4 ms·

This is right on point. This issue is squarely on the FAA and they need to provide better guidance to controllers and pilot. Great comment.

toomuchtodo 3y ago
Pilots and controllers who are already in short supply? That’s the problem, the individual actors are helpless in a system optimized against them. Certainly, the FAA is a contributing factor through wages and working conditions leading to controller shortages, but airlines can also do more to better accommodate pilots. This is a system headed to failure, with those responsible not making responsible choices and who won’t be held accountable when failure occurs (hundreds of passenger air transport deaths).
- r00fus 3y ago
  The FAA (and specifically Transport Secretary Buttigieg) hold all the cards here. That they're not doing more to address the issues speaks volumes about the FAA's mission and abrogation of it.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - MBCook 3y ago
    Do they? Congress holds the purse strings, and that seems to be a BIG part of the issue. There aren’t enough controllers (possibly budget). The ones who are are horribly overworked and it’s an ultra-high stress job. Between that and pay they can’t recruit more to ease the burden. But the existing ones are burning out, making things worse. Maybe better equipment could lessen the load, but that’s big money too. Is there a simple rule change that can fix this other than limiting the number of flights? I doubt it.
    - ryandrake 3y ago
      Congress holds the purse strings but FAA makes the rules. And their rules are strict, limiting both populations. There is an ATC shortage and FAA’s rules make it difficult to hire/train enough ATC. There is a pilot shortage and FAA’s rules make it difficult to hire/train enough pilots. We need to either reduce our demand of pilots and airline travel, thus reducing the load on ATC, or train more controllers and pilots. ATC has ridiculous age limits for onboarding and retiring staff, and there are a lot of things (aeromedical and otherwise) that can disqualify your from becoming a pilot. I think they can lighten up and still maintain aviation’s good safety record.
    - zo1 3y ago
      This is just another instance of the long set of Shittification and Shrinkflation happening everywhere, brought about by us holding our collective heads in the sand over the real rate of inflation. I'd bet it's a lot more than the official numbers.
      - addicted 3y ago
        I mean, it’s not? There was inflation. And instead of increasing the budget the FAA’s budget was reduced. At a time when the U.S. Is seeing record air travel. You don’t need conspuracies around real and fake inflation numbers to see how that doesn’t add up.
        zo1 3y ago
        FAAs 3B shortfall in funding is not appearing in the extra cost of running a government. They're "shrinking" or rather "shittifying" the service that the government provides by not hiring enough personnel required.
  - tomrod 3y ago
    Aye. Increasing taxes is basically the only way to ensure the system is funded sufficiently to: (1) hire enough people to perform the ops (2) hire enough people to update and modernize the policy Any other solution that doesn't emphasize building up the human capital is easy to argue against, IMO. You simply cannot draw from an empty well, and you really really don't want text GPTs attempting to land you no matter how well-intentioned the fine-tuning.
    - bruce511 3y ago
      >> Increasing taxes is basically the only way to ensure the system is funded sufficiently Making no judgement either way, its worth pointing out that there are other ways. Firstly one could prioritise this over some other budget item. Perhaps, for example, the military budget (currently 766b) or the TSA budget (currently 11.2b, up 1.6b over last year.) Secondly, one could restore taxes that have recently been cut. While this is indeed a "short term increase" it can also be framed as "a restoration of tax income recently removed." Removed incidentally by a govt that was already running a deficit. Again i make no judgement. All budgeting (at a personal or govt level) is about setting spending priorities. It just appears that safe air travel in the US is not a priority right now.
    - katbyte 3y ago
      Why are taxes paying for ATCs at all? The airports/airlines should be footing the entire bill
      - ExoticPearTree 3y ago
        Because ATC has nothing to do with airports. The only people directly involved from the airports are GND/TWR. APP is not directly related and Centers cover large swaths of territory and just make sure planes fly safe.

toomuchtodo 3y ago

Pilots and controllers who are already in short supply? That’s the problem, the individual actors are helpless in a system optimized against them. Certainly, the FAA is a contributing factor through wages and working conditions leading to controller shortages, but airlines can also do more to better accommodate pilots. This is a system headed to failure, with those responsible not making responsible choices and who won’t be held accountable when failure occurs (hundreds of passenger air transport deaths).

r00fus 3y ago
The FAA (and specifically Transport Secretary Buttigieg) hold all the cards here. That they're not doing more to address the issues speaks volumes about the FAA's mission and abrogation of it.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- MBCook 3y ago
  Do they? Congress holds the purse strings, and that seems to be a BIG part of the issue. There aren’t enough controllers (possibly budget). The ones who are are horribly overworked and it’s an ultra-high stress job. Between that and pay they can’t recruit more to ease the burden. But the existing ones are burning out, making things worse. Maybe better equipment could lessen the load, but that’s big money too. Is there a simple rule change that can fix this other than limiting the number of flights? I doubt it.
  - ryandrake 3y ago
    Congress holds the purse strings but FAA makes the rules. And their rules are strict, limiting both populations. There is an ATC shortage and FAA’s rules make it difficult to hire/train enough ATC. There is a pilot shortage and FAA’s rules make it difficult to hire/train enough pilots. We need to either reduce our demand of pilots and airline travel, thus reducing the load on ATC, or train more controllers and pilots. ATC has ridiculous age limits for onboarding and retiring staff, and there are a lot of things (aeromedical and otherwise) that can disqualify your from becoming a pilot. I think they can lighten up and still maintain aviation’s good safety record.
  - zo1 3y ago
    This is just another instance of the long set of Shittification and Shrinkflation happening everywhere, brought about by us holding our collective heads in the sand over the real rate of inflation. I'd bet it's a lot more than the official numbers.
    - addicted 3y ago
      I mean, it’s not? There was inflation. And instead of increasing the budget the FAA’s budget was reduced. At a time when the U.S. Is seeing record air travel. You don’t need conspuracies around real and fake inflation numbers to see how that doesn’t add up.
      - zo1 3y ago
        FAAs 3B shortfall in funding is not appearing in the extra cost of running a government. They're "shrinking" or rather "shittifying" the service that the government provides by not hiring enough personnel required.
- tomrod 3y ago
  Aye. Increasing taxes is basically the only way to ensure the system is funded sufficiently to: (1) hire enough people to perform the ops (2) hire enough people to update and modernize the policy Any other solution that doesn't emphasize building up the human capital is easy to argue against, IMO. You simply cannot draw from an empty well, and you really really don't want text GPTs attempting to land you no matter how well-intentioned the fine-tuning.
  - bruce511 3y ago
    >> Increasing taxes is basically the only way to ensure the system is funded sufficiently Making no judgement either way, its worth pointing out that there are other ways. Firstly one could prioritise this over some other budget item. Perhaps, for example, the military budget (currently 766b) or the TSA budget (currently 11.2b, up 1.6b over last year.) Secondly, one could restore taxes that have recently been cut. While this is indeed a "short term increase" it can also be framed as "a restoration of tax income recently removed." Removed incidentally by a govt that was already running a deficit. Again i make no judgement. All budgeting (at a personal or govt level) is about setting spending priorities. It just appears that safe air travel in the US is not a priority right now.
  - katbyte 3y ago
    Why are taxes paying for ATCs at all? The airports/airlines should be footing the entire bill
    - ExoticPearTree 3y ago
      Because ATC has nothing to do with airports. The only people directly involved from the airports are GND/TWR. APP is not directly related and Centers cover large swaths of territory and just make sure planes fly safe.