SpaceX Tasked With Fixing Air Traffic Control By Trump Administration

January's fatal mid-air collision at Reagan National Airport was a wake-up call to the overextended nature of air traffic control. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is using the moment to hand over the reins to Elon Musk. A team from SpaceX, Musk's private space company, toured the Federal Aviation Administration's Air Traffic Control System Command Center on Monday. Before the 2024 election, Musk vocally bashed the FAA for attempting to regulate his exploding rockets. It's safe to say that the kids are now running the kindergarten.

The SpaceX tour came just days after the destructive culling of federal employees reached the FAA. With reassurances that air traffic controllers would be exempt, the Trump administration began firing several hundred provisional FAA employees. Personnel hired in radar, land and navigational aid positions were informed via email late Friday night, according to the Associated Press. Duffy claimed the positions were safety-critical, but air traffic controllers don't operate in a vacuum.

Duffy is seemingly looking for zebras instead of horses in his diagnosis of the problems plaguing air traffic control towers. In a social media post ahead of the tour, the Transportation Secretary stated the SpaceX team would "get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system." However, we have long known what the most dire issues ailing controllers.

Air traffic control is severely understaffed across the country. In 2023, the facility that oversees New York City's airspace was staffed at less than 60 percent of its recommended level. The FAA was forced to transfer 100 square miles of airspace around Newark Liberty International Airport to Philadelphia's facility to alleviate New York. Reports emerged personnel at other locations fell asleep on the job or showed up to work drunk as they were unable to deal with the stress. The most straightforward solution for the federal government would be to hire and train more controllers, not let tech bros invent a broken alternative.