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Drunk and asleep on the job: Air traffic controllers pushed to the brink

By Emily Steel and Sydney Ember
New York Times·
8 mins to read

One air traffic controller went into work drunk this summer and joked about “making big money buzzed”. Another routinely smoked marijuana during breaks. A third employee threatened violence and then “aggressively pushed” a colleague who was directing aeroplanes.

The incidents were extreme examples, but they fit into a pattern that reveals glaring vulnerabilities in one of the most important protective layers of the United States’ aviation safety system.

In the past two years, US air traffic controllers and others have

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