At a House hearing yesterday (March 4), the chairman of the body’s subcommittee on aviation said, “For a country that considers itself the gold standard in aviation safety…we must do better.” Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas referred to 105 of the FAA’s 138 systems that were reported as “unsustainable or potentially unsustainable”—a condition he described as “unacceptable.”
The hearing saw lawmakers pressure aviation organizations on the U.S. air traffic control systems, citing a “broken” hiring system, aging infrastructure and staffing shortages. Nehls said as part of his opening statement, “While it’s easy to lay blame at the feet of the FAA, and their project management is certainly not blameless, we also have to look at our own shortfalls.”
Also testifying at the hearing was Paul Rinaldi, a 30-year FAA employee who served half of that time as an air traffic controller. He said, “We are not the gold standard anymore. We are not even on the world’s podium.”
Incoming Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy supports expanding the hiring and retirement age envelope for controllers. Nehls said the current mandatory retirement age of 56 is “ridiculous.” He added, “I think it’s age discrimination in many, many ways. And I don’t understand why we have it.”
