Summary
The Trump administration emailed air traffic controllers urging them to quit and accept buyouts 24 hours after a fatal Reagan plane crash.
At 8:30 p.m. Thursday, the email urged federal employees to pursue private-sector jobs, offering pay incentives and vacation benefits while on government payroll.
This program contradicts established rules by allowing second employment, sparking union concerns about losing experienced personnel amid an air traffic controller shortage.
Trump blamed previous administrations for safety issues and misrepresented FAA standards, intensifying culture wars as officials remain uncertain about the buyout program’s future.
In an apparent attempt to ignite the culture wars and further discredit the FAA, Trump falsely claimed that the agency’s website lists individuals with “hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism” as “qualified” applicants for the air controller position, CBS News reported.
Wait. Wait…
and dwarfism
Okay. Everything in his claim is wholesale made up, but what could possibly be wrong with an air traffic controller having dwarfism? There is nothing inherent about that condition that should preclude a person from being able to do this job. Many ATC coordinate flights traveling through Class A airspace, which is way up in the stratosphere, using computers. They might need a higher seat or something to reach the controls, but that’s it.
Trump genuinely thinks air traffic controllers just stare out windows all day, doesn’t he? And because he says this, now ignorant people will be imagining that their plane is coordinated by a little person in a tower, standing on their tippy toes.
And missing extremities? Are we against employing disabled veterans? I thought we loved the military?
Oh you mean the “suckers” and “losers”?
Trump genuinely thinks air traffic controllers just stare out windows all day, doesn’t he? And because he says this, now ignorant people will be imagining that their plane is coordinated by a little person in a tower, standing on their tippy toes.
Given that Airports were key to our victory over the British literally a century before Airplanes were invented… Probably
If their aim is to kill as many Americans as possible, they are doing a superb job. By that metric, Trump is the best president of all times.
Ah yes, just what we need right now… FEWER controllers in an industry that’s already short-staffed, and with two very recent fatal plane crashes. Perfect fucking idea.
You know what, fuck it. I hope they quit. Let’s accelerate this whole bullshit to its conclusion as fast as possible. Seems to me the only way through this fascist hellscape is by pissing off enough people to provoke a popular response.
Accelerationism is the stupidest idea ever. Shit being fucked is the natural state of things, and if you just let it slide, it will gradually come to it and stay there forever.
A lot of people had this attitude in Russia. Let the evil guys run the country to the ground, and then rebuild into a better structure. This will happen, I think, the only problem is that can take decades and millions of people dead in the process. No suggestions here, just a note…
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Given the persistent and extreme understaffing of air traffic controllers it wouldn’t take that many quitting at the same time to have a massive impact.
What do the think is going to happen? Privatize air traffic control? Or just rank the economy so bad they buy everything up?
That has already been suggested by his minions. Let the airlines manage everything. Including baggage and body checking.
Oh god, the very idea…
He could totally intend to privatise ATC. They’re already halfway done with privatising education, and there’s no need to even mention healthcare.
Well the cynic in me says “to undermine the public trust in the safety of air travel so people become more isolated, unwilling to organize, and dependent on either corporate-controlled media or gasoline-powered cars to maintain contact with any part of the world outside a 20-mile radius,” and the nutjob conspiracy theorist in me sure thinks he could make a convincing corkboard out of it if you gave him enough thumb tacks and red string, but once again I could be making the mistake of assuming they’re going into this with a plan and not just flailing wildly to make it look like they’re addressing a problem they have no idea how to solve.
just flailing wildly to make it look like they’re addressing a problem they have no idea how to solve.
Yeah, rumor goes this started because the FAA had issues with Starship blowing up and raining debris, and Musk deciding to teach them a lesson.
It’s more that SpaceX has consistently lied on the forms that it gave the FAA, EPA, etc and have been cited multiple times. (See the saga about the blast deflection plate and the deluge water being industrial runoff they were letting drain into the nearby protected wetlands)
The starship exploding thing was a proverbial slap on the wrist and Elon still threw a fit.
The thing is that the Starship issue really isn’t that big a deal. There is always an FAA investigation after every spacecraft or aircraft flight anomaly.
It’s not the first time and definitely won’t be the last that a craft will fail to get to orbit, especially experimental ones like Starship units current iterative form.
The bigger question with the Starship anomaly is whether the active flight routes in that area during the launch window were normal or unexpected. Closer to the launch site there are large restricted areas, and launches are negotiated ahead of time and paths well known. Planes aren’t normally under the direct flight path for that exact reason.
Close all the exits.
That is one angle. Hmm.
US can into theocratic Stone Age.
Just get ChatGPT do it or something
How does it go again? “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity”
The fact that they are using these tragic events as a means to dismantle the government even more quickly is horrifying to watch from the other end of the pond.
What’s the old saying…
Never waste a crisis
Or something like that?
Never let a good crisis go to waste.
Chaos is a ladder
I see that Trump is trying to reduce US carbon output by drastically reducing commercial air traffic, either by simple lack of air traffic controllers or by making the public too scared to fly! Quite the environmentalist! /s
You first.
he probably caused all this and is just blaming everyone else again
That’ll help
Reply all… Likewise
