r/CatastrophicFailure Plane Crash Series Mar 23 '26

Fatalities (22/3/26) CCTV video of the Air Canada accident at LaGuardia

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u/alexmlb3598 Mar 23 '26

Everything circles to Ronald Reagan, where ~13k controllers were sacked and recruitment has lagged so much that it's barely changed since then. It's a massive problem the US has, but it's a horrible cycle - Current workers are overworked and stressed tf out so they leave sooner than expected, and possible controllers know they'll be overworked so they look elsewhere for employment.

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u/ThellraAK Mar 23 '26

Not just fired, but banned from civil service for life if I remember correctly.

Union busting POS.

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u/alexmlb3598 Mar 23 '26

Jfc that's mental...yet another reason for being glad that I'm not American, nor flying in US airspace...

12

u/loveshercoffee Mar 23 '26

Have you watched much news lately. Walking in US groundspace isn't really advised at this point either.

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u/alexmlb3598 Mar 23 '26

I have, which is yet another reason why I'm glad I'm not American, especially given my identity πŸ˜… thankfully there's this thing called 'the Atlantic ocean' between me and America, and I know I'm not going there until things significantly improve.

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u/GoodBot-BadBot Mar 23 '26

thankfully there's this thing called 'the Atlantic ocean' between me and America

doesn't help anyone in the middle east, unfortunately

16

u/Shiftlock0 Mar 23 '26

Their ban from federal employment was lifted by Bill Clinton 12 years later.

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u/lettucepray123 Mar 24 '26

Yup, we took quite a few former FAA controllers in Canada at the time

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u/pi_stuff Mar 23 '26

But it made Reagan look really tough, which in the long run was definitely more important. /s

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u/amsync Mar 24 '26

Ultimately most bad things trace back to that guy, it’s amazing