Biden And Buttigieg’s Air Traffic Controller “Participation Awards” Put People At Risk

Two of the most incompetent individuals in history, Sleepy Joe Biden and “Mr. Milker” Pete Buttigieg, decided to offer participation awards to air traffic controllers, and by doing so, lowered the standards, which in turn made flying more dangerous.

Sean Duffy, the Secretary of Transportation for the Trump administration, recently appeared on the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast. During the episode, he told host Miranda Devine that in 2023, the Biden administration eliminated the highest testing requirement for applicants seeking admission to the academy that trains air traffic controllers.

Before Sleepy Joe, the system saw candidates who scored 85 percent on the Air Traffic Skills Assessment placed in the “best qualified” category. Under Biden, anyone who scored above 80 percent was put into a new “well-qualified” category.

While the change appears to be subtle, it isn’t, as Duffy explained to Devine:

“They lowered the standard from 85 percent to 80 percent to be best qualified … to get these young people into the academy. What happened was, they had a substantial washout rate, 30 percent-plus, because they couldn’t do the work.”

The Biden administration introduced new categories for applicants: “well-qualified” for those scoring above 80 percent, “qualified” for scores between 70 and 79.9 percent, and “not referred” for those scoring below 70 percent.

Biden and Buttigieg combined less qualified applicants with more qualified ones into a larger category, aiming to increase the number of students admitted into the field. However, this approach led to a higher dropout rate.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website states that the academy located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, requires several months to complete. It is interesting to note that after a change in 2023, we began to observe the effects of Biden’s decisions right as former President Donald Trump returned to office.

The Biden administration’s ill-conceived plan placed people into groups that they were not competent for, causing many to drop out. However, those who stayed were not as strong academically, which diluted the group.

So, the shortage of air traffic controllers had nothing to do with Trump’s federal cuts. It was a clear carryover effect from another of Biden’s ham-handed attempts to make things equal by lowering standards instead of using merit and experience as the yardstick for classification of applicants and the ultimate hiring of those who deserved it.

Earlier this year, Buttigieg made a sorry attempt to blame Trump by muddying the waters with typical Democrat rhetoric.

“We did not change the rigorous standard for becoming a certified air traffic controller.”

“Those claiming otherwise are mistaken or lying. We did increase funding and training and grew the ATC workforce after years of declining numbers, including under Trump.”

Congratulations, Mr. Milker, you are still lying to yourself and the American people. The only thing you increased was the level of incompetence in an industry that must have the highest of safety standards.  

Duffy went on to clarify that changes are being made to improve the system.

“Best qualified” are those who score 90 percent or higher, “well-qualified” applicants score between 85 and 89 percent, “qualified” applicants score between 70 and 84 percent, and those “not referred” score below 70 percent.

The left’s agenda is so narrow-minded that they cannot see the forest for the trees. They make these changes without considering any of the consequences because they can’t think broadly enough to see them.

They are dangerous and destructive, lost in a space where reality rarely visits.