ATC Workload Truths

Ever watched news about ATC—controllers falling asleep, doing drugs, near misses? Can any of that be true? Here is one controller’s perspective.

Elim Hawkins

Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

They don’t line themselves up. Somebody’s working hard to get those three lanes of traffic with that spacing. Imagine doing that on a 10-hour shift six days in a row.

Key Takeaways:

U.S. Air Traffic Control (ATC) is significantly understaffed, lacking approximately 3,000 controllers needed to manage current air traffic volumes.
This chronic shortage forces many controllers into grueling six-day work weeks and 10-hour shifts, leading to severe fatigue and a continuous loss of quality of life.
Controller fatigue is a major human factors issue, directly contributing to errors, instances of controllers falling asleep on duty, and an increased risk of near-miss incidents.
Addressing the staffing shortfall is a slow process due to high training washout rates, meaning proper staffing levels are projected to be at least five or more years away.

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Depending on where you get your news, you’ve probably wondered how much truth there is to stories about ATC. Six near misses made the news in 2023, caused by staffing shortages? Controllers falling asleep on position? Drugs? Are controllers actually leaving the job to seek better quality of life? Yes; yes; no; maybe some.

Near misses are not directly caused by staffing shortages. It’s already public knowledge that a few controllers have fallen asleep on position. No occupation is a “drug-free environment.” Of course, a controller would leave to find something better. The only thing that keeps some of us is the fact that we need a job and/or we don’t have anything else that we enjoy as much.