FAA: Busy DCA tower short-staffed on night of deadly midair crash

LAUREN TAYLOR: A preliminary safety report from the Federal Aviation Administration 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 Wednesday night.

67 people died in the crash, which authorities say had no survivors.

The FAA’s report, first detailed in reporting by The New York Times, said one air traffic controller handling helicopters at the airport was also directing planes landing and departing from runways. Normally, the report said, two people controllers are supposed to handle those duties.

The airport, often known by its code of DCA, has the busiest runway in the nation, according to the airport’s operator, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

But some of the underlying issues around aviation safety stretch back years.

Congress passed a bill last year allowing for more flights to travel into and out of DCA, over the objection of many members of Congress representing the area surrounding Washington, D.C.

Here’s what Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia told Straight Arrow News last year.

SEN. TIM KAINE / (D)-VA: “You’re going to do it to convenience a few dozen members? 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.”

LAUREN TAYLOR: The U.S. has also been dealing with a nationwide shortage in air traffic controllers for over a decade, spanning four different presidencies.

As of September 2023, an FAA report to Congress said DCA had 19 fully certified controllers, well below the FAA’s target of 30.

Before news of the understaffed control tower broke, President Trump told reporters he believed Biden administration policies promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, were responsible.

Those policies encouraged the hiring and training of more people from minority racial groups and people with disabilities.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The FAA’s website states. ‘They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes,’ pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot, a little dot on the map, little runway. ‘The initiative is part of the FAA’s diversity and inclusion hiring plan.’ Think of that. ‘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.

LAUREN TAYLOR: Authorities have not released information about the racial, ethnic or disability status of the air traffic controllers or pilots. And they have not released any evidence suggesting the racial or disability status of anyone involved played a role in the crash.

President Trump has already taken actions on aviation in his first ten days in office, some of which removed top leadership. 

He ordered the end of DEI policies at the FAA on January 21st and eliminated membership of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee as part of a shift in resources and an effort to eliminate the misuse of resources.

The same order fired the head of the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, and the FAA administrator resigned the day before on January 20th.

On Thursday afternoon, President Trump signed a memo that explicitly mentioned diversity, equity and inclusion, directing 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.

For Straight Arrow News, I’m Lauren Taylor.

And for all the latest updates on this and other top stories, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit SAN.com.