Security experts are 'losing their minds' over Trump's latest plan to solve FAA staffing crisis

[Doctoris Extincti]

10. Worth recalling is that one of the causes for the current shortage is that a large age-cohort of controllers is retiring

Since they were all hired at the same time in starting in 1981 when President RayGun fired over 11,000 striking ATC workers. He also banned them from any Federal job for life. At the time there were about 14,000 line-controllers (as I recall)

It was a disaster for the controllers union (which was decertified by Labor Relations Board). It was a very difficult time for those of us who were pilots at the time. Many of us feel that the level of access NEVER actually recovered from this. It took many years before ATC reached the same level of professionalism as that prior to the firings. However ATC emphatically DID achieve this

Now these folk are all timing out at the same time. GOP decisions are a Gift that Keeps on Giving