It’s Past Time To Privatize Disaster-Plagued Air Traffic Control
This is no way to run a critical piece of national infrastructure, and it treats the controllers as political leverage.This is no way to run a critical piece of national infrastructure, and it treats the controllers as political leverage.Democrats' shutdown is about to make catching a flight a lot harder
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Tuesday that if Democrats keep the government shut down, there could be serious repercussions for air travel as air traffic controllers — those directing over 44,000 flights and more than 3 million airline passengers daily — are being spread thin and overworked without pay.
"You will see mass chaos. You will see mass flight delays," said Duffy. "You'll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace because we just cannot manage it."
'Asking them to go without a full month's pay or more is simply not sustainable.'
Duffy's warning evidently fell on deaf ears. Democrats have, after all, made explicit their intention to use Americans' pain and inconvenience as political "leverage." A senior Democrat aide even indicated last month that the party will not concede short of "planes falling out of the sky."
Citing air traffic control personnel issues and the need to keep American skies safe, Duffy announced on Wednesday that the Federal Aviation Administration will be reducing air traffic by 10% across 40 "high-volume" markets starting on Friday.
Despite his recent initiatives to recruit, train, and retain air traffic controllers, Duffy indicated that the fruits of such efforts take years to fully manifest and that at present, the FAA is still 2,000 controllers short. The government shutdown greatly compounds the impact of this underlying staffing problem as the existing workforce is spread thin, overworked, and paid nothing.
While air traffic controllers received a partial payment in early October, Duffy indicated that they haven't been paid since, prompting some controllers to take second jobs.
RELATED: Trump uses tariff revenue to protect poor mothers and kids hurt by Democrats' shutdown
"Our air traffic controllers, and a lot of those who work at DOT but throughout government, they haven't received paychecks," said Duffy. "Many of these employees, they're the head of household. They have their spouse at home. They have a child or two or three, and when they lose income, they are confronted with real-world difficulties in how they pay their bills."
Nick Daniels, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said in a statement on Friday, "For this nation's air traffic controllers, missing just one paycheck can be a significant hardship, as it is for all working Americans. Asking them to go without a full month's pay or more is simply not sustainable."
'We are not going to do anything that will compromise the safety of air transport in the United States.'
"During the shutdown, these professionals are required to oversee the movement of the nation’s passengers and cargo while many are working ten-hour days and six-day workweeks due to the ongoing staffing shortage, all without pay," continued Daniels. "This situation creates substantial distractions for individuals who are already engaged in extremely stressful work. The financial and mental strain increases risks within the National Airspace System, making it less safe with each passing day of the shutdown."
Bryan Bedford, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, noted that a recent deep dive into National Airspace System data revealed both "issues of fatigue" among controllers and pressures building in a way that if left unchecked could impact air safety.
"The data is telling us we need to do more, and we are going to do more," said Bedford.
"We're going to look for a ratable reduction across these 40 markets over the next 48 hours," said the FAA administrator.
"We’re not going to wait for a safety problem to truly manifest itself when the early indicators are telling us we can take action today to prevent things from deteriorating."
While the FAA has not released the final list of airports that will have their capacity cut, a source provided a proposed list to CBS News naming the following airports:
- Anchorage International (ANC)
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL)
- Boston Logan International (BOS)
- Baltimore/Washington International (BWI)
- Charlotte Douglas International (CLT)
- Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International (CVG)
- Dallas Love (DAL)
- Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA)
- Denver International (DEN)
- Dallas/Fort Worth International (DFW)
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (DTW)
- Newark Liberty International (EWR)
- Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International (FLL)
- Honolulu International (HNL)
- Houston Hobby (HOU)
- Washington Dulles International (IAD)
- George Bush Houston Intercontinental (IAH)
- Indianapolis International (IND)
- New York John F. Kennedy International (JFK)
- Las Vegas Harry Reid International (LAS)
- Los Angeles International (LAX)
- New York LaGuardia (LGA)
- Orlando International (MCO)
- Chicago Midway (MDW)
- Memphis International (MEM)
- Miami International (MIA)
- Minneapolis/St. Paul International (MSP)
- Oakland International (OAK)
- Ontario International (ONT)
- Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)
- Portland International (PDX)
- Philadelphia International (PHL)
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX)
- San Diego International (SAN)
- Louisville International (SDF)
- Seattle/Tacoma International (SEA)
- San Francisco International (SFO)
- Salt Lake City International (SLC)
- Teterboro (TEB)
- Tampa International (TPA)
"If the pressures continue to build even after we take these measures, we'll come back and take additional measures," continued the FAA administrator. "We're trying to be prescriptive, surgical, put the relief where the relief will do the most good, but again, we are not going to do anything that will compromise the safety of air transport in the United States."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday, "We want to reopen the government so we can resume travel in the safest and most efficient way possible, especially as we head into the busiest travel season."
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Iranian spy manages to infiltrate FAA, become US citizen
An Iranian spy managed to worm his way into the Federal Aviation Administration and even became a U.S. citizen even though he previously served in a foreign military organization associated with terrorism.
On Wednesday, Abouzar Rahmati, 42, pled guilty to acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the attorney general as well as conspiracy.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Rahmati frequently interacted with high-ranking Iranian officials between December 2017 and June 2024, passing along critical information regarding American aviation infrastructure without authorization.
During his scheme, Rahmati worked as an FAA contractor, a job that granted him "access to sensitive non-public information about the U.S. aviation sector," the DOJ said. Rahmati also obtained "open-source and non-public materials about the U.S. solar energy industry" that he then passed along to Iranian leaders.
Rahmati 'lied' to US officials about his past military experience to secure work with firms that contract with the federal government.
While working for a federal contracting company, Rahmati downloaded at least 172 GB of data, including "sensitive" documents about the National Aerospace System and its airport surveillance radar networks. He then sent this data to members of the Iranian government on their orders in April 2022, the DOJ claimed.
That same month, he sent his brother, who lives in Iran, similar materials about "solar energy, solar panels, the FAA, U.S. airports, and U.S. air traffic control towers" with the understanding that his brother would pass along the information to Iranian intelligence, the DOJ added. Once again, he did so under the direction of the Iranian government.
Court documents claimed Rahmati "applied for multiple positions with private companies and U.S. government entities that would afford him access to sensitive information."
The documents reiterated that "at no time" was Rahmati ever in a diplomatic or other official position that would have made such communications at least reasonable. He also never notified the U.S. attorney general that he intended to act as an agent or official of a foreign government.
Considering his background, it is a wonder that Rahmati managed to secure employment positions with access to such critical American information. Rahmati was born in Iran and earned an undergraduate and a master's degree in technology-related fields from the University of Tehran.
From June 2009 until May 2010, he was conscripted to serve in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian military and counterintelligence group that the U.S. government designated to be a foreign terrorist organization in 2019. He eventually rose to the rank of first lieutenant.
According to court documents, Rahmati "lied" to U.S. officials about his past military experience to secure work with firms that contract with the federal government.
When he moved to the U.S. is unclear, though he did earn a master's of science and a Ph.D. from an American university, court documents said. The news of his conviction comes as liberals across America bewail the revocation of student visas for foreign natives who express hatred for the U.S. or who otherwise align themselves with terrorist organizations.
Rahmati is now a naturalized U.S. citizen residing in Great Falls, Virginia.
With his guilty plea, Rahmati faces up to 10 years in prison for acting as a foreign agent without prior notification to the attorney general and five years for conspiracy. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 26.
H/T: The Post Millennial
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'Blood spattered': FAA air traffic controller charged with assault for alleged fight inside DC airport's control tower
A Federal Aviation Administration employee at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., was arrested for an alleged physical altercation inside the air traffic control tower, according to reports.
Damon Marsalis Gaines, 38, has reportedly been placed on administrative leave. Gaines faces assault and battery charges in connection with the alleged incident inside the air traffic control tower at the D.C. airport.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has been in the headlines for multiple air traffic emergencies.
Politico reported that officers with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority responded to an incident on March 27.
Citing a source, the Daily Mail reported that a couple of on-duty air tower controllers got into a "blazing argument before one threw a punch at the other."
"By the time the brawling colleagues were separated, there was blood spattered over a control console, according to our insider," the outlet reported.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority confirmed the incident to Fox News.
Details about what triggered the altercation remain unclear.
“The employee is on administrative leave while we investigate the matter,” an FAA spokesperson said.
The union representing air traffic controllers declined to comment.
Gaines did not immediately respond to a request for comment by CNN.
It is not immediately clear if Gaines has an attorney.
You can watch a "CBS Mornings" newscast video of the alleged air traffic control fight at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport here.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has been in the headlines for multiple air traffic emergencies.
On Saturday, a kite reportedly struck a United Airlines plane while it was approaching the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Last week, a Delta Air Lines plane nearly collided with an Air Force jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
In January, there was a mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines plane just south of Reagan National that killed 67 people — the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster since 2001.
A recent National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report revealed there were 15,240 “close proximity events” between commercial planes and helicopters near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport between October 2021 and December 2024.
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Senators grill aviation leaders over 15,000 close calls at DC airport before deadly collision
Senators on Thursday grilled several aviation leaders during a hearing concerning the January midair collision between an America Airlines commercial jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that resulted in the deaths of 67 people.
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, cited a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board in his opening statements, noting that the agency’s investigation found thousands of close-call incidents near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport over a three-year period.
'Specifically, even since the crash, certain safety measures that could have been simply implemented still have not been.'
“Sixty-seven lives that were lost on January 29 were taken prematurely in an accident that by all indications should have been avoided,” Moran stated.
He called the statistics in the NTSB’s preliminary report “alarming.”
“In a 13-year period, not a single month went by without at least one ‘close call’ between a helicopter and a commercial jet operating at DCA,” Moran continued. “Between October ’21 and December ’24, there were 85 incidents where the lateral separation between a commercial jet and helicopter was less than 1,500 feet and the vertical separation was less than 200 feet.”
The NTSB’s report stated that during the same period, of the 944,179 operations, 15,214 were considered “near midair collision events” between commercial planes and helicopters. The report defined those close calls as instances where two aircraft were “less than 1 [nautical mile],” or roughly 6,000 feet, of lateral separation and “less than 400 ft” of vertical separation.
The NTSB also found that “a helicopter operating over the eastern shoreline of the Potomac River would have about 75 ft of vertical separation from an airplane approaching runway 33, and this distance decreases if the helicopter is operated farther from the shoreline.”
Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB, told senators, “There’s virtually no margin of error.”
Chris Rocheleau, the Federal Aviation Administration’s acting administrator, was pressed about how the agency failed to address the safety concerns.
“How did we get to this point?” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) asked Rocheleau. “It’s like it’s a series of errors here.”
“What office said this is a safe pathway in agreement when the NTSB is telling us today it never really was safe? It was an intolerable risk,” she stated.
Rocheleau explained that the airspace was redesigned several times in the past.
“When you talk about how did we get there, I think we’re going to learn more of that through the investigation,” he replied.
Rocheleau stated that the FAA’s air traffic system requires “modernization as soon as possible.”
“I can assure to the flying public: to fly is safe. We have the safest, most complex system in the world, and it is safe to fly. I would also say the air traffic system is in dire need of upgrade,” he said.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) questioned Brigadier General Matthew Braman, the U.S. Army aviation director, about a controversial policy that allows flights to operate with the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, a key safety system, turned off.
“I find that shocking and deeply unacceptable. And I want to encourage the Army right now to revisit that policy and to revisit that policy today,” Cruz told Braman. “I can tell you, if the Army chooses not to, I have a high level of confidence that Congress will pass legislation mandating that you revisit the policy.”
Family members of the victims also attended the Senate hearing.
Dailey Crafton, the brother of 40-year-old Casey, a husband and father of three who died in the collision, told the Daily Caller that he was “surprised” by the safety lapses.
“Specifically, even since the crash, certain safety measures that could have been simply implemented still have not been. Accountability is still not being taken by parties who should be held responsible,” he said.
Tracy Brammeier, a partner at Clifford Law Offices, which is representing the families, stated, “The failure to share details about near-midair collisions, or to perform trend analysis on the history of such incidents, or otherwise take action to address the high number of occurrences is completely unacceptable.”
“All entities who failed to take action must be held accountable to the victims’ families and to the flying public,” Brammeier added.
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