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Which is why our (ATC) pay is becoming not worth the job which is why good controllers are quiting or retiring early, and there are lower quality applicants who

Which is why our (ATC) pay is becoming not worth the job which is why good controllers are quiting or retiring early, and there are lower quality applicants who wash out of the academy, their facility, or skate by until they nearly kill hundreds of people (see the recent Austin airport incident where a plane nearly landed on a Southwest plane, or other incidents that don't make the news that I can't mention without doxing myself), all while pilots are getting 40% raises. I hope your TCAS is working. Rasie our f***ing pay. Opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the Federal Aviation Administration. (I'm close to retirement eligibility, so instead of working until I'm 56 - the mandatory returement age, I'm going to retire sooner. Because there has been a struggle to hire an adequate number of controllers over the past decade or so, no one is really going to replace my vacancy which causes shortstaffing and everyone else to be that much more overworked, but when the FAA does fill that spot, it will be by someone who is not as good because people who would be better will be attracted by better salaries and work-life balance in other jobs.)

SoftTalker 2y ago
How much does technology assist today's air traffic controller? I'm wondering how close we are to having the ATC function completely automated?
- meowster 2y ago
  Another user made a good analogy in a recent thread, and they said something to the effect of: it's like self driving cars, the computers can do 99% of it when conditions are perfect, but it's the 1% that can't be programmed that has life and death impact. Or like a coworker said: a monkey can do our job 99% of the time, it's the other 1% where we earn our pay. If I had a M-F/9-5, I wouldn't have the same issue about the pay, however there are 15,000 controllers across the U.S., and none of them have a M-F/9-5. If the U.S. airspce was restricted to M-F/9-5, then our economy would grind to a halt, billions if not trillions would be lost in productivity, our military would be tied with its hands behind its back, etc. --- I used to recommend ATC as a career for people, not anymore. I've heard of other controllers telling people that they convinced to become ATC that they're now sorry that they did. When talent leaves, and talent recomends to other talent to choose a different career, there's going to be problems down the road. The adoption of technological advancement over the past several decades in U.S. ATC has been abysmally-slow, I'm afraid it won't make up for the brain drain. Pay a little more money now while there are still good controllers that can train future good controllers, or pay a lot more in other ways later when the talent is gone and can't come back. Opinions are my own and not necessarily that of the Federal Aviation Administration.

SoftTalker 2y ago

How much does technology assist today's air traffic controller? I'm wondering how close we are to having the ATC function completely automated?

meowster 2y ago
Another user made a good analogy in a recent thread, and they said something to the effect of: it's like self driving cars, the computers can do 99% of it when conditions are perfect, but it's the 1% that can't be programmed that has life and death impact. Or like a coworker said: a monkey can do our job 99% of the time, it's the other 1% where we earn our pay. If I had a M-F/9-5, I wouldn't have the same issue about the pay, however there are 15,000 controllers across the U.S., and none of them have a M-F/9-5. If the U.S. airspce was restricted to M-F/9-5, then our economy would grind to a halt, billions if not trillions would be lost in productivity, our military would be tied with its hands behind its back, etc. --- I used to recommend ATC as a career for people, not anymore. I've heard of other controllers telling people that they convinced to become ATC that they're now sorry that they did. When talent leaves, and talent recomends to other talent to choose a different career, there's going to be problems down the road. The adoption of technological advancement over the past several decades in U.S. ATC has been abysmally-slow, I'm afraid it won't make up for the brain drain. Pay a little more money now while there are still good controllers that can train future good controllers, or pay a lot more in other ways later when the talent is gone and can't come back. Opinions are my own and not necessarily that of the Federal Aviation Administration.