Elon Musk on Thursday made a plea for “top notch” air traffic controllers to come out of retirement to help ease a shortage of skilled aviation workers as public concern over flight safety mounts.
Musk, the face of the government’s cost-cutting task force, has taken a special interest in revamping the Federal Aviation Agency, calling for “rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system.”
But fears about the country’s aviation system have grown after a deadly DC plane crash and a series of near-misses – prompting Musk to call for retired air traffic controllers to return to towers.
“There is a shortage of top notch air traffic controllers,” Musk said Thursday in a post on X, his social media platform.
“If you have retired, but are open to returning to work, please consider doing so.”
The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy earlier this month praised the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, team for helping to “upgrade” the aviation system. Duffy then started fired about 400 FAA staffers, stressing: “Zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go.”
The layoffs did include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, according to the Associated Press.
The culling by Duffy came just weeks after a fatal mid-air crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
On Jan. 29, an American Airlines jet was preparing to land when it collided with a Black Hawk helicopter, sending both aircraft plummeting into the Potomac River.
All 64 passengers on board the plane, including several young figure skaters who were returning from a skating camp, along with three people in the military chopper were killed.
In the following weeks, several other plane mishaps have led to rising concerns from panicked passengers that there is a shortage of crucial air safety workers.
On Feb. 17, a Delta Air Lines jet flipped upside down, lost a wing and skidded along a snowy Toronto runway before bursting into flames.
All 80 passengers on board survived, and those who were hurt suffered minor injuries.
Earlier this week, a Delta flight was forced to turn around and return to Atlanta after takeoff when the crew reported “possible smoke.”
The incident occurred just two days after another Delta jet headed for Australia was forced to return to Los Angeles when smoke was detected in the plane’s galley mid-air.
Also this week, two separate flights were forced to abort their landings at Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport and at Chicago’s Midway International Airport to avoid colliding with two other planes on the runway.
Shocking footage of the near-miss incident in Chicago went viral on social media.
Experts have suggested that an uptick in media coverage is responsible for the perceived aviation crisis.
“Accidents are getting increasing exposure from social media platforms,” Marco Chan, former pilot and senior lecturer at Buckinghamshire New University, told the BBC.
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