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It seems amazing to me that you could replace all the air traffic controllers in one day with no impact on service. I mean even if military ATCs are available and qualified, it seems like you wouldn't have the numbers, and it seems like the kind of job where you would need a significant onboarding to learn the specifics of the airport where you're working

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There was an impact on service. I can't remember the levels (I was 10), but I'm sure someone must have studied it somewhere. It would be a really interesting piece of history to dig into and dissect.

There was an impact at the time, and there was a somewhat lesser, but still quite serious, impact a few decades later, as all the new hires reached mandatory retirement age in the same narrow window of time. There's still something of a cycle there which will be recurring.

i’m guessing one or more of the following happened 1) the traffic was not back to 100% instantly and they ramped it up over a longer period of time 2) they offered the people that were fired the option of temporarily keeping their job while they figured out their “new careers” 3) they started training asap and they also relaxed some of their standards/requirements when it came to hiring.

It probably was not as swift and badass as it’s portrayed now.

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