Did Staff Woes Stall Laguardia Flights?

Around 1998, she said, the union negotiated a favorable contract that air traffic controllers worked under until 2006, when the FAA imposed the new rules.

As many of the air traffic controllers who worked under those terms approach the retirement age of 56, the FAA has been trying to change the terms of that contract and recruit and train new controllers. The FAA has said it expects to replace nearly its entire workforce over the next 10 years.

NATCA says those new hiring and recruitment practices, such as those that target high school students, are irresponsible and put air travelers at risk.

"They're recruiting out of high schools -- you no longer need a college degree. ... You're sitting in a room with people who took a test in the back of a mobile home," Iacopelli said. "These are people with no work experience, who don't even know what it's like to have a job."

But Tierney said the union was trying to scare people into thinking the FAA's oversight and management of air traffic controllers was broken and that its staffing practices presented national security risks, to use that to negotiate a new contract.

"What they're [complaining] about is they're saying we're sending all these new kids to the facilities. No new kid who's not trained just goes into a facility," Tierney said.