Almost....the FAA is the school board, the ATCs are the teachers taking the cuts, and the flying public are the kids being dealt the consequences. ORD had no delays the first two days, I think it shows we aren't intentionally slowing traffic. Today, with a different configuration requiring more bodies (parallel monitors and feeders), there is a delay program. MDW, which uses the same number of approach controllers in any configuration or wx, still has no delays at all.

Yeah, but that's a Southwest hub.

I'm still waiting on my pizza party.....

Don't play ball with SWA, then you'll get pizza. IOW, sequester them.

Hey fellas....are we "winning in NY"? If DL wants this market, they can have it. NYC is basically a third world area. If you don't believe me look at your cell phone when you are at JFK/LGA.....no 3G....who doesn't have 3G? They can eat the delays caused by the east coast market.

That's because they have 4G for the rest of us. You should try it.

+1 well said. People will complain and complain about this until theres a serious loss of separation / ATC incident then things might quiet down. Just like pilots at the majors won't raise their voice about regional poverty wages until a Buffalo happens.

As one who has spent the past three days flying multiple legs domestically, amen. It's a charade and its going to backfire big time. The FAA spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year on consultants...that hasn't been slashed. Dump the consultants and pay the controllers and problem solved.

Or, how about this? ATC guys take a 30% pay cut across the board like the rest of us did and keep on keepin' on.

Local government entities have taken over funding of local control towers as a stop gap measure.

At my local airport (where we did just fine without a control tower for 50+ years) we have a control tower to "get jet traffic." Apparently a control tower is required to "get jet traffic" because no one with a Commerical Pilot rating has a cell phone or knows how to work a remote radio.

Meanwhile we sit, sweat and burn $7.50 a gallon avgas while propping doors open to allow a Cessna Citation shoot a 90 knot approach from 15 miles away when it is CAVU. Even worse when a single pilot operator taxis up to the runway and then decides to "open an instrument flight plan." This seems to happen inverse to the actual need to depart IFR. (ie 135 operator will launch into skud with a Lear 25, but the guy with a G1000 Cessna C172 needs to get everything set up when he is able to see Stone Mountain from Chattanooga ... and the "tower to get jet traffic" encourages this buffonnery.

Despite the pleas of pilots to "YEAH! Close that damned control tower" so traffic would start moving again (as well as to promote low passes and other forms of airport entertainment) ... the County stepped in and is paying the bill.

So, why can't AATC and the other various public / private user groups fund the Controller staffing issue at hub airports?

Sure it might be aback door into user fees, but hell, have you seen how much tax we pay?

The government seems to be encouraging smoking and drinking since those taxes are lower. Fortunately we'll have Obamacare to deal with cirrhosis and lung cancer.

Rant over ...

P.S. Wonder if the IRS is taking furloughs?

89,000

Sequester Hits IRS, More than 89,000 Employees Furloughed - ABC News



What I don't understand is instead naming 5-7 random days off, why not simply say we aren't paying you for 5-7 federal holidays that they wouldn't be working any way? What sense does it make to shut down 5-7 days w/o pay when you can just take away pay on said federal holidays? I suppose its because the taxpayers wouldn't notice the federal entities being closed on holidays as they would expect it.

Then again it's the gov so it isn't supposed to make sense I suppose.