Trump Admin Emails Air Traffic Controllers: Quit Your Jobs
www.thedailybeast.com
Federal employees were told they could use their paid time off to explore “dream destinations” before quitting.

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.

  • ultranaut@lemmy.world
    103·
    18 hours ago

    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.

    • athairmor@lemmy.world
      34·
      18 hours ago

      What do the think is going to happen? Privatize air traffic control? Or just rank the economy so bad they buy everything up?

      • slickgoat@lemmy.world
        3·
        6 hours ago

        That has already been suggested by his minions. Let the airlines manage everything. Including baggage and body checking.

        Oh god, the very idea…

      • silly_crotch@sh.itjust.works
        2·
        8 hours ago

        He could totally intend to privatise ATC. They’re already halfway done with privatising education, and there’s no need to even mention healthcare.

      • goldteeth@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        311·
        17 hours ago

        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.

        • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
          18·
          17 hours ago

          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.

          • WalnutLum@lemmy.ml
            3·
            3 hours ago

            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.

          • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            9 hours ago

            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.