More than 90% of the country's airport traffic control towers, including Pittsburgh International Airport, are understaffed according to analysis of FAA data. The Federal Aviation Administration data shows that at the time of the report,

The basic problem, which reformers have been trying to remedy since the Clinton administration, is that the system is operated by a cumbersome federal bureaucracy—the same bureaucracy that’s also responsible for overseeing air safety. The FAA is supposed to be a watchdog, but we’ve put it in charge of watching itself.