![]() ![]() After all, as the Times notes, major airlines in the US haven't seen a fatal crash in 14 years - the longest safety streak in the country's history. Maybe all this seems rather out of the blue to you, and you think I'm overreacting. In other words, it's going to be intentionally starved to death so profiteers can justify its increasingly rapid privatization. Or like public education, public health, public nutrition, public housing. What a plane crash feels like: The inside story of an American aviation disaster - and miracleĪnd, finally, you and I will feel a terrible truth creeping up on us: By the time the Congressional dust settles and all the lobbying checks are cashed, public aviation regulation is probably going to look a lot like the rest of public transportation in this country. Those pundits will ask: Remember when Ronald Reagan fired 11,345 air traffic controllers (mostly military veterans) in the '80s because they went on strike, and how he doomed the FAA to a recurring 25-year staffing crisis, based on retirement age. When (God forbid) it happens, pundits will nervously recall the Biden administration backstabbing rail union workers. Capitol Hill reporting will relay the most colorful quotes from the two parties - one screaming for privatization, the other for air safety funding. Investigative news coverage will prowl through Federal Aviation Administration records, highlighting a trail of terrifying data and repeated pleas from the unions. Feature profiles will include haunting family photos and somberly spoken descriptions of young lives cut short, or grandparents killed. While it could occur at LaGuardia or LAX, it'll likely be at a smaller, regional airport - one that's been barely holding its World War II-era bricks together with breadcrumb capital funds and a skeleton crew of air traffic controllers working six-day burn-out shifts for minimal pay.Īs tragedies tend to go in the US, the story will dominate headlines for a week or so. ![]() There they'll read gruesome details about a fatal, yet wholly preventable, commercial aircraft collision like those warned of in recent New York Times reporting about the 300-plus near-crashes that happened this year. Millions of American phones will buzz with push notifications, and millions of thumbs will swipe-open a breaking news article. Here's how it's probably going to happen. ![]()
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