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Comment by Avicebron | Hacker News Reader

Ok? So we have tons of US citizens who want to be in high-skilled high-paying professions, bring more people into training programs and staff them? I assume people working high skilled high wage professions spend more on things like housing and food and other things -> economy boost. Where is the hangup?

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The hangup is that the current administration is asking them to resign en masse, not hiring more.

> the current administration is asking them to resign en masse, not hiring more

While they did initially receive the resignation memo the Office of Personnel Management clarified that Air Traffic Controllers aren’t eligible for the resignation offer nor subject to the hiring freeze. [1]

1. https://apnews.com/article/jet-helicopter-crash-air-traffic-...

> Office of Personnel Management clarified that Air Traffic Controllers aren’t eligible

I'm curious to know if this OPM policy was there was there from the beginning, or whether it's a backtrack after the 'bad optics' after the Washington, DC, crash.

> or whether it's a backtrack after the 'bad optics' after the Washington, DC, crash.

Either way you have a plan that wasn’t well thought through or thoughtfully executed. Having said that, at least they’re not (ultimately) directly tempting understaffed critical workers to quit although one wonders which functions haven’t had a plane crash moment.

Avoiding politics completely, so the FAA has been systematically understaffed for decades because of this current administration?

> Avoiding politics completely, so the FAA has been systematically understaffed for decades because of this current administration?

The former FAA administrator was pushed out (by Musk) after one year of a five-year term. FAA employees were encouraged to resign (https://www.opm.gov/fork).

The current (or previous) administration is not to blame for the current situation, but the current administration is certainly causing a lot of uncertainly and chaos unnecessarily.

What kind of competent person would aspire to be FAA administrator when your career can be ruined by some butthurt CEO who just donated enough to a political campaign?

The current admin no, but the current party yes. Politics cannot be ignored because this is the result of downstream effects from the Reagan era.

Firing everyone during the 1981 strike fucked up hiring for a decade. Rehiring a bunch of people all at once meant that they all would have the same general retirement timing (20-30 years). The bush era had some fucking around with the FAA as well.

COVID accelerated retirements and now Trump is demanding the fee that remain retire as well. So naturally the end result is a complete lack of staffing and a poor training pipeline for a job few people want to do.

Are they? Or is Elon running around without a chaperone doing whatever he wants because the white house team is still getting moved in, unpacked, and shoving out as many EOs as humanly possible?

Why would I be an ATC, the fourth most stressful job in the nation, when I could have better working conditions and/or pay in a number of other professions?

No degree required, relatively great pay, and some people thrive under that kind of stress

Well we look at it objectively (as a country whatever) and say, hey, here is a pain point with potential for engineering excellence. And then engineer our way to a place of superiority. Basically mandate that the cost of air travel/traffic (for EVERYTHING) is calibrated to be able to support the infrastructure it relies on? Top heavy corporate structures (aka cutting corners for profit) pretty much only ends one way and that's with people dying.

I have to imagine there are a lot of people who not only thrive at this career path but love it. Have you heard the famous one at JFK tower whose always cracking some joke but runs a very very tight ship?

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