CNN article on problems in Air Travel, as seen by FAA

John Kulp writes:

You're completely dense. You change the flight paths. They're in the
AIR not on the GROUND like the runways. Got that?

During take-off and especially approach, the flight paths are necessarily
aligned with the runways, since aircraft cannot instantly turn after leaving
the runway or instantly turn just before touching down. Thus, there are
flight paths that are inextricably linked to runway positions. The only way
to change them is to reposition the runways.

The pilots don't know how the planes work.

Apart from the most general principles, yes.

They just sit there like robots staring out the window while
some ghost flies them.

No, but during automated phases of a flight (which means most phases, today),
they don't have a lot to do. Still, that's better than requiring them to keep
their hands on the controls for eight hours at a stretch, in a number of ways.

They use GPS overseas all the time but they don't know how to use them.

They use GPS everywhere, but they don't have to know how it works to use it.