#27: A Short History of "The FAA Has Staffing Issues"

Lots of folks have had lots of thoughts on FAA staffing recently. Let’s take a look at what history has to say on the topic, shall we?

From the NY Times, May 17, 1987, we need more inspectors¹:

The same article, we need more air traffic controllers:

Still in 1987 and doesn’t this sound familiar?

From the NY Times, March 24, 1988, this is Jim Burnley, the Secretary of Transportation, testifying on the FAA’s ability to be an independent agency. (It was originally independent².) Burnley’s point was that the FAA was resistant to better air safety rules and it was DOT that was keeping it in check.

Some in Congress were not fans of Burnley as evident in more testimony a week later. Senator Wendell Ford said the FAA was being hamstrung by DOT, alleging that agency set low limits to save money on “staffing of desperately needed air traffic controllers, safety inspectors, and maintenance personnel.”

(The bill was to make the FAA independent; it got nowhere.)

From the AP, July 28, 1988: A new study from the Office of Technology Assessment “Portrays FAA as Swamped”:

You can read the whole report here. Here’s a bit from it:

And here’s the referenced table:

For comparison, there were about 14,000 Air Traffic Controllers, per the FAA, last fall. The Union said in February there were actually 10,800. (Either way, so far below 1978!)

The overall staffing situation did not improve, as evident in a 1991 report, from the General Accounting Office, titled “Problems Persist in FAA’s Inspection Program.” (Sigh.)

On who to blame for all this, here is Newsweek, June 30, 1996, in the wake of the crash of ValuJet flight 592:

It’s not the law that keeps the FAA from cracking down on safety, it’s pressure from the airlines - and from Congress. Political Gridlock has defeated every scheme to reconstruct the FAA’s antiquated air-traffic-control system.

Here’s TIME magazine, also right after the flight 592 crash:

Yes, what kind of reform will hit the FAA? (Still waiting…)

I could go on and on with this, but here’s a recent one still saying the same thing. In November 2023, The National Airspace System Review Board released a study (as requested by the FAA) that said staffing was an issue. Here’s a bit on that from Government Review:

You can read the report here, or WaPo’s take on it here.

Of course, none of the long history of the FAA’s issues has been brought up by those, like DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, seeking simply to blame the previous admin. (Sigh.)

As I continue to research and write about the FAA, I will return to this topic but suffice to say understaffing is nothing new and we need to stop treating it in a credulous manner. The FAA has been politicized nearly to death and either we properly fund it for adequate staffing (not just ATC) or there are going to be a lot of issues with aviation safety in this country.

1. In a conversation with the head of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union earlier this year, I learned it has about 4,000 members who are inspectors. This is close to a FY2020 DOT projection of 4,200 inspectors. It’s not enough.

2. It was independent when first established in 1958; it came under DOT in 1967. Breaking it out of DOT has been a recurring congressional topic.