In Reply to: IIRC, the firings were started by DOGE and then Duffy had that posted by blindness on May 13, 2025 at 11:10:30
There has been a shortage of Air Traffic Controllers for some time now. It's an incredibly stressful job with minimum age requirements for hiring, and a fairly low mandatory retirement age. (Generally they have to retire at 56, though there are exceptions.) So the FAA has frequently had to scramble to recruit, hire, and train new controllers, and they've been actively doing so for at least the past 3-4 years. Still, shortages exist, so I'd highly doubt that any of their hiring efforts have anything to do with replacing anyone dismissed early in the Trump/Musk disaster.
BTW, I have a vested interest in this. I rely a lot on ATC folks to keep me safe while I'm flying in the VERY busy airspace here in Southern Calif.