Along with all of the other sycophants and acolytes, Transporation Secretary and Reality TV Star Sean Duffy was at the Dear Leader cult session. At that time, he reported on how he’s trying to fix the FAA which he and Trump had broken a couple of months ago. He started his spiel with the uplifting message that they broke things so badly that people will be dying because of it:
SEAN DUFFY: It’s looks like it’s not 1980’s. old computers floppy disks. We’re using copper wires, not fiber.
NEWSMAX ANCHOR: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sounding the alarm that the outdated air traffic control system is in desperate need of an upgrade. Duffy is warning that the aging infrastructure is the reason why you may see delays and cancellations at the airport, even concerns about some of the close calls and potential crashes. The program coming under even more intense scrutiny after that American Airlines flight collided with an army helicopter near Washington, D C. Seventy people were killed that day. Something the Trump administration says could have been avoided if the system had been modernized. House Republicans now proposing 15 billion dollars in funding to overhaul the system that would include creating state-of-the-art facilities with artificial intelligence and fiber optic cabling and transportation
Secretary Duffy also rolling out some new policies to try and hire new air traffic controllers and keep those who are already working on the job graduates. If they complete the initial training will get a $5,000 bonus and controllers who defer retirement. Which is the age of 56 will then earn a 20% bonus is for every year they stay the FAA says it’s on pace to hire 2000 new controllers this year after announcing a 30% pay raise, but it is still short of about 1000 workers to be considered fully staffed across all 300 facilities.
It’s interesting that some in the administration is still trying to blame the aging equipment for the American Airlines tragedy. They went over 15 years using that same equipment without a major airline accident. They also had already found that the air traffic controller staffing was not nominal at the time of the accident and they had one controller doing the jobs of two people.
Duffy needs to explain how firing all the probationary staff because of their gender or the color of their skin and then having to hire all these new people with an added $5,000 signing bonus is saving money and being efficient. Because any way one looks at it, his math is not mathing correctly. And while he’s at it, I would love for him to explain how he is going to get around the mandatory retirement age.
I just hope that Duffy’s pronouncement that people are going to lose their lives and not a self-fulfilling prophecy.