A deadly collision between a plane and a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia airport has highlighted the strain on US air traffic control.
Federal investigators suggested Tuesday that overlapping failures stemming from staffing and technology issues led to the crash: “Many, many things went wrong.”
The Federal Aviation Administration is chronically understaffed and the two on duty during the accident were doing the jobs of four. Despite efforts to boost recruitment, numbers have declined for years; many quit last fall when a government shutdown left them unpaid. Political dysfunction has left overworked controllers using outdated equipment.
Once a modern marvel, the American commercial aviation system “seems near collapse,” The Atlantic wrote.