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🍀 Happy St. Patrick’s Day to those who celebrate. Fewer clouds today, with highs in the 40s. Sunset is at 6:52 p.m.
Airports around the country are facing a critical shortage of air traffic controllers. According to a recent federal watchdog analysis, the number of air traffic controllers in the US has declined by 6% over the past decade, even as the number of flights using the system has increased.
How is a state-of-the-art air traffic control simulator, housed in a quiet facility near the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, helping to address this problem? GBH News transportation reporter Jeremy Siegel headed there to find out. But first, the news.
Four Things to Know
- In a first-of-its-kind for Massachusetts, several disability organizations sued the city of Worcester yesterday, alleging discrimination in how it handles 911 calls. In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Monday, three organizations that work with children and adults with mental disabilities said that when someone calls 911 in Worcester for a mental health crisis — such as suicidal ideation or PTSD episodes — armed officers are the first responders. That’s a marked difference from reports of a physical health problem — such as a heart attack, stroke or chest pain — to which the city sends EMTs and health professionals.
- Raising separation-of-powers concerns, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday that it would be “inappropriate” for judges to order increased pay rates for defense attorneys representing indigent clients beyond the amounts provided by the Legislature. Hundreds of cases were dismissed last year when bar advocates representing indigent clients demanded higher pay and stopped taking new cases. The Legislature agreed to a $20-an-hour raise over two years but also allocated $40 million to CPCS, with the aim of hiring about 320 public defenders and reducing the state’s reliance on bar advocates.
- A research institution in Woods Hole has uncovered what’s believed to be the oldest recorded whale call… somewhat accidentally. When Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution archivist Ashley Jester was working on digitizing early audio recordings — some housed on reel-to-reel recordings and others on early magnetic cassette tapes — descriptions of the contents written on their paper sleeves caught her eye. “It said things like 'fish noises’ and 'whoop whoop fish’,” she said. “And that made me think there was probably something interesting on that recording, but we didn’t know what it was.”
- Six years ago, the Massachusetts state government launched an unprecedented series of actions as COVID-19 started spreading within the commonwealth. Now state lawmakers are looking back on those early weeks of the pandemic and what they learned from that time. State Sen. Bill Driscoll, then a member of the Massachusetts House, remembers talking to fellow lawmakers early in 2020 about the idea that “the world was going to shut down at some point, it looked like.” With a toddler at home, Driscoll said he’d start those conversations with a comment about not knowing how he’d get rid of dirty diapers if trash pickup had to stop for a while. “And that was my inroads into ‘something’s happening, we should be paying attention,’” recalled the Milton Democrat.
How UMass Amherst is helping stem the shortage of air traffic controllers
By Jeremy Siegel
Cole Fitzpatrick sat behind a massive desk with screens spread out along the wall before him. A high-definition view of Baltimore/Washington International Airport beamed across the monitors.
A joystick was in one hand, a keyboard in the other. A radio headset hugged his ears. Beneath his foot was a pedal used for communicating with pilots entering his airspace.
Suddenly, a voice crackled on the radio: “Southwest 659, requesting clearance to land on runway 15-L.”
The voice on the other end of the radio wasn’t a real pilot; it was Fitzpatrick’s boss, Michael Knodler, director of the UMass Transportation Center. Fitzpatrick is a research assistant and engineering professor at UMass Amherst, and was demonstrating a state-of-the-art air traffic control simulator housed in a quiet facility near the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee.
Airports around the country are facing a critical shortage of air traffic controllers. According to a recent federal watchdog analysis, the number of air traffic controllers in the U.S. has declined by 6% in the past decade, even as the number of flights using the system has increased.
Fitzpatrick and Knodler’s team is working to ease the crisis by inspiring the next generation of air traffic controllers.
“We really have to target young people,” Fitzpatrick said, explaining that the Federal Aviation Administration strictly regulates who can become an air traffic controller. Applicants must be younger than 31, and an application requires years of training in advance.
To expose kids to the field early, Fitzpatrick said, UMass invites high school classes to its Chicopee facility to try out the simulator. He said some find the process similar to using an Xbox or PlayStation.
“They’re young. They’ve played video games,” he said. “They love it.”
According to Knodler, it’s a win-win scenario because the FAA likes to see gamers apply for the job.
Recruits have to take a psychological test to make sure they can handle the fast-paced environment of an air traffic control tower.
“A lot of the time, they’re thinking about folks that are avid gamers, that can handle a lot of information coming to them in real time,” he explained. “Or, potentially, somebody that can handle a drive-thru at a really busy restaurant.”
But inspiring students is only one piece of the puzzle. Actually becoming an air traffic controller is a complex and difficult process.
Read more about Jeremy’s visit and what it takes to become an air traffic controller here.
Dig Deeper
-What do laid-off workers, immigrants and Gateway Cities have in common? Money worries.
-It’s really painful’: Gas station owners are struggling as oil prices soar
-Boston nonprofit details how children are dying due to last year’s USAID cuts
