An internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety report on the Wednesday night fatal collision between an American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter has revealed that staffing at the air traffic control tower at the DC-area airport was “not normal.”
The internal safety report, reviewed by the New York Times, stated that the number of staff at Reagan National Airport’s air traffic control tower was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.” The controller in the tower Wednesday evening was handling both helicopters in the airport’s vicinity as well as instructing planes that were departing from and landing on the airport’s runways. The outlet noted that those jobs are typically assigned to two controllers.
The tower at DC’s closest airport has reportedly been understaffed for years, being nearly a third below targeted staff levels as of September 2023, with 19 fully certified controllers. Many controllers have had to work up to six days per week and 10 hours per day.
A May 2024 report from CNN stated that air traffic control stations across the country were around 3,000 controllers short at the time. In the 2023 fiscal year, the FAA hired around 1,512 new controller candidates but lost 1,300 employees during the same timeframe, which included retired employees or candidates who dropped out of training. Around 400 people failed the FAA’s academy and another 109 who had been farther along in training dropped out.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in 2023 lamented air traffic control shortages in New York, calling it “unacceptable,” per Reuters. This came as the FAA extended cuts to its minimum flight requirements at area airports over staffing shortages, with the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control staffing sitting at just 54 percent of recommended staffing at the time. […]
— Read More: thepostmillennial.com
Why One Survival Food Company Shines Above the Rest
Let’s be real. “Prepper Food” or “Survival Food” is generally awful. The vast majority of companies that push their cans, bags, or buckets desperately hope that their customers never try them and stick them in the closet or pantry instead. Why? Because if the first time they try them is after the crap hits the fan, they’ll be too shaken to call and complain about the quality.
It’s true. Most long-term storage food is made with the cheapest possible ingredients with limited taste and even less nutritional value. This is why they tout calories so much. Sure, they provide calories but does anyone really want to go into the apocalypse with food their family can’t stand?
This is what prompted the Llewellyns to launch Heaven’s Harvest. They bought survival food from multiple companies and determined they couldn’t imagine being stuck in an extended emergency with such low-quality food. They quickly discovered that freeze drying food for long-term storage doesn’t have to mean sacrificing flavor, consistency, or nutrition.
Their ingredients are all-American. In fact, they’re locally sourced and all-natural! This allows their products to be the highest quality on the market, so good that their customers often break open a bag in a pinch to eat because they want to, not just because they have to due to an emergency.
At Heaven’s Harvest, their only focus is amazing food. They don’t sell bugout bags, solar chargers, or multitools. They have one mission – feeding Americans in times of crisis.
What they DO offer is the ability for people to thrive in times of greatest need. On top of long-term storage food, they offer seeds to help Americans for the truly long-term. They want them to grow their own food if possible which is why they offer only Heirloom, Non-GMO, Non-Hybrid, Open-Pollinated seeds so their customers can build permanent food security on their own property.
