Fmr Air Traffic Controller to Newsmax: Obama Admin Chose Color Over Competency
14th November 2025
As flight delays ease nationwide after days of disruption, a former air traffic controller is placing blame for the FAA’s long-running staffing shortages on hiring policies implemented under the Obama administration.
Former air traffic controller Michael Pearson told Newsmax on Thursday the FAA’s workforce crisis traces back to 2011, when he asserted the administration “chose color over competency” by discarding a pool of roughly 3,000 qualified applicants and introducing a controversial biographical assessment.
According to Pearson, those applicants had already passed aptitude tests, held relevant college degrees, and completed controller training programs at no taxpayer cost.