Drunk and Asleep on the Job: Air Traffic Controllers Pushed to the Brink

This is not new, I've seen this story pop up fairly often over decades. Once every while there's an incident, and a story such as this comes out.

This is sort of the nature of an industry that doesn't shut down regularly, and must be manned. Planes fly, and someone must direct them, at all times.

I work in rail, and it's the same story. A number of us who control trains and train traffic work long hours every day of the week, because someone _must_ be there. You can't just, at the end of eight hours say "time to go home," if the next person doesn't show. That "next person" is now you. This is how it works in _any_ full time operation.

All parties take advantage. While I can not speak for Air Traffic Control, my job, as many American Industries, have realized the benefit of having too few people. Few employees means lower costs in many cases, for example here's the first search hit on helping an employer figure it out [1]. With ever rising costs, some employees are more than willing to work overtime to make ends meet. So, the employer saves costs by hiring fewer people and relying on those who want to make overtime.

The problem is that neither side knows "when to quit," and the cycle continues to feed itself. No one wants to resolve the problem because it's mutually beneficial to most involved.

IIRC it got so bad at FDNY at one point they had to come up with some regulations, however I can't find a source at this time to back it up.

1. https://www.atlasprecon.com/hiring-another-employee-vs-payin...

How long has the Times been putting these “live” portraits in feature stories?

I like the idea, it’s certainly engaging. But the portrait video of Neil Burke, for example, has an uncanny valley vibe despite obviously being a real person.

I find it hard to believe the FAA cannot recruit enough controllers. Why not start recruiting and training in high school to capture talent early?