FAA offering more incentives as air traffic controller shortage worsens

Government pay, unions, and performance

• Several comments argue that critical government jobs like ATC should pay true market rates, allow higher pay for stronger performers, and more easily fire poor performers.
• Others respond that rigid scales exist mainly to reduce corruption (e.g., managers trading raises for kickbacks or favoring family/friends).
• There’s discussion of alternative models with limited discretion plus process and transparency (e.g., documented exceptions, outside approval, publishing salaries).
• Union roles are debated: some see unions as protecting incumbents and clogging advancement; others (including a controller) say the ATC union is weak and has not delivered better pay or conditions.

ATC hiring pipeline and training issues

• A key practical problem: new controllers don’t know their location until after academy graduation. Many quit when assigned undesirable or unaffordable locations, especially with low trainee pay.
• Commenters say hiring once was location-based, which reduced attrition.
• Facility-specific training takes 1–3 years; experience is highly localized, making rotation or temporary “gap filling” nontrivial.

Diversity, testing, and the FAA controversy

• A long subthread centers on FAA’s shift from an aptitude/intelligence test (seen as strongly predictive of performance) to personality/biographical screening aimed at increasing diversity.
• Critics say this change dramatically raised failure rates, reduced throughput, and allegedly favored certain groups (referencing an ongoing lawsuit and a widely linked blog investigation).
• Some blame Obama-era diversity directives; others argue that’s overstated and that the FAA bureaucracy owns the implementation.
• There’s a wide-ranging argument over whether diversity efforts necessarily trade off with performance, or whether they correct existing systemic bias. This expands into disputes over “white privilege,” critical race theory, and whether such frameworks are scientific or quasi-religious.

Infrastructure and modernization

• Commenters note the article’s claim that many ATC systems are “unsustainable” and decades old, which feels unacceptable for safety-critical infrastructure.
• “NextGen” modernization is widely remembered as a long-running, underwhelming effort.
• Some fear rushed adoption of proprietary or AI-based systems could replicate other sectors’ tech failures.

Privatization, military stopgaps, and job appeal

• Suggestions include using military combat controllers or mimicking Canada’s private ATC; others warn about specialization, military readiness, cost, and system fragility.
• Several point out that low pay, politicized firings, and perceived hostility toward public servants make government ATC roles less attractive—suggesting large financial and working-condition incentives are needed beyond ideological fights.