Every time you board a plane, do you have to silence that little voice in your head that asks ‘what if?’ What if on this seemingly normal day, the plane I’m boarding becomes a grim statistic of a debris field strewn with twisted and charred metal? What if the air traffic control team on duty is overworked and understaffed, and doesn’t notice my flight veering into the path of another plane? Well, brace yourself. In October of this year two private planes came close to colliding in mid-air near Las Vegas due to an error made by an air traffic controller.
In June, Aviation Today reported seven recent near mid-air collisions in the vicinity of the New York area. The local air-traffic controllers union says Kennedy, Newark and La Guardia airports are short-staffed, a problem cited by air-traffic-controllers in locations across the country. While air-traffic-controllers bemoan not having enough people in the control tower, the number of people in the skies is ever-increasing. FAA officials say Very Light Jets, or VLJs, a new generation of aircraft that are inexpensive and can land almost anywhere will cause a large surge in air traffic.
