Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) briefed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Thursday, sharing what they’ve learned about the midair collision between an American Airlines commercial jet and a Black Hawk military helicopter that occurred over the Potomac River on January 29. (All 64 passengers on the plane and three service members on the helicopter were killed.)
Note: President Trump initially reacted to the tragedy by claiming that DEI policies at the FAA might be to blame. A week later, on Thursday, Trump changed course and blamed the computer system used by the country’s air traffic controllers, which he said needs “an overhaul.”
When Trump’s Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced on Wednesday on X: “Big News – Talked to the DOGE team. They are going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system,” former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton replied.
Clinton wrote: “They have no relevant experience. Most of them aren’t old enough to rent a car. And you’re going to let them mess with airline safety that’s already deteriorated on your watch?”
Secretary Sean Duffy replied: “Madam Secretary, with all due respect, ‘experienced’ Washington bureaucrats are the reason our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling. You need to sit this one out.”
They have no relevant experience.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 5, 2025
Most of them aren't old enough to rent a car.
And you're going to let them mess with airline safety that's already deteriorated on your watch? pic.twitter.com/l0fFTrYMG2
Clinton wrote again to Duffy: “US airlines had gone 16 years without fatal crashes. Then MAGA fired the FAA chief, gutted the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, and threatened air traffic controllers with layoffs. Now there have been two fatal crashes. Hope your unvetted 22-year-olds fix things fast.”
US airlines had gone 16 years without fatal crashes.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 6, 2025
Then MAGA fired the FAA chief, gutted the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, and threatened air traffic controllers with layoffs.
Now there have been two fatal crashes.
Hope your unvetted 22-year-olds fix things fast. pic.twitter.com/kxss1jPjgf
The FAA has some equipment that is 50 years old according to a 2024 GAO report. But another problem, and one in evidence during the Washington collision, is that air traffic control towers in the US are chronically understaffed.
According to a 2023 FAA commissioned safety review, the air traffic controller staffing problem is a result of a number of factors spanning four decades and notes “a surge in hiring occurred during several years following the air traffic controller strike in 1981. That, in turn, led to a wave of retirements from 2005-2007. To adequately compensate for these losses, new hires, trainees, and ultimately fully certified air traffic controllers needed to already be in the training pipeline.”
Note: It can take years to train an air traffic controller; at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the site of the crash last week, training takes nearly 16 months.
