Air traffic controllers and their unhealthy drug-dependent work culture
The sky-high prices of mental health services and medications for "stress" on the job.
Somebody's got to do the job! If it were any easier, anybody could do it! No, no no! Break it up, guys. Spread it out, reduce the workload, let pilots watch out for themselves a little bit more, start making their own decisions like adults. Stop circling and land somewhere. Divert from highly congested airports if need be.
Adam Downer
Overtaxed and unpaid air traffic controllers are resigning “every day” due to stress from the government shutdown. ¶“Controllers are resigning every day now because of the prolonged nature of the shutdown,” Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, told CNN.
Air traffic controller salary in United States (indeed.com)
How much does an Air Traffic Controller make in the United States? Average base salary: $56,723.
The median annual wage for air traffic controllers was $144,580 in May 2024. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $76,090, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $210,410.
That's a big spread between the average base salary reported by Indeed and the median annual wage reported by BLS. Saying they're "overtaxed and unpaid" suggests a significant withholding for income taxes. The real purchasing power of these wages has fallen from upper to middle class over the years.
Corporate bosses would probably rather break up the air traffic controllers union and avoid an excessive dependency on mother-may-I squawk boxes and complicated landing flight patterns. Reducing excessive traffic at congested airports and spreading out the workload would go a long way toward improving safety regardless.
The extreme levels of "stress" so universally cited on the job imply rather unfortunately a mass dependency of air traffic controllers on benzodiazepines, amphetamines, and other central nervous system stimulants as well as various classes of antidepressant drugs.
Over time, these drugs are highly addictive, interfere with a normal sleep schedule, and cause a delayed reaction time during work hours.
Nevertheless, in spite of the drawbacks and side effects, aviation industry union bosses are staunch believers in establishment mental health industry practices, popular psychology, psychiatric medications, suicide outreaches and involuntary hospitalization. Let's just say the night sky is beautiful, they are in a position to view the stars and planets, and they all read their horoscopes religiously.