For the federal air management, January 29 was at the beginning of one of the most demanding sections he has faced in decades.
That night, American airline Regional current collided with an army helicopter Near the National Airport Ronald Reagan in Washington, resulting in 67 deaths. At a press conference the following day, President Trump showed his finger at FAA, although the investigation of accidents was just beginning.
Is January 31, and Medical aircraft crashed in Philadelphia NeighborhooD shortly after takeoff killed all six on board and one person on the ground. Although it remains unclear whether the lack of FAA supervision contributed to the episode, the timing caused worries.
1 February added to the agency and the air system alerts, its first in two years.
10 -day crisis period was limited by another deadly accident on February 6 Let Air Air Air 445 Near Nome on Alaska, resulting in 10 people’s death.
As the incidents developed, the confusion in FAA grew about the future of its administrators of air traffic, in particular whether they were exempt from federal cuts of jobs.
Less than a month after the new administration Mr. Trump, the convergence of accidents, equipment disorders and death, it increases deep concerns about the safety of American airspace. Although accidents can eventually be credited at least partially a pilot error, treacherous conditions or both, their rapid succession and the recent system outage still point to the worrying question: Is the FAA still able to maintain an air journey in safety?
“It was a difficult section for FAA,” said Jeff Guzetti, a former accident investigator and the National Transport Safety Council. “Whether it is fair or not, they are because of these events under the White Reflector.” There is no doubt about that. ”
Current and former FAA and NTSB officials claim that Aviation incidents emphasizes the slowness of the agency in solving security fears and its satisfaction. Each recent episodes occurred despite the requirements of congress after solution and formula close to MissesModernize critical systems and improve safety on Alaska, where aircraft are the main way of traveling for many communities.
Safety experts say that despite the reputation of the Prime Minister of the Global Aviation Regulator, FAA did not cause well -known issues because it had a longer period of time without any accidents led to many deaths. The collision of Midair over the river Potorac last month became the deadliest accident from a Let Colgan Air dropped Near Buffalo in 2009 killed 50 people. FAA was nicknamed the “The Tombstone Agency” among the advocates of aviation safety for solving potential problems until the disaster begins.
“For a while, I preached this satisfaction crawling into all FAA areas because of how great our security record was,” said John Goglia, an independent security advisor and former NTSB member.
Aviation episodes have increased in recent years, said and quoted the death of an aerial worker who was hit by an aircraft on an asphalt at Charlotte International Airport Douglas 27 January. Mr. Goglia also pointed out more on landing pathways.
Transport Minister Sean Duffy did not respond to the New York Times interview. Mr. Duffy, who appeared on Fox Business, said it was a “difficult week of aviation” due to these three incidents and added that he was determined to update the FAA technology, some of whom dates back to World War II.
“We have to look even more at what the safety of aviation looks like, how we use our airy space, and I think there have been mistakes in the past,” Duffy said about Fox Business. “We will check that we are going forward and make sure we have a system that keeps our travelers safe.”
The most pointed discussions of the necessary change were related to air traffic controller systems that monitor and monitor flights to ensure their safe traverse from take -off for landing.
Mr. Trump said last week that he would talk to the Congress on Legislations focused on the reworking of the aging security infrastructure of the national aviation they rely on. He said that with updated technology could prevent American Airlines.
Elon Musk’s initiative, the so -called Department of Government Efficiency, also makes an effort to improve FAA technology at the request of Mr. Duffy. It is possible that the involvement of Mr. Musk could lead to modernization that the agency needs for years, but neither he nor Mr. Trump outlined a clear timeline or plan.
Message The supervision of the US Government’s Office issued in September said that 58 FAA systems, which are decisive for the safety and efficiency of the nation’s airspace, are unsustainable or potentially unsustainable.
The American Airlines, which were even worse for the harassed FAA, seemed to be at least some blame for the agency a few more hours Democratic predecessors.
“The inability could play a role,” said Mr. Trump on 30 January. “We’ll let you know, but we want the most complicated people.” We are not interested in what race are, we want the most complicated people, especially in these positions. ”
On the same day, all FAA employees, including air traffic administrators, were sent by e -mail from Mr. Trump’s personnel management office, who repeated the report from the beginning of the week. Message invited them to resign And he said they were in “jobs with lower productivity”. A few days later Mr. Duffy said exempt from the offer.
The Times previously reported that more than 90 percent of the 313 air traffic control devices in the United States operate below the recommended level of FAA staff. According to the agency’s projections, the current efforts to hire and training new controllers do not reach demand.
The crash, whip with the position of employment and criticism of Mr. Trump proved to be a huge blow to the agency, said Joe Jacobsen, air engineer and former employee of FAA.
“When there is a crash, it’s always difficult for morale,” he said. “Any type of commentary about people on FAA and their qualifications is a huge blow to morality.”
NTSB and FAA are investigating three recent accidents and no official cause has been published. Air traffic safety in Alaska, where 82 percent of communities are not available along the road, has long been a problem, especially because the state is so common in the state.
In February 2020, NTSB has issued a report that requires more comprehensive access to the safety of aviation in the state. A few months later, the FAA organized the Aviation Safety Summit on Alaska. When Congress approved an account Last year, the FAA re -authorization included an annual financing of $ 25 million by 2028 to continue the initiative and specify further security events for the Agency that could be accepted by Alaska by 2030.
Security concerns exceed only people in the state.
Although the FAA has been involved in the annual efforts to modernize its airline alert system and other technologies, progress has been slow and has the consequences for current travel. The system failure in 2023 led to the first national grounding of flights from terrorist attacks 11 September 2001.
Billy Noen, the reigning FAA head at that time, was convinced in 2023 that the agency needed a wake -up call after several cases of commercial nozzles that almost collide. He added an independent inspection team to give recommendations on improving safety.
In a 52-Stránková Report The group, issued in November 2023, accused FAA deficiencies for leaving the risks in the airspace of the nation “growth to an unsustainable level”. Many of their recommendations were not new. They repeated unfulfilled security proposals that NTSB and Gao and Congress had previously demanded, but that FAA had never taken place.
Some of the recommendations of the report included a growing training capacity at the FAA Academy to help with the lack of air traffic administrators, the modernization of technology and a change in culture in the agency to where concerns are dealt with before they deteriorate and lead to disaster.
“We as an entity, and these are all parties involved, we can never rest on our record,” Nolen said in an interview.
