The Nation : Air Traffic Control Praised

The nation’s air traffic control system is safe even though there are more flights and fewer experienced controllers monitoring takeoffs and landings, Donald D. Engen, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.” Rep. Guy V. Molinari (R-N.Y.), a member of the House aviation subcommittee who also appeared on the program, disagreed with Engen’s assessment. He said that because of a shortage of controllers, they “are so busy, separating planes and rerouting them around weather, that they don’t disseminate weather information to the pilots.” Engen countered that “we have every controller we need at this time. If I had more controllers today, I literally couldn’t use them.”