Air Traffic Controller here. Thank you for shining a light on us. The truth of the matter is that many controllers make about 1/2 what media outlets and this administration like to say we make (most say $160k). Controllers at smaller and medium-sized airports make $70k a year while ensuring the safety of millions of people and facilitating the transit of billions of dollars of commerce/cargo. Much like teachers who make even less, controllers shouldn't struggle to afford a modest home or lifestyle for the responsibility put upon them. Pay is one of the biggest issues for most of us, and unfortunately our Union won't adequately talk about it. I know several trainees that have quit because they were able to find other jobs that were far less stressful and paid more.

As a subject matter expert on table-top training at the Academy at OKC, yes we sometimes make airplane noises. 😂 Good piece, guys, very accurate.

I’m an air traffic controller and this was extremely well done. One thing that almost no one realizes about our job is how absolutely awful and draining our schedules can be. While it was mentioned that there is often mandatory overtime and 10 hour days, what is not said is that almost every shift we work is different day to day. It’s rare that schedules have any consistency and this only exacerbates the fatigue issues. One day you may be at work until midnight, and the next day you’re scheduled to be in at 10am. Based on the work we do, the schedules we work, and the stress associated with the job, we are so woefully underpaid it’s insane.

The FAA "recruitment" video at the end was one of the funniest things I have EVER seen. I need a full season of this as a TV show with this EXACT cast.

Pilot here: I land the planes and keep people safe, but ATC keeps me safe. Any pilot worth a damn knows that ATC is your best friend up there, followed closely by your checklists

Air traffic controller here. Weve been sounding the alarm about the staffing issue since the reagan administration.

The fact that the FAA budget is discretionary is legitimately insane.

Controller and Marine Vet here. Thank you for making this. The PR for us is extremely disappointing. I shared it with everyone. I have to say the bat tower part made me laugh really hard. The rest just made me sick cause it’s so true I just can’t think about it any more. I love this job, but if you’re a rare hard to find/train/retain individual why aren’t we paid like it? Pilots make much more money than we do, yet we are the ones responsible for their separation from aircraft and weather. Pilots deserve every penny they make, not trying to say otherwise but it’s bad for us. Looking at national averages is nonsense. Most of these facilities are in expensive cities. I know of trainees living in cars in Cali/extremely long commute times. If you don’t want that you’ll be at a small facility making far less than the national averages in a cheaper rural area. We just deserve better than that. We should thrive as upstanding citizens. It just makes me wonder sometimes how hard it has to be for everybody else.

Former controller here. Best piece that I’ve seen on this and holy crap, he actually got the whole story: the grueling selection and training at MMAC, certification, burnout and decades of neglect and can kicking by multiple administrations on both sides.

H. Jon Benjamin just yelling at a plane to turn around through the window is all I needed today.

I'm going on 37 years of ATC, I got my first certification at 19 in the USAF and closing out my career in the FAA. This is the best piece I've ever seen done on a career I've dedicated, like so many others, my life too. I hope they finally listen and improve the working conditions of my fellow controllers going forward.

John, I'm a recently retired air traffic controller and your show on this is spot on. We dealt with bees, flooded and leaky towers, fly infestations, and shades that didn't retract. We had to work night traffic with our tower shades stuck in the down position, and not being able to see aircraft through the shades and windows. Your analysis of staffing is spot on too. My last tower has been staffed at 60% for the last 3 years! It's crazy. ATC is a hard job on a good day. On a bad day it's damn near impossible.

John, from the bottom of my heart, as a pilot working her way through time building and having heard a plane go down on the radio in the middle of the night. Thank you so much for doing a show on this topic. Our amazing controllers are heroes, they save lives every day, and I've seen that literally be true. We need more of them, we need them to have adequate pay and resources to effectively do their jobs, because their jobs are to keep all of us safe, in the air and on the ground underneath the planes overhead. I cannot express how good it feels to see this topic with as big a platform as yours. Thank you!

"By 2025, which is, and this is true, now" got me really good. 10/10 line

Retired air traffic controller here. I retired towards the end of 2023, less than a week after gaining eligibility to retire. When I hired into the FAA, my area had 61 people assigned to it. When I retired: My area was going to bid only 29 people. There was no singular reason I retired, but many of them had to do with quality of life. I can empathize with some trainees that are quitting in the middle of their training program. The quality of life is not there when a lot of controllers are working 6-day workweeks.

Retired airline pilot here. One of the best explanations of our ATC. problems. Loved the last segment! ❤😂 BTW, we had the best ATC in the world before Reagan destroyed it. We never fully recovered from that devastation!

Air traffic controller here. This was very well-researched. Please pay us more and give us time off. Thanks.

Recently retired from FAA as an ATC. I lived this from 1991-2021. Thank you for taking the time to do the actual research that this topic deserves! This is one of the best, most easily understandable to the general public, presentations I've seen of the chain of events that got us to where things are today. A tip of the hat to you sir! Exceptionally well done!

16 year ATCer here. Thanks everyone for the support we are receiving. Thank you to the pilots especially for stepping up and giving us your support. You guys have been awesome to work with. I've been telling people about these issues for years and to see it play out in the media now is insane. This is the best report I've seen on the issues yet. I appreciate John Oliver and his crew for putting it out there in such a funny way. I've worked at low, mid, and high level facilities and the issues are universal in atc. We are stretched thin and continuously lose people due to the stress the job puts on them and their families. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight except retirement. But like i said, the awareness of the issues, and the support we are receiving has really been phenomenal. Thank you guys!

Thank you to all of you ATCs out there. I had a yoga student who was (likely still is) an ATC and she would talk about the stress of the job, mentioning some (but not all) of this and I remember thinking it sounded like one of the most stressful jobs ever. Thank you!