By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two U.S. senators called on Wednesday for increased funding and staffing for Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control after a fatal midair collision in the nation’s capital last month highlighted the persistent lack of aviation safety personnel.
Senators Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, and Republican John Hoeven in a letter first reported by Reuters urged the FAA to work with Congress and the controllers to increase funding for operations, modernize facilities and equipment and expand the FAA training academy’s capacity.
The January 29 collision between an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter killed 67 people near Washington Reagan National Airport in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years.
“For the sake of America’s traveling public, we can and must do better,” the senators wrote. “At a minimum, we must commit to doing all we can to reinforce our (controller) workforce and keep tragedies like this from becoming commonplace.”
The senators noted the FAA is currently more than 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels and nearly all control towers have staffing shortages. FAA controller staffing has been relatively flat in recent years and is down 10% from 2012.
The senators said Reagan National’s tower has 25 fully-certified controllers, below the targeted 30.
“As in many places across the country, (Reagan’s) controllers often work six-day weeks and ten-hour days,” the senators wrote. “The fatigue and stress that they regularly experience as a result of this substantial workload will only grow worse unless we take significant and long overdue measures.”
The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last week he was reconsidering rules that allowed air traffic control supervisors to reduce staffing before the fatal collision.
Duffy noted before the crash, two air traffic control positions were consolidated for helicopters and aircraft.
“We’re going to pull that authority back to make sure that we have the right policies in place inside our towers to make sure when you fly you’re safe,” he said.
Duffy said the FAA was using antiquated technology to oversee flights.
He also plans to soon announce steps to surge more air traffic control training and applicants. He could also call for new incentives to keep retirement-eligible controllers on the job or propose to extend the mandatory retirement age for controllers, which is 56.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Jamie Freed)
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