Former air traffic controller Michael Pearson explains where Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy can find help to fix the FAA and connects the ongoing issues back to former President Barack Obama and his administration on ‘The Bottom Line.’
While air traffic operations and flights across the U.S. have been limited due to the ongoing government shutdown, one former air traffic controller is sharing a potential solution to get airports back to normal operations.
“The mess that Secretary Duffy was left with, unfortunately, he’s in a situation where he is relying on people in the FAA – the very same people who created the messes over the last 30 years, actually, a failed NextGen program, billions of dollars spent, and have wasted and pilfered money,” Michael Pearson said on “The Bottom Line” Thursday.
“Secretary Duffy needs to pull away from the legacy FAA deep state bureaucrats that created this mess,” he continued, “and get some outside counseling on how to really fix it. There are people out there that can do it. He’s certainly not gonna find the answers and fishing in the same well where the deceit and fraud came from.”
Starting Friday, 40 of the busiest airports in the U.S. will see a 10% reduction in flights after the FAA announced it is forcing airlines to cut back due to pressure on air traffic controllers during the shutdown.
TURBULENCE AHEAD: CHARTS SHOW HOW THE SHUTDOWN IS DISRUPTING AMERICA’S AIRPORTS
The shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, has forced about 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents to work without pay.
A Delta Air Lines plane takes off near an FAA air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (Getty Images)
Since the shutdown began on Oct. 1, tens of thousands of flights have been delayed because of widespread air traffic control shortages. Airlines say at least 3.2 million travelers have been affected by the staffing crisis, FOX Business previously reported.
Pearson said the strain on air traffic controllers began during the Obama administration.
“DEI ideologues … decided that the color of the controller was more important than the competency of the controller,” he said. “This happened in 2011 through 2014. So the 3,000 to 3,500 air traffic controllers that we need, and we’ve needed for over 10 years, are directly related to and correlated to the disastrous policy of the Obama administration.”
President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association Nick Daniels discusses reduction in air traffic amid the government shutdown on ‘America Reports.’
“That’s leading to fatigue. You have 3,500 less traffic controllers, some of the major facilities are understaffed, not all, but some of them are,” Pearson added. “But I know for a fact the controllers have been working in some facilities six days a week, eight to 10 hours a day.”
Controllers shouldn’t blame current leadership for the shutdown, he argued, but rather the “deep roots” in the FAA, “all the way to the very top of the agency.”
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‘Outnumbered’ details the expected cuts to air travel as the Trump administration aims to ease pressure on air traffic controllers as the government shutdown continues.
“The Trump administration was given an absolute mess, and they’re going to have to talk to individuals and get people outside the beltway who know how to fix it if they ever want to succeed. I do believe they’re trying to do the right things. I don’t believe they are going in the right direction at this time, because again, they’re relying on legacy folks who created the issues,” Pearson explained.
“And a perfect example is, one of them told Duffy in a press conference four to five months ago that the system could be fixed in two years. That’s insanity. No one inside the industry, or even outside the industry, that knows the way the FAA works will believe that’s true.”
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FOX Business’ Pilar Arias contributed to this report.