NYT reported a shortage of dispatchers at 90% of US airports

More than 90% of the 313 air traffic control centers in the United States are understaffed. The New York Times (NYT) cited an analysis of staffing data from the union representing U.S. air traffic controllers.

"285 facilities, including traffic control towers and other facilities, have not reached the staffing thresholds set by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration. - Ed.) and the union," the January 31 piece says.

According to the newspaper, the U.S. air transportation system remains "one of the safest in the world," but staff shortages have led to an "alarming number" of dangerous situations. The most acute staff shortages can be traced back to New York. It is specified that two facilities have about 40% of their vacancies open.

The NYT recognizes that it could take more than four years to train new air traffic controllers for some facilities.

Gone under water: in the U.S., an airplane collided with a helicopter near the Potomac River

Extensive work is underway, divers are retrieving bodies

On the night of January 30, an American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided in the sky near Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, DC. After the crash, they fell into the Potomac River. A total of 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the airplane. There were three military personnel in the helicopter. The TV channel CNN reported that the bodies of more than 40 victims were extracted from the water. In turn, US President Donald Trump reported on the absence of survivors in the airplane crash in Washington.

Later, the NYT reported that at the time of the collision of the plane with a helicopter in Washington, the dispatch shift was incomplete. According to a preliminary internal FAA report, the shortage of personnel made coordination difficult because airplane and helicopter pilots use different radio frequencies and cannot always hear each other.