Critics aghast as Trump official floats raising retirement age for air traffic controllers

Trump Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Wednesday horrified many observers when he floated raising the retirement age for air traffic controllers.

Duffy's remarks came during an appearance on Fox Business in which he wondered why air traffic controllers retired from their jobs after 25 years of service, and he suggested that America could fix its current shortage of ATCs by having them work longer.

"We have too many controllers that retire after 25 years of service," Duffy complained to Fox Business's Stuart Varney. "And so we have to look and go, is this a national security issue? Is this a safety issue? And should these air traffic controllers be retiring after 25 years of service?"

As critics noted, extensive studies have shown that having ATCs work past the age of 56 significantly reduces their effectiveness and increases the likelihood that a deadly mistake occurs on their watch.

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In fact, author Tyler King pointed to the specific law passed by Congress that requires ATCs to retire at 56 specifically for this reason.

"Air traffic controllers are required by law to retire at a certain age because the job is incredibly stressful and requires such a high level of mental acuity and focus," King wrote on BlueSky.

"Yes, it's a safety issue!" exclaimed Princeton historian Kevin Kruse. "You don't have to "look into it," Encyclopedia Brownshirt. They've already studied this extensively."

"25 years seems like a long time to do an incredibly stressful job that requires intense focus the entire time you're on the clock," remarked journalist James Surowiecki on X.

Economist Patrick Chovanec was amused that Duffy was mulling making the ATCs work for longer given that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency had been trying to push them out the door just weeks ago.

"I thought they were PUSHING for people to retire early?" he asked.

National security attorney Bradley Moss commented on the seeming cruelty of the idea being floated by Duffy and wrote, "You are no longer allowed to retire."