Rolling Stone reports:

While air traffic controllers were supposedly immune from the purge, some air traffic control support workers were terminated, the FAA worker says. Rolling Stone separately spoke with a fired FAA employee whose job involved ensuring flight paths account for hazards like cranes and new buildings, as well as another terminated FAA staffer who ensured that pilots are medically able and cleared to fly. No one wants their plane to cross paths with a crane, of course, but the latter role is important, too, given the nation’s ongoing pilot shortage.

One particularly confounding round of firings last week — one that confused even agency personnel who were anticipating a Trumpian bloodletting — included several attorneys who work to ensure that licensed pilots in the United States aren’t putting the broader public in danger or hiding criminal records, health concerns, or serious addictions, according to the sources.

This work in the Aviation Litigation Division involves investigating flight schools that improperly or negligently train pilots; potentially suspending the licenses of private or commercial-airline pilots who get DUIs and other relevant criminal charges that would suggest it is unwise to allow them to fly planes full of passengers; dealing with commercial pilots if they’re caught engaging in reckless or unsafe behavior, or lying about a drinking problem or an illicit drug dependency; and addressing reports that drone operators are breaking FAA rules and regulations. [Continue reading…]