(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

OPINION

Imagine that your job is controlling a stoplight. You work five days a week, usually ten hours a day, carefully switching signals. Now imagine not just one traffic light, but 60 or 70 around town, that you are controlling simultaneously. On top of that, once or twice a month - on short notice - you work an extra 10-hour shift, because there simply aren’t enough folks trained to operate stoplights.

That, roughly, is the position we find ourselves with air traffic controllers across North America. Flying has rarely been more unsettling than today. It matters little that technology has delivered the best jets ever to get people from place to place, or that the airline unions and management teams say everything’s fine.

Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport - the world’s busiest - has more that 2,700 flights taking off and landing every day. And while Atlanta has the record, all major airports in the U.S. and Canada are busy. There are almost ten percent fewer air traffic controllers today than a decade ago…while the number of flights has increased nearly ten percent.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General reported that 77 per cent of vital facilities are understaffed, falling below the Federal Aviation Administration’s (F.F.A.) 85 per cent threshold. The New York Terminal Radar Approach Control and Miami Tower - two of the most critical sites - have staffing levels of 54 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively.

Regardless of the city…most major airports are underserved by air traffic controllers. If we’re underserved in a restaurant it might be inconvenient. But restaurants don’t crash…killing everyone.

Increasingly, air traffic controllers are found asleep when they should be watching screens…or under the influence of alcohol or drugs…or simply so stressed they suffer from physical and mental illnesses.

Being an air traffic controller has always been a pressure-packed job. After all, they are responsible for the safety of thousands of people every shift. Then, they go home and deal with the same issues life throws at all of us…paying bills, raising kids and all that’s entailed in coping day to day.

If ever there was an accident waiting to happen…it might be airline safety. Millions of flights a year…flying around and through all kinds of weather…and often close enough to each other that you can see passengers aboard other aircraft.

Make no mistake, these folks are vulnerable. Airline safety is always a major concern…as it plays a roll not only in business and commerce…but in national security. Don’t get me wrong…flying in the U.S. and Canada is safe. Indeed, accidents and fatalities have been trending downward in Canada for a decade.

But the reality is, unless the problems with air traffic control are addressed, a disaster looms. There have been seven instances of sleeping on the job and five instances of controllers working under the influence of drugs or alcohol reported in 2022 and 2023…and likely more unreported.

Even the system of keeping us safe seems flawed. For one thing, if an air traffic controller complains of fatigue - not to mention mental health issues - it’s tantamount to volunteering for dismissal. Realistically, who brings up an issue at work that might get them fired?

This year there have been numerous close calls…often two or three every week. From Sept. 30, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2023…there were 503 “significant” air traffic control lapses in the U.S., according to the F.A.A.…a 65 percent increase over the previous year. The number of flights increased just four percent during that period.

Canada - plagued by flight delays and cancellations for much of 2023 - is in better shape than the U.S. The Canadian Air Traffic Control Association (CATCA) represents 1,900 people who work at Canadian towers and area control centres, and seems to be protecting the flying public and those who direct traffic by addressing issues like wages, the balance of work and rest of life, job security and working conditions.

Canada recruited and started training 400 new air traffic controllers last year. The premise is simple: It makes sense that overworked air traffic controllers will eventually make a serious error in judgment. The new controllers will make the skies safer.

But the U.S. has work to do. The F.A.A. plans to hire and train controllers…but just 200 more in the next nine years. The U.S. hasn’t had enough controllers since President Reagan fired 11,345 striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association in 1992.

I admire and respect technology and how it benefits us every day. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit unease about knowing that the person directing air traffic when I’m flying might be having more bad days than good days, and which is it today?

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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