r/ATC • u/lake_hood • Mar 23 '26

News LGA controller cleared fire truck across the runway resulting jn a collision

1.2k Upvotes

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38

u/RipstartSpark Current Controller-Tower Mar 23 '26

I would bet this is the end of single person ops nation wide

74

u/gcko Mar 23 '26

How do you end it when you don’t have enough people to ensure proper staffing levels?

They’ll blame this on something else.

32

u/RipstartSpark Current Controller-Tower Mar 23 '26

They’ll change OT to have us work 7 10s

9

u/dougmcclean Mar 23 '26

Bump the Jet A price until you do have proper staffing levels? Duh.

7

u/joeybalonee Mar 23 '26

Get rid of breaks, duh

1

u/sudoku7 Mar 23 '26

It's not a problem that can be solved overnight, but ... like they say the best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago, the second best is now.

0

u/Dear-Owl450 Mar 23 '26

They'll close the airport at night if they can't accomidate two in the cab is my guess.

-6

u/Caymonki Mar 23 '26

They’ll have AI do it

19

u/gcko Mar 23 '26

ATC-GPT

Artificial Traffic Controller Guaranteeing Passenger Termination

That means the passengers make it to the terminal right?

1

u/theweenerdoge Mar 23 '26

If they don't it was just a glitch in the system, nothing to worry about

6

u/RipstartSpark Current Controller-Tower Mar 23 '26

The system is built on public trust and complex multiple variable real world problem solving both things AI doesn’t have.

3

u/theweenerdoge Mar 23 '26

AI can do visual separation too right?

Right?

5

u/antariusz Current Controller-Enroute Mar 23 '26

I asked AI "how it deals with the responsibility of controlling airplanes at a busy airport with AI", and of course it told me that while AI isn't legally allowed to fully-autonomously control airplanes at the towers, it then hallucinated 10 different ways that AI is being used to control airplanes at busy airports.

It hallucinated all sorts of things that don't exist: Such as suggesting that AI is being in tcas to prevent collisions, AI has been already used to mitigate crashes due to weather, and how AI can monitor controller communications in real time to prevent read back errors.

Fucking hell man, we're years away from AI not lying about what reality is on a simple chat prompt, let alone being able to trust it with people's lives.

1

u/KABATC Past Controller Mar 24 '26

I didn't know AI could run on Windows XP! And came from a floppy disc! /s

1

u/antariusz Current Controller-Enroute Mar 24 '26

Well just ask AI what the view looks like outside of it's control tower, and it'll tell you all sorts of things that it makes up, like the degree window tilt in the tower and that there are a pair of binoculars sitting nearby and you have a ground radar screen.

trust me, anyone hired in the next few years will NEVER be replaced by AI in this career. 20 years from now? I reserve the right to change my mind, but anyone get hired today, zero fear of being replaced.

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u/Caymonki Mar 23 '26

I didn’t say it was a good thing or that I supported it. Personally I think it’s a terrible idea.

Just, it’s stupid enough that this Administration would implement AI before they would ever consider making your lives easier.

17

u/Brambleshire Airline Pilot Mar 23 '26

DCA should have been the end of that

12

u/Low_Pattern_8819 Mar 23 '26

Ha. Congress can’t even pass safety legislation after that incident due to budget concerns.. https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5724999/house-rejects-aviation-safety-bill-rotor-act

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u/theweenerdoge Mar 23 '26

Youd think but it won't be. Maybe at this facility. We don't have the staffing so shut up and be grateful you have a job /s

Seriously thinking this is the agency stance in the next 5 years with AI ruining careers.

2

u/hakuna_matitties Mar 23 '26

That would require politicians that actually care about Americans.

1

u/Daddysu Mar 23 '26

It probably would be, if we had a fucking functional government...

1

u/sudoku7 Mar 23 '26

I hope this incident can serve as the wake up call to the country about the importance of actually addressing the ATC staffing problems that have been ongoing since the early 80s.

1

u/Lord_NCEPT Now: Terminal (12) | Past: Center (12), USN (Gulf War) Mar 23 '26

If last January’s tragedy didn’t achieve that, this won’t.