USA TODAY National
DENVER ‒ They sit inside darkened facilities or lofty towers, surrounded by aging computers, speaking in clipped and cryptic phrases. And the slips of paper they pass between each other represent the lives of millions of Americans who travel safely every day with their help.
For the nation's air traffic controllers, the ongoing federal government shutdown is the latest insult in their high-stress, high-stakes jobs where mandatory retirement comes at age 56, access to cell phones during the workday is strictly limited, they get as little as 10 hours off between shifts and they are subjected to random alcohol and drug testing multiple times a year.
Before the shutdown, the nation's air traffic control system included just under 11,000 fully certified controllers ‒ 30% fewer than the government says we need. That meant controllers were already consistently working six days a week, up to 10 hours a day on mandatory overtime, with vacations strictly limited.
Now they're not even being paid.
"This situation creates substantial distractions for individuals who are already engaged in extremely stressful work," Nick Daniels, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union, said in a statement. "The financial and mental strain increases risks within the National Airspace System, making it less safe with each passing day of the shutdown."
'I'm not happy with you,' Trump says to controllers who took time off
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Nov. 6 ordered airlines to cut traffic by 10% at the nation's 40 busiest airports, which he said would reduce the pressure on controllers during the shutdown. The order inconvenienced millions of travelers as flights were cut or rescheduled weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Congress now appears poised to reopen the government and restart pay ‒ including back pay ‒ for controllers, some of whom took second jobs during the shutdown. The median pay for air traffic controllers is $144,580 annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In a Nov. 10 social media post, President Donald Trump said he'd recommend $10,000 bonuses for controllers who worked through the shutdown without taking sick time.
But he also threatened controllers who called in sick or took a vacation since Oct. 1. Since the shutdown began, multiple airports have been forced to limit arrivals and departures due to controller shortages.
Earlier in November, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said 20% to 40% of controllers were not showing up for work on any given day, Reuters reported.
Controllers who take sick leave during a shutdown can be docked back pay, although controllers are also allowed to take sick time for illness or fatigue.
Federal law prohibits air traffic controllers from going on strike; when they did so in 1981 during a battle over pay and working conditions, President Ronald Reagan fired 11,000 controllers. Historians say Reagan's decision to fire the controllers sparked a wave of union-busting across the country.
"For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I am NOT HAPPY WITH YOU," Trump wrote.
Controllers at the center of the government shutdown
Retired air traffic controller David Riley said putting controllers in the middle of the government shutdown reflects the key role they play in the American economy.
Commercial aviation in the United States, from passenger travel to cargo flights, represents about 5% of the nation's annual gross domestic product, according to the Airlines for America trade group, and supports about 10 million jobs.
"They used [the air traffic control slowdown] as a weapon against the flying public," said Riley, a former U.S. Marine who worked air traffic control for 32 years.
Riley said all the promises of pay ring hollow for controllers who are regularly working with just one day off a week in a job where even a momentary lapse of attention could be fatal for hundreds of people.
Becoming a certified controller takes years of training, usually starting at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, followed by several years of closely supervised on-the-job practice.
Applicants need to meet vision and health standards, get mental health assessments, and commit to a high-stakes, high-stress job that's physically isolated from the travelers they serve every day. They need to be prepared to deal with midair fires, hijacking reports, or medical emergencies at 36,000 feet or just feet from the terminal.
And there's no room for error.
"While the money's great in the short term, when you're working six days a week, you literally have no life," Riley said. "The shutdown really highlighted how bad the staffing is, and how close to the edge it is."
'I still believe that Americans should fly and feel safe doing so'
Air traffic controllers typically work in one of two settings: either in a tower controlling the movement of airplanes landing or taking off at an airport, or in a regional center known as a "tracon" that shepherds planes between airports.
Surrounded by radar screens and GPS displays, the controllers make sure planes keep their distance so they can land and take off safely, don't blast each other with their engines while on the ground, and avoid midair turbulence.
Riley, who worked in both towers and tracons, said going unpaid as he did during the first Trump administration shutdown adds to the mental workload of controllers by distracting them with thoughts of bills and unpaid mortgages. Controllers have already received two zero-dollar paychecks during the shutdown.
"What's your savings look like? Does your spouse work?" he said, controllers are asking themselves.
Attorney Zachary S. Gorwitz of the Florida-based Podhurst Orseck law firm said the ongoing shortage of controllers poses a growing risk to the traveling public. The firm has represented victims of multiple fatal plane crashes around the world, and represents a client suing over the Jan. 29 midair collision in Washington, DC, between an American Airlines flight and a military Black Hawk helicopter.
In that collision where 67 people were killed, Congressional testimony revealed a single air traffic controller was monitoring both airplanes and helicopters that night, a job usually performed by two people, Gorwitz said. He said air travel remains one of the safest modes of transportation in large part due to the hard work of highly skilled and trained air traffic controllers ‒ but that continuing to stress them out will inevitably have consequences.
"I still believe that Americans should fly and feel safe doing so. But it is so important that the government reopen and start treating federal workers with the respect they deserve," Gorwitz said. "The thing is, we need to be putting these people into positions to succeed, and the way things are going, we're not."
As they waited for their snowboards at Denver International Airport to start a weeklong ski trip, Kat and TJ Leahy said their travel from Tampa, Florida, had been smooth, but they worried about the mental health of the controllers.
TJ said that as a military veteran, he's accustomed to the idea that people who serve others take that responsibility seriously.
He said he had no safety concerns about flying during the government shutdown, but he said he's concerned about the long-term implications of forcing people to go without paychecks, both air traffic controllers and the Transportation Security Administration officers who conduct security screenings.
"I'm more worried about them as people," he said. "Those people are real professionals, and they are going to do that job, but I do worry about them not getting paid. Same with TSA."
Trevor Hughes covers national news for USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The essential, invisible job at the center of the shutdown flight problems
Reporting by Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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