Air Safety Still Lags After U.S. Shutdown, Controllers’ Union Says
- Unions, industry representatives testify before Congress
- Controllers worked without pay, safety inspectors furloughed
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The aviation system’s safety still hasn’t fully recovered from the 35-day U.S. government shutdown that halted progress on new technology and stopped reviews of incident reports, the air-traffic controllers’ union president told Congress.
U.S. aviation was “on the verge of unraveling” when the partial shutdown ended Jan. 25. Flights were delayed into New York’s LaGuardia Airport as controllers didn’t report to work due to illness and fatigue, said Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.