Air Traffic Controllers Union: Flying Is Now “Less Safe”

The Associated Press reports:

A top member of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said Wednesday that flying is “less safe today than it was a month ago” due to the partial government shutdown.

“I would say [flying] is less safe today than it was a month ago, absolutely,” Trish Gilbert, the executive vice president of the labor union, said on “CNN Newsroom.”

“We are working with barebones crews,” Gilbert said. “We have controllers there doing what they do very, very well – but how long can you expect them to do it without all of the systems behind them to keep the system safe? And the planes in the air?”

As the shutdown continues @PoppyHarlowCNN asks: “Bottom line would you say…flying is less safe today than it was a month ago?”

Trish Gilbert, Executive VP of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association: “I would say it is less safe today than a month ago. Absolutely.” pic.twitter.com/E2QxpR54FT

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) January 16, 2019