--- title: Air Traffic Controllers Warn Shutdown Is Risking Air Safety description: Air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants issued a stark warning about the safety of air passengers during the partial government shutdown. canonical: https://time.com/5511886/air-traffic-controllers-shutdown-warning/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-24T13:26:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:20:49.006Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'We Cannot Even Calculate the Level of Risk.' Air Traffic Controllers Issue Dire Warning About Shutdown og:description: 'It is unprecedented' og:url: https://time.com/5511886/air-traffic-controllers-shutdown-warning/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c5ae882fbdbe29e/698943ee457a523de7d60614/tsa-line.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: US-SHUTDOWN-TSA-POLITICS-BUDGET-PARLIAMENT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'We Cannot Even Calculate the Level of Risk.' Air Traffic Controllers Issue Dire Warning About Shutdown twitter:description: 'It is unprecedented' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1c5ae882fbdbe29e/698943ee457a523de7d60614/tsa-line.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'We Cannot Even Calculate the Level of Risk.' 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Air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants issued a stark warning about the safety of air passengers during the partial government shutdown, calling for the White House and Congress to find a solution._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 24, 2019 1:26 PM UTC Air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants issued a stark warning about the safety of air passengers during the partial government shutdown, calling for the White House and Congress to find a solution.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 24, 2019 1:26 PM UTC Air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants issued a stark warning about the safety of air passengers during the partial government shutdown, calling for the White House and Congress to find a solution. “In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented,” the unions for all three groups said in a statement on Wednesday. The longest-ever government shutdown, now exceeding one month, has left an [estimated 380,000](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/22/furloughed-federal-workers-to-miss-second-paycheck-this-week.html) federal workers furloughed, and forced another 420,000 to work without pay. Air traffic controllers, [Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents](http://time.com/5496375/airports-tsa-absences-shutdown/), transportation security and law enforcement officers, safety inspectors, air marshals and FBI agents have all been caught up in the shutdown, leaving airports understaffed and raising questions about the current safety of the nation’s aviation system, according to [the joint statement](https://www.afacwa.org/air%5Ftraffic%5Fcontrollers%5Fpilots%5Fflight%5Fattendants%5Fdetail%5Fserious%5Fsafety%5Fconcerns%5Fdue%5Fto%5Fshutdown) from National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Paul Rinaldi, Air Line Pilots Association President Joe DePete and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson. Air traffic controllers and TSA screeners are among the federal employees who have been working without pay, because they were deemed too important to furlough. Many federal employees will miss their second paycheck on Friday. The statement says staffing in air traffic control facilities is at a 30-year low, and hiring and training is frozen by the shutdown. In the interim, air traffic controllers are working overtime to keep airports running as smoothly as possible, the statement says. Meanwhile, many airports have had to [close security checkpoints](http://time.com/5501064/tsa-close-security-lanes-shutdown/) due to TSA sickouts – with a [growing number of TSA screeners](http://time.com/5508764/tsa-shutdown-airports/) not showing up for work due to the [financial burden of working without pay](http://time.com/5505665/federal-workers-seek-unemployment-doubles/). The statement also said safety reporting data may be affected by strains on Federal Aviation Administration resources. “As union leaders, we find it unconscionable that aviation professionals are being asked to work without pay and in an air safety environment that is deteriorating by the day,” the union leaders said. “To avoid disruption to our aviation system, we urge Congress and the White House to take all necessary steps to end this shutdown immediately.” That message was echoed Wednesday by five former Department of Homeland Security secretaries, who drafted a letter urging the Trump Administration and Congress to restore funding for the agency’s security, law enforcement and emergency preparedness work, which also extends to aviation security. “We call on our elected leaders to restore the funding necessary to ensure our homeland remains safe and that the Department’s critical national security functions continue without compromise,” they wrote. Among those to sign the letter was Trump’s former chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly. > [](https://twitter.com/quinn%5Fowen/status/1088237484180455424) ## Transcript When can you start making a determination that it's not safe to fly, that we have to reduce traffic, we have to reduce? So first thing we're gonna do is flow the traffic. If we don't have controllers to open up the sectors, we will see less volume of airplanes. So air traffic controls will do everything in the world to maintain that high safety level. Well, when you look at our equipment is not being fixed- Right. I mean equipment that we're relying on to make sure the airplanes line up on the right surface they're supposed to land on, as opposed to a taxi way or a different runway that's occupied by an airplane. This is critical equipment that has stopped being deployed and is not being fixed. Equipment like being able to relay to the pilot That dangerous weather is ahead, radars have gone down that are not being brought back up, that's how we get our weather information, from those radar systems. This is a deep concern and it can't go on for months. Toll I have right now is the human toll. The fatigue in my work environment right now where I'm seeing routine mistakes are actually happening. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5511886/air-traffic-controllers-shutdown-warning/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5511886/air-traffic-controllers-shutdown-warning/"},"headline":"'We Cannot Even Calculate the Level of Risk.' 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