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How to fix the controller shortage?

Nothing new here -- everybody in the business knows the problems, but nobody seems to have a feasible solution that Congress will fund. Duffy says he'll announce his on Thursday. I'm waiting to be impressed by both his solution and Congress' willingness to fund it without the usual conversion of good meat into indigestible sausage.
 
And just when you thought the "privatize" discussion was over, here comes two of the biggest jerks in aviation, complete with the typical "private pilots are the problem" BS. Maybe the airlines you ran shouldn't have scheduled 90 flights per hour into JFK and other airports that couldn't handle the flow:

viewfromthewing.com

Bob Crandall Slams Private Pilots And Congress For Blocking Vital Air Traffic Control Reform: 'I'm Ashamed' - View from the Wing

Opening the interview, Crandall shared how he got into the airline business (at TWA in 1966). His wife thought that if someone was going to pay him more money, and it was going to mean she could jet off to Rome, that was a good thing. Crandall eventually became President of American in 1980 and...
viewfromthewing.com viewfromthewing.com

Lather, rinse, repeat, mixed with the typical airline arrogance, "all our delays are the fault of private pilots"...

...F them.

Fly Safe!
 
And where do they think their pilots come from?
 
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Greg Bockelman said:
But. . . Weren’t they supposed to get their back pay once the shutdown was over?
Click to expand...
While I don't know the specifics of the people in the post above, I can speak as a former FAA employee that if you are deemed "essential / mission critical" not only do you not get paid during the shutdowns, you are also NOT allowed to be out for any reason. That includes sick leave, annual leave, etc. I always considered it extremely unfair that the politicians that caused the problem continue to be paid, but the people powerless to do anything about it got punished. I had the means to pay the bills and wait it out. Many others did not. They left so they could make money elsewhere.
 
If Congress doesn't feel that controllers are important enough to preemptively provide pay during the next shutdown, then apparently they really shouldn't need to come into work when they're not getting paid.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
But. . . Weren’t they supposed to get their back pay once the shutdown was over?
Click to expand...
Yes. And my daughter-in-law who works for the State Department got her whole back pay in one deposit the Friday after Congress approved the bill to reopen the Government. But my kids are fortunate enough that they could live off my son's pay until the back pay showed up. I suspect some controllers living paycheck-to-paycheck (the American Way of Life) were not able to do that.

That said, while I understand no vacation or other elective days off in such a crisis, telling a controller to come to work when s/he's not fit for duty or even contagious seems a really bad idea from a safety perspective.
 
Aeromot said:
If Congress doesn't feel that controllers are important enough to preemptively provide pay during the next shutdown, then apparently they really shouldn't need to come into work when they're not getting paid.
Click to expand...
I agree, but it doesn't work that way. It's a career ender to not show up.
 
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