United States (U.S.) Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has announced that the administration has hired over 2000 gamers to fill in the shortfall of air traffic controllers (ATCs), a move that has raised serious safety concerns among the public.
The 54-year-old American politician announced the plan to deal with the national shortfall in Spring this year; however, the latest update has raised serious alarms.
Taking to X, the former TV personality said: “In April, we launched a NEW CAMPAIGN to recruit video gamers as air traffic controllers — and supercharged the entire hiring process to get the BEST & BRIGHTEST in faster. The results are HISTORIC.”
He also shared some statistics in his post, revealing that the campaign had achieved 94% of its hiring goal, with more than 2,000 people hired and another 2,000-plus candidates in the pipeline.
Duffy claimed that he was building the “stronger, sharpest” workforce in aviation history.
Netizens quickly took to the comment section to express their concerns as one wrote, “Fast tracking and short cutting the path to being an ATC official is reckless and stupid. The procedure was in place for a fuc***g reason. But why would you care if anything bad happens? Trump doesn’t give a sh*t, so neither do you.”
Another questioned, “Is my plane going to be guided by a pissed off 13 year old in Brazil? Imagine what happens when someone tries to land in front of the planes he is guiding…”
The U.S. is short by approximately 3,000 to 4,000 certified professional controllers (CPCs). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employs roughly 11,000 fully certified controllers against a target of over 12,500 to 14,600 needed across facilities.
Over 90% of air traffic control towers nationwide operate understaffed, leading to frequent flight restrictions and delays at major hubs like New York.
2026-08-12 18:18:00
