Air Traffic Controllers' Mental And Physical Health Is Dangling By Thread

Photo: Rafael Cordero (Getty Images)

The aviation industry has dealt with severe personnel shortages since the start of the coronavirus pandemic back in 2020. Specifically, continues to be a dire need for air traffic controllers. The New York Times spoke with current and retired air traffic controllers to illustrate how awful the present situation is for overworked employees and the risks it poses to the general public.

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The current landscape has controllers racking up overtime to compensate for understaffing in facilities that are crumbling around them. The Times reports that the number of certified controllers fell over nine percent over the past decade while overtime hours have tripled. A Florida controller told the newspaper about how harsh working conditions in one of the most mentally taxing jobs in the country have impacted his coworkers and himself:

There was the close call caused by the fatigued controller, which occurred in April. And in a confidential safety report last year, a Jacksonville controller described hyperventilating and struggling to stand after two hours of directing heavy plane traffic.

“We have recently had a heart attack, multiple panic attacks (including my own), people losing their medicals due to depression and some that just outright quit the F.A.A. because it has gotten so bad,” the controller wrote. “Who knows how many other stress-induced physical and mental issues are happening that we don’t even know about yet,” the controller added. “This place is breaking people. We need help. I’ll say it again, SOS!!”

While close calls and near-misses have been in the headlines, less attention has been given to where controllers work. They have to monitor traffic for 10 hours per day and six days per week at locations that could hardly be described as being maintained.

In interviews as well as safety complaints to the F.A.A. and NASA, controllers reported deteriorating workplace conditions. Elevator malfunctions forced employees to climb hundreds of stairs to reach the towers. Bees and biting flies harassed controllers who were directing traffic. Faulty air-conditioners left control rooms alternately broiling or freezing. One employee at a facility in Texas had to take in lightbulbs from home.

“The age and condition of F.A.A. facilities and equipment are elevating system risk to unsustainable levels,” the National Airspace System Safety Review Team wrote in its November report.

Unsurprisingly, there have been reports of air traffic controllers falling asleep on the job as well as showing up for work under the influence of drugs or alcohol. There isn’t an end in sight with the recent FAA hiring push expected to have nearly no impact on staffing numbers due to the rigorous training required for the mentally taxing job.

The full piece from the New York Times features countless testimonies from controllers about how the failing system has provoked a mental and physical health crisis.