Fewer meteorologists working with air traffic controllers, due to cuts, ‘burnout, fatigue and low morale,’ watchdog warns
Lightning flashes behind the control tower at McCarran International Airport during a thunderstorm in July 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Washington (CNN) — A federal government watchdog is sounding the alarm in a new report after cuts, “burnout, fatigue and low morale,” have caused the number of aviation meteorologists working with air traffic controllers to drop by 15%.
As of June, the number of National Weather Service meteorologists assigned to FAA centers dropped to 69 active meteorologists, from a target of 81.
The report points to the work environment, including an example of a meteorologist who had to reschedule medical procedures to cover for vacant positions.
“Meteorologists in the (center weather service units) and at the command center are suffering from burnout, fatigue and low morale as they are working overtime to maintain operations and are avoiding taking leave,” the report said.
The number has also fallen because of the federal government’s hiring freeze and by deferred resignation and voluntary early retirement or separation programs offered by the Trump administration.
The NWS meteorologists support the FAA at air traffic command centers and air route control centers for any weather event that could have an impact on operations and safety. The forecasters were first placed in each of the FAA’s 21 air route traffic control centers after a Southern Airways flight in 1977 flew into a thunderstorm and crashed.
Only eight of the country’s 21 “weather service units” are staffed with a full complement of four meteorologists, including Denver, Minneapolis and Chicago. Regions with two or fewer meteorologists include Oakland, California; Boston; Washington, DC and Jacksonville, Florida.
Five of these units, as of June, were also missing a local meteorologist-in-charge.
Tom Fahy, legislative director for the federal union that represents aviation meteorologists, said the staffing shortage has been a problem for a long time. He calls the burnout meteorologists are facing, “real.”
“When the FAA says, ‘If somebody goes, we’re not allowed to bring a replacement for somebody, that’s absurd because on the other side of the coin, if an air traffic controller goes down, there’s another guy that comes back and backs him up and takes over,” he said.
A 2016 agreement with the FAA called for the weather service to staff 90 full-time government meteorologists to work with controllers. However, in February, according to the report, the agreement was amended to cap staffing to 81 full-time employees.
The FAA had previously informed the weather service of its intention to reduce the number to 71, but changed its plan when the NWS warned it would put a strain on safety. However, the NWS also told the FAA it couldn’t maintain the original agreement of 90 workers.
“The (national air space) is currently under tremendous strain as air traffic controller shortages and periodic equipment failures in aging air traffic control systems have been leading to delayed and canceled flights,” the report read.
The report even notes the 2022 Southwest Airlines meltdown that saw 16,900 flights canceled and 2 million passengers stranded “began with weather problems,” and was later compounded by crew scheduling software that failed.
A plane taxis as snow begins to fall at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, in January 2022. (Photo credit: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
The FAA referred CNN to a letter included in the report, in which the Department of Transportation said it is “committed to providing the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.”
“Upon review of GAO’s draft report, FAA concurs with the recommendation to identify, in consultation with NWS, potential risks to the safety and efficiency of the NAS caused by current meteorologist staffing levels and take urgent action to address them,” the letter from Anne Byrd, DOT assistant secretary for administration read.
“At the end of the day here, this is really about aviation safety … we have a lot of Americans (who) are getting on planes and going around the world the various destinations, but when they come home, they deserve to have the best qualified aviation meteorologists working to assist them, and those are the people who work at the National Weather Service,” Fahy said.
As of July, the FAA said it is analyzing its current staffing model as well as working on a new agreement. NWS officials are hiring more meteorologists and have been “granted an exception” to the federal hiring freeze.
The existing agreement ends September 30, and, according to the NWS, the FAA has initiated an internal approval process to extend the current agreement while the parties negotiate a new one.
The DOT’s response to the report, however, notes that they could change how weather information is distributed with 64 meteorologists – five less than current conditions - in varying field support locations.
“This is slowly trying to burn us out or squeeze us out,” Fahy said.
The DOT will provide a detailed response to the report within 180 days of the final report issuance, the letter read.
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