There are over 9 million takeoff and landings every year in the United States and with all the news buzzing about the traffic controllers sleeping on the job the FAA says safety is on its list of things to take care of in the very near future. I have been inundated with press releases and information about what they are doing at the FAA and they are scrambling to get their procedures and protocols on the mend.
Ray LaHood is on a fever pitch of media pitches and has done hundreds of interviews the past couple of weeks. We are seeing many reports now of other violations and other incidents of controllers sleeping on the job. The secretary is stating that money is no object in correcting the problems. The government is cutting $4Billion for the budget of the FAA and he continues to state that this will not change their calling that they intend to make safety their priority. It is assumed they will have to cut in other areas if they intend to put two controllers in at least every tower to alleviate the problems with current issues of controllers sleeping on the job. We will have to see how this impacts other safety measures and if they can continue to put two controllers in each tower.