August 1, 2025 • 10 mins
iHeartRadio's Aviation Analyst Jay Ratliff joined Todd to talk about the recent decision by TSA to change the security protocols for fliers and the ongoing attempt to modernize the Air Traffic Control infrastructure.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Time to check in with our aviation analyst, Jay Ratley.
I've had a lot of things to talk about. Jay. Recently,
we've seen back to the future with the security line requirements,
so they make it so you don't have to take
off your shoes anymore. And I think they're changing the
liquid thing too. What's up with this?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, the liquid thing, we're still waiting for the Fido
the tails on, but you were right as far as
the shoes, we can now keep them on. In essence,
the technologies improved, so as a result we're able to
keep our shoes on. And I can tell you from
a health standpoint, I love it, especially in the summer
because you've got everybody walking across there at their bare feet. Yeah,
and you know you're walking by thousands of people. So
(00:42):
the thought is that as the technologies improved, we can
get through the people through the security checkpoint faster, and
that's certainly going to be good. Now they can still
pull us out the TSA officers and ask for a
random tests. They're going to do that from time to
time because the random part of screening is an important
component of the overall security network. So that's still going
(01:03):
to happen. But look, I'm all for all these changes.
I don't feel like we're compromising anything for safety. So yeah,
it was good to see.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well. Speaking of safety, of course, now what six seven
months ago crash in DC, the collision with the military
helicopter and the commuter jet that killed sixty five people
INTSB Now having hearings and such, have we learned anything
really new about that jay We do not now.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Of course, the National Transportation Safety Board will give us
their final report, probably a year after the crash. Data
it'll be somewhere at that point in time, and because
they're still collecting data. But the bottom line is that
the regional jet was exactly where it should have been,
the helicopter was not. There appeared to be a good
(01:55):
flow of communication premier traffic control to both the military
and the regional jet. And why there was a breakdown
in that communication we don't know. We probably never will know,
And sadly, this is going to be one of those
cases where we don't have a definitive cause for the
crash other than pilot air Maybe again, I'm taking a
(02:15):
big leap there because we don't have the final report.
What I do know is that it ushered in some
very needed changes for that airport in that flight corridor
so that we can reduce some of the overlap between
commercial and military aircraft, not only at that airport but
at other airports. And I'm really glad to see that,
because I don't want to say we were flirting with
(02:38):
disaster the entire time, but it wasn't exactly as safe
as we needed to because we had so many aircraft
that were coming in that were forced to cancel their approach,
veer off, go around because we would have other aircraft
in the area. Now that we're away from that, I
think it's going to be something where we can at
least under the lives of those that were lost by
(03:01):
making that airspace as safe as we can and as
far as we can humanly possible. That's going to be
the end result.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, didn't we just have another incident like that with
something in North Dakota or South Dakota near a base
where the commercial jet had to pull up or take
or turn around that was not as that close, was it?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
It wasn't, but they were coming close to occupying the
same airspace, which was the alarm. And you had a
Delta regional jet on final approach going into I think Mine,
not North Dakota, and they happened to look up and
see military aircraft to be fifty two bomber head any
in their direction. They weren't notified of any military aircraft
in the area. Apparently the fifty two was doing a
(03:45):
fly by of affair and that was approved worked out
by the FAA. And why that wasn't communicated either to
the tower or the tower to the approaching jet, we
don't know. The investigation will kind of bear that out,
but it was certainly a breakdown in communication when that
took place, and that's the type of thing that you
can work on and improve. And what I liked was
(04:08):
that it identified a breakdown somewhere and we're able to
learn from that mistake absent of anybody getting hurt or killed,
and we're going to make that part of the country
safer from a travel standpoint. And I was very very
glad to see that.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, we're talking with Jay Ratliff, our aviation analyst. We
also had the incidents at Newark here recently where it
came to a standstill for a while and then it
was sort of put on pause and they're trying to
fix what's wrong, particularly at Newark, and also restaff and
get better air traffic controllers. To that end, that agency
(04:45):
is getting an influx of cash. How are we progressing
with those issues?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, slowly, far more slowly than we would like, obviously,
but we're headed in the right direction. When you have
thousands of air traffic controller shortage across the country, and
I don't remember recall the exact numbers for the Newark
facility or for that region, it's just amazing that we
are not seeing more delays, to be perfectly candid with you,
(05:11):
because when you look at the number of flight activities
we have during a very busy summer travel season, we're
seeing some delays that are being forced on the airport
because of the shortage of air traffic controllers, and we're
fighting our way through it. One of the things that
President Trump has suggested is his willingness to look at
bringing some foreign air traffic controllers in from other countries,
(05:33):
people that are trained and know what they're doing, that
we can bring in, get them up to speed on
how we do things, get them through the training process
much faster. That's being met with some resistance. I have
no idea. Why because if we can bring in talent
from outside the country to plug in the holes there,
I think that would be a very good thing. But
I guess because it has Donald Trump's name on it,
(05:56):
there's some people that are not going to agree with it,
regardless of what it is.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Right. And of course the other focus now, JAY is
to upgrade the technology used for air traffic control. Right
instead of the we've got literally dominoes and dice up there.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Oh it's unreal. I mean, I think there's a sun
dial somewhere as well as in the control towers. But
these men and women that are working short staffed, shorthanded, exhausted,
are being forced to deal with equipment that is beyond antiquated.
We're talking about things that go back well into the
last century. And you know, if somebody is a cell
(06:32):
phone that's three years old, I'm my gosh, it's super outdated.
I need to get a new one. But you know, here,
these men and women are making the air traffic control
system work using technology that is based on World War
two technology. It's from the ground based radar. So there's
a lot of things that have to be done, and
that part of the situation is going to take years
(06:52):
and years and years to get fixed. And if we
have a Manhattan Project kind of mentality where it's all
hands on deck, they can knock it out in two
or three years. But this could be one of those
things that may exist from a problem. We're not totally
resolved to be a better way to work at it
until after the president term is up, but at least
(07:14):
we're headed in that direction. And I've not seen an
administration this vocal on getting it fixed as the Trump administration,
and I certainly want that to continue.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Jay final thought, despite all these issues we're talking about,
it seems that a lot of people are flying these days.
What's the general health of the airlines as a business,
and how is I guess the passenger levels now?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Well, I mean we've seen several days where we're at
or over three million people and before this summer travel season,
I think he probably on one hand could count the
number of times we've eclipsed three million. But we've been
seeing it happen on more than a few occasions this summer,
which has been good to see. So the TSA is
doing their We're not seeing lines headed out the door,
(08:03):
down the street, around the corner kind of thing on
social media, which is good. And we're also seeing the
airlines do a pretty good job from a logistics standpoint.
Weather's kind of gotten in the way a few times.
But the health of the industry, I mean, you still
have airlines that are making money. You've got some that
are losing money. Jeff Blues having a hard time. Spirit
reported a loss. Southwest earnings came in about half of
(08:27):
what they were expecting, So they're certainly not celebrating or
doing a snoopy dance, but at least they're at a
point where they are looking to try to improve things now.
One of the things that's been a hot topic over
the last couple of months is airlines actually have been
caught Delta, United American and I think a few others
at charging solo travelers a higher fare than if it's
(08:50):
a couple. In other words, you're being penalized if you're
traveling by yourself, which is just mind boggling. And I
think in one of the Delta examples were charging somebody
seventy percent more, which is it's just stupid. But the
ideas a couple traveling together are probably more cost conscious.
They're gonna be flexible. They're gonna adjust, and they're gonna
(09:13):
look for the lowest fare. If somebody's flying by themselves,
that man or woman maybe on business or other things,
they've got to be there. They're more interested in the schedule.
So the airlines knowing that, are saying, look, if somebody's
traveling by themselves, probably this is Jay's word, take advantage
of them and charge them more, which is stupid. But
if I'm looking, if I'm traveling by myself sometime this year,
(09:35):
I'm doing a search for two people flying from my
airport to where I'm going, and I'm seeing what the
lowest fair is and whatever airline, then I'm gonna change
that search parameter to one, just to make sure they're
not messing with me, because I don't trust the airlines
to do anything right because they treat us like crap
and we keep coming back. So as a result, yeah,
(09:56):
I'm going to be on the a little bit concerned
as I'm sure shopping for fairs because you never know
what these airlines are gonna.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Pull good stuff from. Jay Ratliff, our aviation analyst. As always, Jay,
thanks for checking in.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Oh my pleasure
Time to check in with our aviation analyst, Jay Ratley.
I've had a lot of things to talk about. Jay. Recently,
we've seen back to the future with the security line requirements,
so they make it so you don't have to take
off your shoes anymore. And I think they're changing the
liquid thing too. What's up with this?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, the liquid thing, we're still waiting for the Fido
the tails on, but you were right as far as
the shoes, we can now keep them on. In essence,
the technologies improved, so as a result we're able to
keep our shoes on. And I can tell you from
a health standpoint, I love it, especially in the summer
because you've got everybody walking across there at their bare feet. Yeah,
and you know you're walking by thousands of people. So
(00:42):
the thought is that as the technologies improved, we can
get through the people through the security checkpoint faster, and
that's certainly going to be good. Now they can still
pull us out the TSA officers and ask for a
random tests. They're going to do that from time to
time because the random part of screening is an important
component of the overall security network. So that's still going
(01:03):
to happen. But look, I'm all for all these changes.
I don't feel like we're compromising anything for safety. So yeah,
it was good to see.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well. Speaking of safety, of course, now what six seven
months ago crash in DC, the collision with the military
helicopter and the commuter jet that killed sixty five people
INTSB Now having hearings and such, have we learned anything
really new about that jay We do not now.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Of course, the National Transportation Safety Board will give us
their final report, probably a year after the crash. Data
it'll be somewhere at that point in time, and because
they're still collecting data. But the bottom line is that
the regional jet was exactly where it should have been,
the helicopter was not. There appeared to be a good
(01:55):
flow of communication premier traffic control to both the military
and the regional jet. And why there was a breakdown
in that communication we don't know. We probably never will know,
And sadly, this is going to be one of those
cases where we don't have a definitive cause for the
crash other than pilot air Maybe again, I'm taking a
(02:15):
big leap there because we don't have the final report.
What I do know is that it ushered in some
very needed changes for that airport in that flight corridor
so that we can reduce some of the overlap between
commercial and military aircraft, not only at that airport but
at other airports. And I'm really glad to see that,
because I don't want to say we were flirting with
(02:38):
disaster the entire time, but it wasn't exactly as safe
as we needed to because we had so many aircraft
that were coming in that were forced to cancel their approach,
veer off, go around because we would have other aircraft
in the area. Now that we're away from that, I
think it's going to be something where we can at
least under the lives of those that were lost by
(03:01):
making that airspace as safe as we can and as
far as we can humanly possible. That's going to be
the end result.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, didn't we just have another incident like that with
something in North Dakota or South Dakota near a base
where the commercial jet had to pull up or take
or turn around that was not as that close, was it?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
It wasn't, but they were coming close to occupying the
same airspace, which was the alarm. And you had a
Delta regional jet on final approach going into I think Mine,
not North Dakota, and they happened to look up and
see military aircraft to be fifty two bomber head any
in their direction. They weren't notified of any military aircraft
in the area. Apparently the fifty two was doing a
(03:45):
fly by of affair and that was approved worked out
by the FAA. And why that wasn't communicated either to
the tower or the tower to the approaching jet, we
don't know. The investigation will kind of bear that out,
but it was certainly a breakdown in communication when that
took place, and that's the type of thing that you
can work on and improve. And what I liked was
(04:08):
that it identified a breakdown somewhere and we're able to
learn from that mistake absent of anybody getting hurt or killed,
and we're going to make that part of the country
safer from a travel standpoint. And I was very very
glad to see that.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, we're talking with Jay Ratliff, our aviation analyst. We
also had the incidents at Newark here recently where it
came to a standstill for a while and then it
was sort of put on pause and they're trying to
fix what's wrong, particularly at Newark, and also restaff and
get better air traffic controllers. To that end, that agency
(04:45):
is getting an influx of cash. How are we progressing
with those issues?
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, slowly, far more slowly than we would like, obviously,
but we're headed in the right direction. When you have
thousands of air traffic controller shortage across the country, and
I don't remember recall the exact numbers for the Newark
facility or for that region, it's just amazing that we
are not seeing more delays, to be perfectly candid with you,
(05:11):
because when you look at the number of flight activities
we have during a very busy summer travel season, we're
seeing some delays that are being forced on the airport
because of the shortage of air traffic controllers, and we're
fighting our way through it. One of the things that
President Trump has suggested is his willingness to look at
bringing some foreign air traffic controllers in from other countries,
(05:33):
people that are trained and know what they're doing, that
we can bring in, get them up to speed on
how we do things, get them through the training process
much faster. That's being met with some resistance. I have
no idea. Why because if we can bring in talent
from outside the country to plug in the holes there,
I think that would be a very good thing. But
I guess because it has Donald Trump's name on it,
(05:56):
there's some people that are not going to agree with it,
regardless of what it is.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Right. And of course the other focus now, JAY is
to upgrade the technology used for air traffic control. Right
instead of the we've got literally dominoes and dice up there.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Oh it's unreal. I mean, I think there's a sun
dial somewhere as well as in the control towers. But
these men and women that are working short staffed, shorthanded, exhausted,
are being forced to deal with equipment that is beyond antiquated.
We're talking about things that go back well into the
last century. And you know, if somebody is a cell
(06:32):
phone that's three years old, I'm my gosh, it's super outdated.
I need to get a new one. But you know, here,
these men and women are making the air traffic control
system work using technology that is based on World War
two technology. It's from the ground based radar. So there's
a lot of things that have to be done, and
that part of the situation is going to take years
(06:52):
and years and years to get fixed. And if we
have a Manhattan Project kind of mentality where it's all
hands on deck, they can knock it out in two
or three years. But this could be one of those
things that may exist from a problem. We're not totally
resolved to be a better way to work at it
until after the president term is up, but at least
(07:14):
we're headed in that direction. And I've not seen an
administration this vocal on getting it fixed as the Trump administration,
and I certainly want that to continue.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Jay final thought, despite all these issues we're talking about,
it seems that a lot of people are flying these days.
What's the general health of the airlines as a business,
and how is I guess the passenger levels now?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Well, I mean we've seen several days where we're at
or over three million people and before this summer travel season,
I think he probably on one hand could count the
number of times we've eclipsed three million. But we've been
seeing it happen on more than a few occasions this summer,
which has been good to see. So the TSA is
doing their We're not seeing lines headed out the door,
(08:03):
down the street, around the corner kind of thing on
social media, which is good. And we're also seeing the
airlines do a pretty good job from a logistics standpoint.
Weather's kind of gotten in the way a few times.
But the health of the industry, I mean, you still
have airlines that are making money. You've got some that
are losing money. Jeff Blues having a hard time. Spirit
reported a loss. Southwest earnings came in about half of
(08:27):
what they were expecting, So they're certainly not celebrating or
doing a snoopy dance, but at least they're at a
point where they are looking to try to improve things now.
One of the things that's been a hot topic over
the last couple of months is airlines actually have been
caught Delta, United American and I think a few others
at charging solo travelers a higher fare than if it's
(08:50):
a couple. In other words, you're being penalized if you're
traveling by yourself, which is just mind boggling. And I
think in one of the Delta examples were charging somebody
seventy percent more, which is it's just stupid. But the
ideas a couple traveling together are probably more cost conscious.
They're gonna be flexible. They're gonna adjust, and they're gonna
(09:13):
look for the lowest fare. If somebody's flying by themselves,
that man or woman maybe on business or other things,
they've got to be there. They're more interested in the schedule.
So the airlines knowing that, are saying, look, if somebody's
traveling by themselves, probably this is Jay's word, take advantage
of them and charge them more, which is stupid. But
if I'm looking, if I'm traveling by myself sometime this year,
(09:35):
I'm doing a search for two people flying from my
airport to where I'm going, and I'm seeing what the
lowest fair is and whatever airline, then I'm gonna change
that search parameter to one, just to make sure they're
not messing with me, because I don't trust the airlines
to do anything right because they treat us like crap
and we keep coming back. So as a result, yeah,
(09:56):
I'm going to be on the a little bit concerned
as I'm sure shopping for fairs because you never know
what these airlines are gonna.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Pull good stuff from. Jay Ratliff, our aviation analyst. As always, Jay,
thanks for checking in.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Oh my pleasure
Popular Podcasts
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!