Andrew Tangel
speaker
65 appearances
5 recordings
3 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard May 2025
Andrew Tangel’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
We heard he wanted to go public and talk to us on the record, and we were eager to get his perspective.
It was suggested that we meet at a gun range he goes to. And at this particular range, there's this lounge that's outfitted with Chesterfield chairs and couches and fireplace. It's very cozy.
And why do you like it?
What do air traffic controllers do and what role do they play in aviation safety?
The delays resulting from New York generally, including this particular facility, ripple throughout the country.
They thought the new location in Philadelphia would be more attractive and lead to more success, lead to more of a pipeline for training. And early on, the FAA had touted some early signs of potential success. They had a healthier pipeline of trainees coming in. They found Philly more attractive. And look, Philadelphia is more affordable than Long Island.
When the FAA pulled off this move, they did so with a technological workaround, essentially. They didn't move a radar system or open up a new radar system. They opened up a satellite radar system that basically was just getting a feed via relay from the previous location on Long Island. And that introduced a lot of technological risks.
Every controller's nightmare is what happened at Reagan National in January, where a plane and a helicopter collided. That is, these are safety professionals behind the scenes. They do not want that to happen. And their tools are radar and radios. And when those go out, I've heard it compared to driving down the highway blindfolded and your hands tied.
The controllers were very shaken by this event on April 28th and the ones subsequent to it. And they were stressed out and they were worried about something bad happening. And after that event, four of them took stress-related trauma leave from their positions. And that added to the disruptions and staffing constraints at an already thinly staffed facility.
You yourself are on trauma leave right now, correct? Correct. Yes. Could you walk us through the close call on May 4th that led you to take that leave?
Overall, what's been the toll of the fatigue and stress of the job on you personally?
One thing we wanted to accomplish with the interview is just to humanize one of these air traffic controllers who are right in the middle of this. They are behind the scenes. They're the ones who are under pressure to keep the planes on time and keep everyone safe with the resources that they have or don't have.
I hope him coming forward helps personalize the situation and can help people at least see who the humans are behind the scenes. Is there anything you want to add? Anything I didn't ask about that I should have asked about?
They lost their radios and their radars for about 90 seconds, and they couldn't communicate with pilots. And that was a very scary situation for the controllers. They are managing Busy, complex airspace, and they keep airplanes safely separated. They tell them where to go, where to point the nose, how fast to go, all of that, and keep them out of harm's way.
And they do that with the tools that went dead.
There are planes taking off, landing, going hundreds of miles per hour. They're all in sequence. They need to know where not to fly. They need to know not to go in a certain direction to not have a conflict with another aircraft and crash into it.
And when the basic tools that air traffic controllers use don't work, it's very scary for them, but it raises obvious safety issues for the traveling public.
So that results in controllers needing to work six-day weeks, 10-hour days. There are reports of fatigue, stress, and so forth. I mean, controllers are known to like overtime, but some say that after a while, they'd rather have a better life-work balance.
The state of the system is really a function of years and years of neglect. It is a question about whether or not this administration that is focused on slowing down in many ways can beef up a very anemic and neglected system that everyone seems to think is long overdue for an overhaul.
The air traffic control system is this vast nationwide network of radars and navigation aids and air traffic control facilities, but a lot of the equipment is really old. And the state of the system is really a function of years and years of neglect.
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