The Matt Walsh Show - January 03, 2026


I Asked For Your Stories...And The Air Traffic Controller Controversy Is WORSE Than I Thought


Episode Stats


Length

11 minutes

Words per minute

193.88477

Word count

2,194

Sentence count

164

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, we re talking about Air Traffic Control (ATC) and why it s one of the most important jobs in the airline industry. We also hear about a disturbing comment made by an ATC instructor about a black pilot.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Thanks to HomeServe for sponsoring this episode.
00:00:02.640 There are a lot of perks to owning a home versus renting from a landlord,
00:00:05.380 but one of the things that most people dread about buying and owning a home
00:00:08.560 are the expensive repairs that are bound to happen.
00:00:11.020 Regular homeowners insurance does not cover everyday repairs like plumbing failures
00:00:15.500 and electrical issues, leaving you on your own to cover the repairs.
00:00:18.880 But now there's another option called HomeServe.
00:00:21.680 For as little as $4.99 a month, you've got backup when things break.
00:00:26.300 Instead of frantically searching for a contractor in a panic,
00:00:29.420 you could already be on the phone with HomeServe's 24-7 hotline,
00:00:33.220 getting someone scheduled.
00:00:34.520 HomeServe has a lot of different plans to choose from that cover different things.
00:00:38.200 Just pick a plan that fits your budget, and when something goes wrong,
00:00:41.320 all you have to do is call HomeServe, and they will handle it.
00:00:44.960 They've been doing this for over 20 years with a network of 2,600 local contractors.
00:00:49.920 HomeServe could have been great when my wife and I first bought a house.
00:00:52.840 Instead of spending hours calling around for quotes and costs,
00:00:56.340 could have just called HomeServe and would have been one call and done.
00:01:00.360 Well, you know, you can help protect your home systems and your wallet with HomeServe
00:01:04.860 against covered repairs.
00:01:07.120 Plans start at just $4.99 a month.
00:01:09.000 Go to HomeServe.com to find the plan that's right for you.
00:01:12.080 That's HomeServe.com.
00:01:13.340 Not available everywhere.
00:01:14.600 Most plans range between $4.99 to $1,199 a month your first year.
00:01:18.740 Terms apply on covered repairs.
00:01:20.040 So, for a couple of years now on the show, we've been tracking the issue of flight safety,
00:01:28.160 the airline industry, all the issues in the airline industry.
00:01:30.980 And a couple of days ago, we did a show about air traffic control in particular.
00:01:36.220 And we know about DEI and the airline industry and what's happened there.
00:01:40.900 We know about we've got planes falling apart in the skies, doors falling off,
00:01:44.520 and all that sort of thing.
00:01:45.120 So, there are the issues in the cockpit.
00:01:47.000 There are the issues with how the planes are being assembled.
00:01:49.780 But maybe most concerning of all, it's air traffic control
00:01:53.220 because these are the people who we are relying on to,
00:01:56.640 while we're all in the air, we're at their mercy.
00:01:58.420 And they're going to be the ones who are first line of defense
00:02:01.600 to stop us from having a mid-air collision.
00:02:03.960 And we know what happens, as we've seen.
00:02:05.680 Tragedy strikes when that job is not done in a satisfactory way.
00:02:09.940 So, we talked about that recently.
00:02:11.620 A lot of comments from people in this industry or around it.
00:02:14.380 And I think the takeaway from these comments, as always,
00:02:18.120 is that if you're kind of depressed based on what you heard on my show,
00:02:21.460 it's actually way worse than that.
00:02:23.860 I'm an underrated optimist, actually, it turns out.
00:02:26.460 Because when you start reading the comments,
00:02:29.260 it's always like, yeah, it's that bad, but it's so much worse.
00:02:32.520 So, we'll go through some of these comments now.
00:02:34.820 My son scored 98th percentile on air traffic control testing.
00:02:39.100 Flew and perfectly handled aircraft, far above required in the simulators.
00:02:43.140 ATC job, nope.
00:02:45.480 All that education and training for nothing.
00:02:47.680 Told by one of his instructors, Obama wanted them black and low income.
00:02:51.500 Thanks, Obama.
00:02:52.380 That is still shocking to hear.
00:02:54.020 I mean, it's not surprising at one level, but it's also shocking to hear.
00:02:57.700 And if you didn't have this context, you might hear that and say, and be skeptical.
00:03:04.120 I know this is just a comment.
00:03:05.400 I mean, I don't know.
00:03:06.000 But that one of the instructors would actually say out loud, well, I know that we, yeah,
00:03:12.280 you scored 98th percentile, but we need, we're looking for someone who's black.
00:03:15.740 You almost want to be skeptical of that.
00:03:17.240 Because that's not, it's so on the nose.
00:03:18.620 Would they actually say that out loud?
00:03:19.680 But what we've seen is that, yes, when we've discussed the, in general, the discrimination
00:03:23.440 against white men, that this is something that they're being directly told.
00:03:28.100 This is a real thing.
00:03:28.960 Another comment.
00:03:29.560 I had an alarming encounter with an ATC while on vacation in Cancun last December.
00:03:35.340 He's an ATC in New York and said it's difficult for him not to crash Air Force One whenever
00:03:41.360 it's in his airspace.
00:03:42.820 The guy was unhinged and unstable.
00:03:44.320 And yes, that is very much in line with what we've talked about on the show.
00:03:48.640 If you go to the ATC subreddit and you're going to find people making comments like this
00:03:53.980 and you would like to say that politics don't matter.
00:03:56.780 I mean, at least they shouldn't.
00:03:58.300 No one is saying that, well, we can only have conservatives who are in the airline industry
00:04:03.080 or work in air traffic control.
00:04:05.920 Maybe I'd prefer that.
00:04:06.960 I mean, that'd be nice, but obviously that's not attainable.
00:04:10.160 But the problem is that, especially these days, leftists in general are so unhinged,
00:04:15.000 so unstable, as you say, and are so convinced that if you disagree with them, that you are
00:04:22.000 a clear and present danger to them and to the country and you're Hitler incarnate and 0.99
00:04:27.400 all this kind of stuff, which gives them a moral justification in their own minds to
00:04:33.000 kill you. 0.99
00:04:33.300 So that's really disturbing to hear.
00:04:35.020 If you think the air traffic controller subreddit is bad, the teacher one will really surprise
00:04:40.540 you.
00:04:41.240 I'm 100% serious when I say I pulled all my children from public school last year after
00:04:44.560 I spent some time on that subreddit.
00:04:46.980 I've seen some of that and I don't have my kids in public school and I don't really need
00:04:50.300 to be convinced that public school is bad.
00:04:52.100 You know, I'm the last guy in the country who needs to be convinced of that.
00:04:56.400 But yes, I can confirm.
00:04:59.520 And I'll tell you, it's kind of in both ways.
00:05:01.900 It's kind of on two levels because if you go and you listen to what teachers are saying
00:05:05.780 in a place where they can speak anonymously, then yeah, you'll see many comments that make
00:05:13.900 you concerned about the quality of the teachers.
00:05:16.020 But you'll also see they're talking about, in many cases, they're complaining more openly
00:05:20.280 and more freely because they're anonymous about what's happening in their classroom,
00:05:23.780 about the quality of the students and the kids and what's happening there.
00:05:27.540 And that to me is the far more depressing fact.
00:05:31.680 Because if you've got a problem with the quality of the teachers, well, in theory, that's fixable.
00:05:37.440 You can hire better teachers.
00:05:39.540 But one thing I see, and I hear this too from teachers in my own personal life who I've talked
00:05:43.700 to, again, where they can speak off the record, and they'll tell you it is so much worse
00:05:50.120 than you even think.
00:05:53.340 However bad you think it is, it is so much worse.
00:05:56.740 Like, you've got kids in these classes who cannot understand anything.
00:06:02.860 Like, they just can't pay attention.
00:06:05.000 They can't.
00:06:05.760 They can't pay attention or understand anything you're telling them.
00:06:10.080 Even if you can get them to put the phones down, which is hard enough, but it's just like
00:06:13.860 you're talking to a wall.
00:06:15.700 And yet, teachers have always struggled with that with some kids, but now it's like the
00:06:19.440 whole class.
00:06:19.880 This episode is sponsored by ExpressVPN.
00:06:22.440 Your online activity isn't private.
00:06:24.180 Data brokers track your habits, beliefs, and spending.
00:06:26.880 They legally sell that information.
00:06:28.300 Corporations use it to target ads, platforms, manipulate what you see.
00:06:32.020 And during elections, it can be used to sway your vote.
00:06:34.300 To protect your freedom and privacy, you need ExpressVPN.
00:06:37.080 With ExpressVPN, all of my online activity gets rerouted through secure encrypted servers.
00:06:40.980 So my internet provider has no way of seeing what I'm doing.
00:06:44.040 It feels good to be online without that sense of someone looking over my shoulder.
00:06:47.660 On top of that, ExpressVPN hides my IP address, the unique number that identifies you on the
00:06:52.600 internet, which means data brokers can't track me or build a profile to sell.
00:06:57.060 As someone who spends hours researching for each show, I rely on ExpressVPN constantly.
00:07:01.440 I can't imagine doing research without, especially when I have to connect to airport or public
00:07:05.420 Wi-Fi on the go.
00:07:06.460 It's incredibly simple to use.
00:07:07.740 Just one click and you're protected.
00:07:09.060 And it works across all your devices, phones, tablets, smart TVs, desktops, and more.
00:07:13.480 Plus, you can connect up to 14 devices at once, making it easy to share that same peace
00:07:18.140 of mind and privacy with your whole family.
00:07:20.480 Find out how you can get four months free by scanning the QR code on screen.
00:07:23.640 Click the link in the description box below or by going to expressvpn.com slash WalshYT.
00:07:28.620 I went through training to be ATC in the Air Force back in 2001.
00:07:31.540 Ended up switching to airfield management.
00:07:33.580 Toxic environment.
00:07:34.360 A lot of people very full of themselves.
00:07:36.160 We had a situation in the tower where more senior people that were rated would not talk
00:07:40.940 to anyone who wasn't.
00:07:42.580 It made things very uncomfortable.
00:07:44.400 I could go on and on though.
00:07:46.060 Well, I forgot the biggest scandal.
00:07:48.000 We had three guys get discharged for testing positive for weed.
00:07:51.540 Dear God.
00:07:52.900 That one almost shut the airfield down because there weren't enough controllers left.
00:07:58.080 Yeah.
00:07:58.200 Well, you mentioned another factor here that I think an underrated factor with the proliferation
00:08:04.180 of marijuana.
00:08:04.940 Everybody's high all the time.
00:08:05.900 Everyone's smoking weed.
00:08:07.140 It's totally acceptable.
00:08:08.100 It's legal in a lot of places now.
00:08:09.620 In most places, it seems like.
00:08:11.060 Yeah.
00:08:11.200 So it's not hard to believe at all that you've got more and more people sitting in control
00:08:15.880 towers at the airport who are stoned out of their minds.
00:08:20.100 I'm not just a helicopter and fixed wing pilot.
00:08:23.580 I work for the FAA as an airway transportation system specialist in the Department of Defense.
00:08:29.340 I also flew this airspace before.
00:08:31.080 I flew this exact helicopter route day and night.
00:08:34.500 The helicopter pilot was to remain below 200 feet, not at 200 feet.
00:08:39.340 Had she been down at 100 feet where every other normal helicopter pilot would be, it would 1.00
00:08:43.780 have been a close encounter, but not swapping paint.
00:08:46.460 I personally looked up into the wheel well of a B-757 flying there.
00:08:51.860 As for controllers, it isn't just controllers.
00:08:54.080 No one wanted to remain working at the FAA under Obama.
00:08:56.700 People were retiring as soon as they could.
00:08:58.700 This was an extreme contrast to when I worked for the FAA.
00:09:01.760 We couldn't get people to retire.
00:09:04.140 I was working with one guy that was at the FAA when it was the Civil Aviation Authority
00:09:08.040 before World War II.
00:09:09.680 Under Obama and Biden, they were leaving as fast as they could.
00:09:13.260 Another comment says, add to this the fact that black ATCs are providing the test answers 0.97
00:09:17.280 to other blacks in an effort to promote their culture in the tower.
00:09:21.440 At this point, I'd rather drive than have to deal with the changes and dangers associated
00:09:25.740 with flying.
00:09:27.620 Yeah, that's certainly how I feel.
00:09:29.080 I drive whenever I can, but it's very often not possible.
00:09:33.420 For what I do for a living, what a lot of people do, you have to fly.
00:09:36.580 It's like you can't abandon it entirely.
00:09:39.300 And it's the thing with any technology, the more that people use it, the more dependent
00:09:44.620 you get on it.
00:09:45.900 Because air travel's been so ubiquitous for so long, people have just spread out more
00:09:51.340 and people are working remote more now and all of these different things, which means
00:09:55.800 that we rely on airplanes like never before.
00:10:00.120 And so you can't just cut it out of your life entirely, or it'd be very difficult to.
00:10:04.660 And this comment says, I've been with the post office for nearly a decade.
00:10:07.160 Everything you described about air traffic controllers and how their union protects their
00:10:10.560 god-awful behavior applies to letter carriers as well.
00:10:14.360 Very similar situation.
00:10:16.060 I've seen people keep their jobs after doing some of the craziest, unprofessional things
00:10:20.620 you can imagine.
00:10:22.180 Things that would get you fired from other non-union jobs in about 10 seconds.
00:10:28.180 It drives me crazy as somebody who shows up every day and cares and has to pick up the
00:10:33.620 slack of these losers.
00:10:34.760 And I realize the air traffic control is a bit more serious than delivering mail, but
00:10:39.500 the union protection for both hits everybody.
00:10:42.220 Yeah, it's a very, it's a really funny thing when you take accountability out of it, when
00:10:46.040 you protect people from accountability, when you protect people from the consequences for
00:10:49.480 their actions, when you protect people against the consequences of bad behavior, you get more
00:10:56.120 bad behavior.
00:10:56.700 This is like basic human psychology.
00:10:59.740 And we're seeing that play out in many industries.
00:11:03.780 So if you have to travel around the holidays, now you have this information you can take
00:11:08.000 with you.
00:11:08.900 So I don't know what to say.
00:11:10.320 Pack a parachute or something.
00:11:11.320 Pack a parachute or something.
00:11:18.640 Okay.