There aren’t enough new air traffic controllers being trained and hired, so the ones landing your plane may be sleepy. That’s bad for you, because air traffic controllers keep planes from crashing. From CNN:

Fatigued air traffic controllers contributed to four aviation mishaps in recent years, and may have been a factor in last year’s Comair crash that killed 49 people, according to federal accident investigators.

The investigators are calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to revise work schedules and take other actions to prevent controllers from becoming tired on the job.

“Controllers are absolutely more tired now than they have ever been, and it’s because they are forced to work overtime. This is an understaffed system, and the FAA is lying when they say it’s not,” said Doug Church, spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

What? Nobody wants to land planes when they grow up? —MEGHANN MARCO

NTSB: Air controller fatigue contributed to 4 mishaps [CNN]
(Photo: JohnKit)

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