This is on Donald Trump
There is a reason why the mandatory retirement age for Air Traffic Controllers is 56. Being an air traffic controller is one of the most stressful occupations in the world. There are so many souls to take care of. Lives hang in the balance, and in this particular job, even one error could cost many lives.
However, the Trump administration does not seem to care about these precious lives. Nor do they seem to care about the stress of this job. “Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he plans to extend the retirement ager for all air traffic controllers.”
Surprised? I’m not. The mandatory age for retirement will now go up to 61 years. This is just not a good idea at all. There have been many problems with the aviation industry since Trump and Musk took over the federal movement: plane crashes, things falling out of the sky, blackouts at Newark International Airport, and so on.
It all amounts to one big mess—Trump’s mess. These are Trump’s blackouts, Trump’s air crashes, and most definitely, this raising of the retirement age is a bad idea. The issue is that the airports are understaffed, not enough people are going into air traffic control, and of course, there’s DOGE, who, as you might recall, thought it a fantastic idea to lay off aviation workers, air traffic controllers included.
When people have to work double shifts, and when people are overused and overextended, the risk of burnout increases. It also increases the risk of mistakes happening. This does not appear to matter to the Trump administration, although it certainly should.
It’s a pity that our president cares more about the grift than the lift — the lift of exquisite machines created to soar high above us, and safely and efficiently get people where they need to go. Sadly, the “safely and efficiently” part seems to be missing in Donald Trump’s plans.
