Air controllers in Canada claim US skies are unsafe

August 28, 1981

Canadian air controllers, who earlier this month snarled international flights with a boycott over the US controllers' strike, called the US air traffic system unsafe and asked their government to suspend air service with the US.

The Canadian controllers' investigation of the situation cited 61 breaches of air safety rules -- 48 of them the result of errors by US replacements -- since the Aug. 3 strike by 12,000 controllers. Canada's Transport Ministry, however, said that there were only 42, reports and that none created "hazardous situations."