Political Quotes

“in the hours after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, America's air traffic controllers rose to meet the tremendous challenges of that day. After halting all takeoffs, controllers began clearing the skies over America. Under unprecedented conditions, controllers guided 4,500 planes carrying 350,000 passengers to safe landings. They also rerouted more than 1,100 of the 4,500 flights within the first 15 minutes of the landing order--about one every second--and cleared the skies over America within 2\1/2\ hours. That kind of performance was wholly dependent on the caliber and training of the world's finest air traffic controllers. And as I come to the floor of the Senate today, there are hundreds of pilots flying commercial airplanes under an air traffic controller's guidance. Each and every day, the lives of thousands of people are in the hands of each and every air traffic controller. Because what they do is vital to our safety, I became very concerned by a letter I received from Illinois air traffic controller Michael Hannigan last December.…”