes than any other time in aviation.”
Backlash over FAA administrator’s capitalist approach
One controller from the New York Center who retired in August said he chose to leave after more than two decades due to the deteriorating culture.
The retired controller stated that management at his facility focused heavily on keeping controllers on shift longer, a move he says actively endangers the public.
“Controllers are working harder than ever, moving more traffic than ever, and are responsible for a large portion of the country’s GDP but Bedford and (Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy) are literally trying to make (the) job more difficult instead of helping us,” another controller wrote in a message.
“Congress put the raise money in the law in April and left the decision to pay it in the Administrator’s ‘sole discretion.’ The law does not require a single thing from this union,” Wiseman wrote. “He could sign the determination today. The condition he described on camera is one he invented. That is gaslighting, plain and simple. We do not decide whether a facility is open 24 hours. We do not manage scheduling. We do not assign the work. Every one of those is an Agency function, and if the Administrator believes they are broken, he sits in the perfect position to fix them.”
Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford looks on as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks during a news conference on new drone regulations, Aug. 5, 2025, at the Department of Transportation in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)The FAA requires controllers to teach trainees, as well as learn new technology, new procedures, and changes in airspace when not at the controls. Controllers must participate in team briefings and weather briefings. They work, then have recuperative breaks.
The toll of chronic understaffing
The push for productivity stands in contrast with how safety is measured. The National Transportation Safety Board told Congress in February that “research in a simulated air traffic control room showed that extended time on task (over 90 minutes) increased detection latency for complex events such as two aircraft at the same altitude on the same flight path.”
This means every additional minute a controller is forced to work beyond that window drastically increases the likelihood of a catastrophic miscall, making sheer productivity a potentially dangerous metric for success.
Controllers are buckling under the scheduling requirements. Every controller who spoke with the Washington Examiner, alongside more than 100 who sent private messages, reported a long-term trend of getting just four days off per month. Shifts regularly span 10 hours. Instead of working a standard four-day, 40-hour week, controllers are assigned two mandatory overtime shifts per week, forcing them into six-day workweeks that often devastate family and personal life, as well as complicate mental health.
The back-to-back shifts can also hurt sleep cycles. Rather than working stable hours, controllers cycle through chaotic shifts, often working an overnight block and returning to the facility just 10 hours later, only for the following day’s shift to start at a different time of day or night.
An airplane flies over an air traffic control tower at LAX in California. (stellalevi/Getty Images/iStock)Insiders, including retired air traffic controller Dave Riley, argue the leak mischaracterized standard facility practices designed to address worker fatigue, such as the “59-minute rule,” which permits controllers to leave within an hour of their shift’s end if there is adequate coverage.
More than 90% of the nation’s 313 air traffic control facilities were short-staffed as of 2025, according to the New York Times. Staffing shortfalls, created when employees choose to retire early and most trainees fail out, are a leading factor for flight delays, not employees taking sick days, as Duffy has publicly stated. Towers can only manage so many flights at a time with the limited number of staff available.
Data on suicide among air traffic controllers show that in 2024, controllers were eight times more likely to die by suicide than the national average, with 12 deaths reported in that calendar year, according to information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and shared with the Washington Examiner.
“You can tell Bedford to contact us,” another controller wrote. “We have a list of growing suicides. Since he’s so blissfully ignorant.”
Short workers and short in pay
In the next few years, staffing is set to go off the cliff. The FAA’s own projections show 6,900 of its current 11,000 certified controllers will retire by 2028.
A Government Accountability Office study released in January concluded that just 2% of applicants of applicants will become certified controllers, making it impossible to make up for the massive personnel loss ahead.
Hiring was halted during the pandemic because trainees were unable to attend classes due to social distancing, which exacerbated the staffing shortfalls. Last year, the FAA convinced Congress to fund a $12.5 billion overhaul of systems and infrastructure of the air traffic control system, including some money for hiring.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announces a new air traffic control infrastructure plan, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)Meanwhile, Riley said controller salaries remain dramatically behind 2026 levels, adjusted for a decade of inflation into account.
Those salaries are based on location and traffic. Some controllers volunteered their salaries to the Washington Examiner and reported making around $100,000 per year, even after a decade of experience.
“We have 5,000 lives our in hands at a time or a shift,” Riley said. “And we’re making like maybe (a) fifth, maybe (a) third, of what a pilot is making.”
A union but no voice
In 1981, more than 10,000 union members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization organized a strike. Former President Ronald Reagan made the unprecedented decision to fire 90% of unionized air traffic controllers for not returning to work within 48 hours and to permanently replace them with military air traffic controllers.
Today, many controllers are as angry with the union as they are with the FAA and DOT.
Several current and retired controllers suggested that NATCA and its president, Nick Daniels, were treading lightly with the Trump administration out of concern the government could legally decertify the union, as the Reagan administration did.
The union provided a comment from Daniels that stated “controllers have legitimate concerns about staffing, compensation, workload, and mental health (and) continue to perform an incredibly demanding job professionally.”
Daniels, who was elected as union president in 2024, said “a lot of work happens outside the public eye,” adding that NATCA was “engaging” with the DOT, FAA, and Congress.
“We listen, we acknowledge the concerns, and we advocate for solutions,” Daniels said. “Our responsibility is to turn those concerns into action while being realistic about what we can accomplish immediately and what will take time. We are actively working on compensation, staffing, scheduling, workload, and mental health issues. Some discussions are ongoing and involve multiple stakeholders, so we aren’t able to publicly discuss every detail.”
Capitol Hill takes notice
“Air traffic controllers already have one of the most stressful jobs in the country, and new, harrowing reporting shows they are being pushed to the brink by this administration as they work endlessly to ensure millions of people safely get to their destination,” Durbin said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“Reporting shows that their pay increase is being used as a bargaining chip by the Trump administration, they work significant overtime hours, they have to request off a year in advance, they are not receiving access to mental health resources, and the list goes on,” Durbin said.
“Instead of focusing on his ridiculous reality TV show, the Secretary of Transportation should be prioritizing protecting the men and women who are working around the clock to keep our skies safe,” Durbin said.
“Here’s what it boils down to: The presumption, I believe, should be in favor of keeping guns out of a person’s hand if they’re on the list,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin told the Examiner. (AP Photo)Scully, the FAA headquarters and air traffic controller veteran, said he believed the FAA did not respond “because they don’t have any good answers.
FAA LEAVES AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER RAISES IN LIMBO AMID MOUNTING STRAIN ON SYSTEM
“There is no higher priority for President Trump than the safety and security of Americans, and Secretary Duffy has been personally leading the Department of Transportation’s effort to recruit new air traffic controllers and modernize America’s air traffic control system,” White House spokesman Kush Desai wrote in an email. “More controllers and a modernized control system will not only provide relief for these workers, but keep Americans safer in the skies.”
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مشاهدة hundreds of air traffic controllers come out against faa and natca
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