A preliminary safety report from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) found that air traffic control staffing was “not normal” when an American Airlines flight collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on the night of Wednesday, Jan. 29. Sixty-seven people died in the crash, which authorities say had no survivors.
The FAA’s report, first detailed in The New York Times, said one air traffic controller handling helicopters was also directing planes landing and departing from runways. Normally, the report said, two people are supposed to handle those duties.
The airport—often known by its code, DCA—has the busiest runway in the nation, according to the airport’s operator, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
However, some of the underlying issues around aviation safety stretch back years.
Congress passed a bill last year allowing more flights in and out of DCA despite objections from many members of Congress representing the area surrounding Washington, D.C.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told Straight Arrow News last year that he felt the move could help a few traveling members of Congress but put the metropolitan area at risk.
“You’re going to do it to convenience a few dozen members?” Kaine asked. “At the expense of 25 million people? At the expense of everybody who lives around this airport, who would potentially be victimized if there was some kind of a collision?”
The U.S. has also been dealing with a nationwide air traffic controller shortage, a problem that has spanned four different presidencies.
As of September 2023, an FAA report to Congress said DCA had 19 fully certified controllers, falling short of the FAA’s target of 30.
Before news of the understaffed control tower broke Thursday, Jan. 30, President Donald Trump told reporters he believed Biden administration policies promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) were to blame.
Those policies encouraged the hiring and training of more people from minority racial groups, as well as people with disabilities.
In his comments, the president read from the FAA’s guidance on hiring.
“‘The initiative is part of the FAA’s diversity and inclusion hiring plan,’ which says ‘diversity is integral to achieving FAA’s mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel.’ I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I think it’s just the opposite,” Trump said.
Authorities have not released information about the racial, ethnic or disability status of the air traffic controllers or pilots. And they have not released evidence suggesting anyone’s racial or disability status contributed to the crash.
Trump has already targeted the aviation department during his first 10 days in office, including removing top leadership.
He ordered the end of DEI policies at the FAA on Jan. 21 and eliminated membership in the Aviation Security Advisory Committee to shift and eliminate resource misuse.
The same order fired the head of the Transportation Security Administration or TSA. The FAA administrator had resigned the day prior, on Jan. 20.
On Thursday afternoon, President Trump signed a memo mentioning diversity, equity and inclusion. The memo directed the Secretary of Transportation and the FAA’s acting administrator to review the Biden administration’s hiring decisions.
He also appointed a new acting administrator to run the FAA.
