- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
Summary
The Trump administration emailed air traffic controllers urging them to quit and accept buyouts 24 hours after a fatal Reagan plane crash.
At 8:30 p.m. Thursday, the email urged federal employees to pursue private-sector jobs, offering pay incentives and vacation benefits while on government payroll.
This program contradicts established rules by allowing second employment, sparking union concerns about losing experienced personnel amid an air traffic controller shortage.
Trump blamed previous administrations for safety issues and misrepresented FAA standards, intensifying culture wars as officials remain uncertain about the buyout program’s future.
Yeah, rumor goes this started because the FAA had issues with Starship blowing up and raining debris, and Musk deciding to teach them a lesson.
It’s more that SpaceX has consistently lied on the forms that it gave the FAA, EPA, etc and have been cited multiple times. (See the saga about the blast deflection plate and the deluge water being industrial runoff they were letting drain into the nearby protected wetlands)
The starship exploding thing was a proverbial slap on the wrist and Elon still threw a fit.
The thing is that the Starship issue really isn’t that big a deal. There is always an FAA investigation after every spacecraft or aircraft flight anomaly.
It’s not the first time and definitely won’t be the last that a craft will fail to get to orbit, especially experimental ones like Starship units current iterative form.
The bigger question with the Starship anomaly is whether the active flight routes in that area during the launch window were normal or unexpected. Closer to the launch site there are large restricted areas, and launches are negotiated ahead of time and paths well known. Planes aren’t normally under the direct flight path for that exact reason.