Words From a Former NTSB Chairman 

Jim Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, wrote the following about the air traffic controller staffing crisis in an article that appeared in the Tuesday, October 30, 2007 edition of the Tennessean:

"Air-traffic controllers leaving"

"For example, the air-traffic controller staffing crisis has industrywide consequences, including more and longer flight delays and an increased use of mandatory overtime that results in an exhausted and burned-out work force.

"According to the National Air Traffic Controller Association, there were 856 retirements in fiscal year 2007, (7.4 percent of the controller work force), leaving the country with both a 15-year low in the number of fully certified controllers and a surplus of new hires — many with no air-traffic control experience or education.

"Moreover, a lack of adequate funding and implementation of the FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System, a technology upgrade scheduled for 2025, will only add to the risks in this field."

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