Overtaxed and unpaid air traffic controllers are resigning “every day” due to stress from the government shutdown.
“Controllers are resigning every day now because of the prolonged nature of the shutdown,” Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, told CNN.
“We hadn’t seen that before. And we’re also 400 controllers short—shorter than we were in the 2019 shutdown.”
Air traffic controllers are federal workers, which means they are part of the approximately 730,000 federal employees working without pay since the shutdown began on Oct. 1.
“Uh… attention all aircraft in the vicinity of JFK… ChatGPT Tower’s got this under control… mostly… just, uh, maintain separation and good vibes.” 😅
“Flight 4131 to tower, do I have clearance to land safely?”
“That’s a great question!”
“That’s a great question! You are definitely clear to land with no other planes in sight!”
“Uh are you sure? I can see another plane on the runway.”
“You’re totally right! I did not account for the other plane on the runway. You are clear to land now.”
Holy shit this is accurate
Probability says yes.
You absolutely do!