At a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) questioned Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy about air traffic control systems.
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00:00Thank you, Senator Collins.
00:03And Mr. Secretary, as someone who represents dozens of airports in my state,
00:08and we all frequently fly every week so we can get to D.C. and back,
00:13we're all very troubled by the mishaps and challenges within our nation's air traffic control systems.
00:19But the staffing shortages and the technological issues, particularly in the Newark airspace,
00:26they're not isolated incidents.
00:28And these have been happening across the country,
00:34and they highlight a system that is under tremendous strain.
00:39But in many cases, the technology is outdated and simply cannot meet the demands of the aviation system.
00:45A perfect example is the use of the radar systems from the 70s
00:49and the times that you've held up the floppy disk and said we have to order things off of eBay to repair.
00:56It's pretty alarming.
00:57Congress has a clear opportunity and a responsibility to act.
01:03And I commend you and President Trump for the recent commitment to invest in upgrading this critical infrastructure
01:10and to reinforce the air traffic workforce.
01:13It is certainly much needed and a step in the right direction.
01:18But as you are aware, the committee has a long bipartisan history of directing more funding to the FAA for modernization
01:26and for hiring critical safety staff, including air traffic controllers and then the safety inspectors.
01:32Will you explain how the additional funds requested in your budget will serve as a down payment to jumpstart the FAA's new modernization efforts
01:43and how this effort enhances existing next-gen activities for which the committee has previously appropriated tens of billions of dollars throughout the years?
01:54Could you explain that?
01:55Yes.
01:56If I could just make one clarification.
01:57We do try to buy replacement parts on eBay for this really old equipment.
02:01Sometimes we can't even find it on eBay.
02:04So we're trying to use 3D printing to craft replacement parts for the system that we use.
02:10And just one other point.
02:12We do see cracks in the system.
02:14We'll see those cracks to the tune of multiple hundred per week.
02:19Now, again, systems aren't going down.
02:21But if you look at how the system is operating, it should be troubling for everybody in a warning sign that time is not on our side
02:28and it's important that we make the investments.
02:32What we're doing right now, and I think the air traffic control shortage is critical.
02:37We're 3,000 short.
02:38We've been 3,000 short for some time.
02:40And so, by the way, you'd think it's not that hard to think through just to get more controllers into the system and through the system.
02:46It actually is more complicated.
02:47What we've done is we're trying to get the best air traffic controllers who score on the test into the academy first.
02:55So we've made a best qualified category.
02:57If you score in the 90-plus percentile, we're going to streamline you quicker into the academy.
03:03If you're 80 to 90, you take a different path.
03:08That's important.
03:09The medical part of this was really challenging.
03:12It was taking way too long months.
03:16We've worked to get our academy prospects getting the medicals done sooner and then getting the results from those tests back quicker.
03:25We're paying bonuses to make that happen to the doctors who do the tests, but we don't have another choice.
03:29We have to move up our academy grads.
03:33We've offered counseling.
03:34I was at Oklahoma City, and a lot of the students were saying, listen, if we could just get some extra help.
03:40I mean, we can make it, but a few of us are having a little bit of issues in this little space, and instead of washing out, we'll get those controllers to make it.
03:48But could you give us a little bit of extra counseling if we need it, tutoring if we need it?
03:52And so we've implemented that for those controllers who are just on the edge to make sure they can make it through the program because we have a 35% washout rate at the academy, 35%.
04:03If we could just move that to 25%, we're going to make up a real difference in the number of controllers that we get through the academy, passing the test, and then training up.
04:15And then I think what's also important is we have great air traffic controllers on the job.
04:21They can retire per the rules of Congress after 25 years of service.
04:25Well, these are the most experienced.
04:26So we are offering them a 20% bonus up front to stay on the job.
04:32Please don't retire.
04:33Stay and provide a service to your country and your community.
04:37And I think we're going to get a good take-up rate on that as well to keep more of those experienced controllers on the job.
04:43And so it's increasing the pipeline, and that's one part.
04:47And then keeping those controllers on the job is the second part.
04:50And I think those two taken together are going to, again, it's going to take some time.
04:56Can I just make one other last point on this?
04:58And I think it's important to note, I can't take a 20-year experienced air traffic controller from Denver and move them to the Philly TRACON for Senator Gillibrand and say,
05:08let's just use this controller to control the airspace because that really great controller from Denver has to get trained up on the Newark airspace,
05:18and it can take them upwards of a year to get trained specifically on that airspace.
05:22So I just can't move controllers around and address the shortfalls that we have in certain TRACONs or towers.
05:31It takes time.
05:32And even training up more controllers, once they're out of the academy, it takes a year to three years to get them fully trained.
05:39And so this is going to be a longer process, and all of us working together to have some vision is going to be what's key to resolving this in the next one, two, and three years.
05:51Thank you, and thank you for that forward thinking and the ways that we can extend that.
05:56I want to talk briefly about the Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative, since we were talking about that.
06:02And, you know, I've spoken to you several times about my work in Mississippi to help boost aviation workforce, so critically important.
06:11And the need in this field is obviously, as you're just describing, endless.
06:15But the FAA Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative, in partnership with select colleges and universities,
06:22has successfully taught the basics of the air traffic control to qualified students,
06:28which allow them to quickly progress through the FAA Academy.
06:33What can this committee do to help the additional schools into the AT-CTI program to help increase the number of the AT-C staff?
06:43And would that require also expanding capacity for the FAA Academy?
06:49That's a great question.
06:50So I do think if this committee wanted to consider a competitive grant program, the simulators are expensive for air traffic controllers.
06:58And a lot of these schools is challenging to make the million-plus dollar investment in those simulators.
07:05And so if there was a competitive grant program that you all wanted to consider to go to some of the, I think it was five schools around the country
07:12that want to be involved in training up those air traffic controllers, I think that would be welcome.
07:19What's also, it's been hard.
07:22We have air traffic controllers at Oklahoma City who are doing the training.
07:26And the former air traffic controllers were teaching all of the classes.
07:31What we've done is some of the classes, you don't need an air traffic controller.
07:35You know, if we're doing some math classes, we can take just a professor to teach the math class.
07:39I don't need an air traffic controller.
07:40So we're going to bring in professors to teach classes that professors can teach.
07:45And that means we have more air traffic controllers to teach air traffic control classes, which means we can expand the capacity of Oklahoma City,
07:55getting more young people in and through the academy.
07:58And so, again, because we just, we were, it's the chicken or the egg, but we weren't getting enough air traffic controllers to come in and teach at the academy.
08:07This is allowing us to use the ones that we have to stretch them further.
08:10And, again, that means I think we can, next year we're at 2,000 right now.
08:15I think we can get to 2,200, 2,300 in the next fiscal year.
08:19Kids, I mean through the academy.
08:21Through the academy.
08:22And briefly, because I'm way over my time, would you speak to the importance of supporting our small shipyards,
08:29especially in the wake of decreases in the dedicated funding in recent years?
08:33100%.
08:34Again, I think this is an all-of-America approach to shipbuilding.
08:38Again, larger, smaller yards have to be supported.
08:43And, again, I think it's going to take all shipyards and all of government if we're going to be successful in ramping up American shipbuilding.
08:50Well, the funding, the administration's proposal to fund these grants at $105 million is a demonstration, certainly,
08:57that you're directing the support there, and we certainly appreciate that.