Did we really need something else to worry about??? (Part One.)

I suppose if I thought about it, flying would make me nervous. After all, there you are, tens of feet in the air in a long skinny metal can loaded with highly-flammable jet fuel. And at any given time there are about 10,000 other long skinny metal cans loaded with highly-flammable jet fuel sharing air space and runways with yours. 

And yet, I've never - despite having an immense fear of heights - been nervous flying. 

But maybe I should be. 

Or at least when it comes to the bit where you're taking off or landing. 

This after reading a December NY Times article on how air traffic controllers (ATCs) are being pushed to the limit. The article created a fair amount of buzz when it was published, with a ton of focus on (rare) instances of drunk or stoned controllers falling asleep on the job. But it's the overall picture, the "glaring vulnerabilities," that are pretty grim:

In the past two years, air traffic controllers and others have submitted hundreds of complaints to a Federal Aviation Administration hotline describing issues like dangerous staffing shortages, mental health problems and deteriorating buildings, some infested by bugs and black mold. (Source: NY Times)

Sure, they can make pretty good money - the median salary in 2022 was $132K - but it's a highly pressured, high stakes job, that has ATCs spending "hours a day glued to monitors or scanning the skies," which sounds absolutely dreadful. One thing to be glued to monitors when your tasks are varied. Another to be staring at the same old, same old. ATCs are working 10-hour days, 6-days a week. The facilities they work in are often old and deteriorated. Broken elevators mean climbing hundreds of stairs to get to the "office." Etc.

The result is a fatigued, distracted and demoralized work force that is increasingly prone to making mistakes, according to a Times investigation....

While the U.S. airspace is remarkably safe, potentially dangerous close calls have been happening, on average, multiple times a week this year, The Times reported in August. Some controllers say they fear that a deadly crash is inevitable.

"Significant" issues are up 65 percent over last year, while air traffic itself was up just 4 percent. "Significant" incidents are things like having one plane turn into the path of another, or bringing in a plane too low 

As with pilots, many ATCs experience mental health problems associated with job stress. As with pilots, many don't want to risk jeopardizing their jobs if they report mental health issues. 

Instead, many are taking early retirement or just deciding it's just plain time to find a new line of work. 

The lack of ATCs is nothing new.

Ever since the Reagan administration replaced thousands of striking controllers, the agency has struggled to keep pace with waves of retirements. The problem grew worse during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the F.A.A. slowed training of new controllers.

Yet another thing to thank Ronald Reagan for.

For the current fiscal year, the F.A.A. sought $117 million to train controllers and hire 1,800 new ones.

But all these new hires are only projected to produce "a net increase of fewer than 200 controllers by 2032."

Overall, over the past decade, we have fewer ATCs dealing with an increase in air traffic. By some measures, "99 percent of the nation's air traffic control sites are understaffed."

I don't suppose that Boston's Logan is among the 1%?

Just what we needed: one more thing to worry about.