A House subcommittee heard testimonies this afternoon on challenges faced by U.S. air traffic control (ATC) systems and operators while evaluating risks posed to aviation safety by recent Federal layoffs.
The six witnesses who spoke in front of the House Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation shared insight on a range of challenges facing ATC systems and controllers – varying from staffing shortages to outdated legacy technology and lacking infrastructure – and called for long-term funding support and reforms to ensure safety and efficiency.
“While it is easy to lay blame at the feet of the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] … we also have to look at our own shortfalls,” said Subcommittee Chairman Troy Nehls, R-Texas. “With a finite budget … and unstable funding, the agency is forced into the impossible predicament of having to dedicate vast amounts of money on simply sustaining old and outdated systems, leaving little left over for the capital improvement projects.”
“It is admittedly a technical challenge to modernize a robust system with little to no interruption,” Rep. Nehls continued. “Solving this problem will require the support of all the parties involved. However, if we’re all pulling in the same direction, I have no doubt Congress can rise to the occasion.”
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., the ranking member of the subcommittee, advocated for increased pay and hiring of ATC controllers, pointing out that the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act contains provisions that provide solvency to many air safety concerns, saying that they “must be implemented and not ignored.” Cohen also condemned recent actions taken by the Trump administration to fire FAA ATC controllers and employees.
The FAA, which employs around 45,000 people and is about 3,500 fully certified air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels, recently fired over 130 probationary employees – whom Professional Aviation Safety Specialists told MeriTalk were responsible for the “evaluation, selection, and preparation of navigation maps, routes, charts, procedures, and flight paths.”
The firings fall amid significant slashes to the Federal workforce – efforts taken by the Trump administration and led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to fulfill long-term promises to cut government spending.
“Instead of unleashing DOGE and Elon Musk’s young cronies, this administration should follow through the mandates set by this committee and by this Congress,” said Rep. Cohen. “The Trump administration’s unjustified firing of talented FAA employees, including NATCA [National Air Traffic Controllers Association] and PASS members – the very professionals responsible for maintaining peripheral air traffic control equipment – their firing was a dangerous and unnecessary move.”
“These firings have consequences, and one of them is diminished ability to ensure safety and reliable air traffic,” continued Rep. Cohen.
The hearing follows a fatal midair collision in Washington, D.C., in January and other aviation accidents and near misses that have raised widespread concerns about aviation safety.
“Insufficient staffing not only leads to prolonged restoration times and increased flight delays during outages, but also poses challenges in ensuring adequate shift coverage, as ours is a 24/7 workforce, it creates unnecessary stress on air traffic controllers when alternative procedures are required due to an equipment malfunction,” said Dave Spero, president of PASS.
“FAA, employees who perform vital aviation safety work must remain Federal employees – this is critical for a safe and efficient NAS [national airspace], it’s unfathomable, even dangerous, to consider gambling the future and safety of our air traffic control system through privatization,” Spero continued, referencing Musk’s recent statements that he’s sending his Starlink satellite internet terminals to the FAA while asserting that current technology poses a risk to air travel safety.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has recently said that the FAA will increase controllers’ salaries by 30 percent and will streamline ATC hiring processes – an often-time-consuming process highlighted by witnesses in today’s hearing.
Other recent incidents have also raised the alarm bell after the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system went down early last month – marking the second such disruption since January 2023. The NOTAM system alerts pilots before they fly to closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route.
“FAA manages the world’s busiest and most complex system, its air traffic controllers rely on 138 systems to safely and efficiently [manage] over 45,000 flights each day,” said Heather Krause, the managing director of physical infrastructure at the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Krause told representatives while testifying that the replacement and upgrade of many of the FAA’s systems is required to “help controllers better track sequence and manage flights, ensure more reliable communications with pilots and provide more efficient flight routes, while also enhancing safety to help achieve results.”
In September, the GAO said in a report that over 100 of the FAA’s 138 systems are unsustainable – and that half of which have “critical” impacts on airspace operations.
Among the talk of modernization efforts, telecommunications received a spotlight, with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kan., noting sometimes intelligible audio between ATC controllers and aircraft operators.
Krause assured Rep. Massie that while audio is usually intelligible to trained operators and controllers, improved data communications – which would provide “text-like communications” – is integral to the NextGen effort for modernized FAA systems.
Nick Daniels, president of NATCA, added that improved telecommunications is his top priority, followed by modernized NOTAM systems.
“Right now, an iPad has ten times the amount of information than a controller does at our fingertips when we’re controlling airplanes – it’s antiquated,” said Daniels. “We’re clicking on buttons and quite often not even being able to use it.”
