Current and former air traffic controllers have raised concerns about the Federal Aviation Administration’s hiring practices and “immunity program.” They are doing this in connection with issues that may have contributed to the recent midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Let’s be reminded of history here. In December 2013, thousands of students who had participated in the FAA’s Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI)—a program designed to prepare individuals to become Air Traffic Control Specialists—were notified that their previous scores on the AT-SAT, a cognitive and skills-based test, would no longer be considered. Instead, the students would now be required to pass a biographical survey. If they passed the survey, they could then retake the cognitive portion of the test, Just the News reported.
Why was this done? To quote sources from that time, “too many white people were passing the test.” This effort was part of the Obama’s administration’s effort at equity, that is, having equal outcomes regardless of the merits of such an approach.
Most applicants did not realize at the time that the biographical “survey” would be used to eliminate qualified white applicants. The direct result of this effort was that less qualified controllers were hired and a staffing shortage appeared that has progressively gotten worse. Some airports are chronically short of ATCs. Students, who had aspired to be ATCs, who had passed the qualifying tests, were not hired solely because of the color of their skin.
A 2023 report warned the FAA that air traffic controllers were increasingly making last-minute flight adjustments due to traffic and staffing shortages, raising safety concerns. The report highlighted quality-control issues and staffing deficits in America’s air traffic control system. The number of near misses was growing.
Then there is the “immunity” program. Currently ATCs are not held accountable for mistakes they make. Many believe this contributed to the January 29th collision between an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter which killed 67 people.
Michael Pearson, a former FAA air traffic control specialist with over 26 years of experience, told Just the News on Tuesday that the ATC at Reagan International failed to follow proper procedures. He explained that there was a conflict alert on the radar, giving the air traffic controller “27 seconds to do something.”
“When a [conflict alert] goes off, you take immediate action,” he said.
While the media largely seems to blame the crew of the Army helicopter for the crash, Pearson believes that the air traffic controller (ATC) is primarily at fault. Pearson advised that the controller “didn’t tell the jet that the helicopter was in sight,” despite being “required to, and didn’t give safety advisories” when the conflict alert sounded.
Is this a direct result of the hiring practices begun during the Obama administration? Isn’t it past time that we returned to using merit rather than equity to determine who should fill a job?