http://information.travel.aol.com/news-and-tips/air-traffic-controllers?ncid=AOLCOMMtravdynlprim0418&icid=100214839x1212308153x1200804449

Do you ever read something, or see something, experience something in any way that has premonition written all over it? Everything about that something screams "something really bad is about to happen" and it's made worse by the realization that absolutely nobody else sees it? After reading the article above, which I hope you all read, I got such a feeling and can't help but hope we start to talk more about this. "This" is the phenomenon that's happening in all professions every where. Experienced veterans of the field are being let go in order to replace them with three new-bees for less money then the one original was getting. All this is done for the purpose of corporate finance cut backs, under the premise of creating new jobs. One person looses a job, but three new people get one. That's progress right? What it's really doing is creating a terrible, potentially dangerous situation by putting novices in the drivers seats, before they're off their learning permits. In the case of this article, they're at the wheel of a vehicle capable of killing 300 in one misstep.

I've seen so much media coverage of the plite of airliners and gas prices. I've read so much coverage about how travel has been effected, yet this is the first time I've heard anything like this. Anything directly connected to public safety. And the quote with in the above listed article about the novice radar controller's "conspiracy" theories. I thought that deserved to be looked into. It's natural after all, since 911 occurred and we all experienced the terror that can be unleashed using the airways. Now an article like this comes out and reveals the volatile situation from day to day, it brings up some old fears. Fears that never got the answers or actions from the authorities in "control" to really be quelled or put to rest, just buried deep in attempts to hold on to our own sanity. Here I believe is an amazing opportunity for a reporter to really dig into the politics behind these cut backs. Why are veterans being let go at a time when our airways need to be tighter then ever. Cut backs began about two years ago. They happened in the midst of most of the press covering concerns and complaints about tightened air port security. Supposedly airports were getting safer then ever, yet airways were being left to novices, and 'near misses' increased from 20 in one year to 62 in two months?

WTF??????

Where was the media on this topic? And why is more not being revealed or dug up. If you all remember there were a ton of conspiracy theories about test drills run in exact replica of the Sept. 11th attacks just the day before the attacks themselves. There were conspiracy theories floating everywhere about the US government being able to clearly see the redirection of those planes, and doing nothing about it. Now air traffic controllers that have experience are being laid off, or have experience salary cut backs SOOOO insulting they have no real reason to stay on. They're being given what I (as an avid Yankee fan) would call a "Torre" ultimatum. It's the kind of ultimatum that plays so closely on everything you know about that persons character that it's really not an ultimatum at all, but a "go fuck your self" dressed up as one. These ultimatums are designed to basically displace responsibility onto the victim of the situation and relieve the guilty party of any ties to it. Any and every veteran air traffic controller will be "choosing to retire" and "leaving the industry when it needs them the most". They'll play the bad guys and the industry will get off cheap in more then just a fiscal way. There's terrible written all over it. But that's just the surface.

The bigger terrible here is that people who don't know what the hell they're doing are directing our planes in and out and around the skies. Chills and shivers couldn't be generated better by the likes of King, Craven and Hitchcock combined. Media has JUMPED on stories of industry cut backs, job reduction and foreclosures, but this story slipped through their fingers for two years now. Two years over which the skies have become significantly more dangerous, just as we started to think we were healing from the terrorist air attacks of 911. I mean, it's one thing for an advertising company to let go it's top graphic executives to hire intern designs right out of FIT for half the price. It's sad and sell out, but it's not immediately dangerous. But this IS immediately dangerous. We were being told airport security was tightening, when it was really decreasing- wasn't it?

I hope the media jumps on this. Digging further into this story would be absolutely meaty and rewarding. Perhaps not just to the media, but to travelers at large. It's a topic we need to know more about.