In the late evening hours of Jan. 29, a U.S. Army helicopter collided with a descending American Airlines passenger plane over the Potomac River en route to the Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. There were no survivors.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) — which is experiencing a severe vacancy of top leadership positions — has come under fire for suspected negligence amid a staffing and funding deficit. The head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association has said its too early to speculate on the cause, while the National Transportation Safety Board continues its investigation. Currently, CNN reports the FAA has open listings for: associate administrator of airports, an associate administrator for security and hazardous materials safety, chief counsel, assistant administrator of communications, assistant administrator of government and industry affairs, and assistant administrator for policy, international affairs and environment.
The lack of leadership up top may have been avoidable. One month prior, former FAA head and Biden appointee Mike Whitaker announced he would be resigning early from his position, officially leaving the office on the day of Trump's inauguration years before his term was over. With the position open, many report Elon Musk, who has become a key figure in the early weeks of Trump's presidency and previously pressured Whitaker to resign from the FAA, has been vetting and providing input on Trump's new pick. Despite a wave of appointments following Trump's swearing in, no selections had been made.
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Musk threatened to sue the FAA in September after the agency fined his space transportation company SpaceX more than $630,000 for failing to follow its license requirements during two launches in 2023 — the FAA had also fined Musk-owned telecommunications satellite company Starlink. Recently appointed as leader of the new government advisory body DOGE, ostensibly tasked with ridding the government of superfluous spending and "corrupt" bureaucracy, Musk has been a vocal critic of the transportation agency and advocated for its "radical reform."
Experts say that for years, under both the Trump and Biden administrations, the FAA has been chronically underfunded, and that the current state of investments could threaten passenger safety. In 2024, President Joe Biden signed an FAA bipartisan reauthorization bill, delineating continued investments in air travel infrastructure. The bill included allocations for advancements in runway technology to avoid collisions, as well as a requirement that the FAA train and fill 3,000 open air traffic controller positions.
The Trump administration has largely avoided questions surrounding the FAA's former leadership and funding reality, with newly appointed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy — sworn in just hours before the devastating impact — ignoring press inquiries about a leadership vacuum in the transportation department. The administration later announced Chris Rocheleau, former chief operating officer of the National Business Aviation Association, would serve as acting FAA commissioner in a press conference Thursday.
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In that same press conference, Trump nonsensically alleged that the deadly incident could have been the result of "diversity hiring" under the Biden administration. "We've had a much higher standard than anybody else. And there are things where you have to go by brain power, where you have to go by psychological quality... Biden went by a standard that is the complete opposite," Trump told the press. "Certainly, for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. We want somebody that is psychologically superior."
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Taking to X, former secretary Pete Buttigieg, who was also the target of blame by Trump, wrote: "President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again."
