COLORADO SPRINGS — It has been less than a week since President Donald Trump's administration began layoffs across federal agencies. This is all a part of the president's plan to cut the federal government's spending.
President Trump's administration has fired hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees who are probationary workers (administrative and maintenance workers), not air traffic controllers.
"I (say it) can have an effect," said Nick Blaylock, a retired FAA air traffic controller.
Blaylock says he worked as an air traffic controller in Dallas for 29 years. He says he's seen the impact when he was working there.
"If they happened to have an approach to a piece of equipment, they are the ones that are doing scheduling to make sure that (the) tech ops person gets out and get that fixed," said Blaylock.
David Spero, President of Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, echoes similar concerns.
"These are folks that make everything happen; they grind the gears so the rest of us engaged in aviation safety can make sure that all of that is happening," said Spero.
Blaylock says every job is connected closely for a reason.
"If you want to put it in perspective, they are the heart of the body. Everything else is vessels. If you take people out that are providing that blood flow back to the heart, the heart is going to die," said Blaylock.
Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation, said on his X account that zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go. He said, "Mayor Pete (Buttigieg) failed for four years to address the air traffic controller shortage and upgrade our outdated, World War II-era air traffic control system."
Blaylock understands why layoffs happened in the first place, but the impact is still something to watch.
"Whatever positions may be, they are immediately going to be impacting the staffing that is already drastically short," said Blaylock.
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