WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former Blackhawk helicopter pilot and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (CST) and Ranking Member of the Aviation Subcommittee—today pressed top FAA officials on what the agency is doing right now to prevent further failures like the ongoing situation at Newark Airport from happening at other airports across the country, in addition to addressing the urgent need to update our air traffic control systems over the long term. The Senator’s opening statement and questioning can be found on her YouTube.
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“The deadly DCA crash, spike in near misses and recent air traffic control equipment outages impacting Newark have been terrifying, but they are not surprising,” said Duckworth. “I’ve been sounding the alarm about close calls and aging equipment for years—because the urgent need to overhaul our air traffic control systems, which will take years, has been so clear for so long. But in addition to that long-term overhaul, right now FAA must ramp up their efforts to proactively mitigate foreseeable risks—like what’s happening at Newark Airport or the recent near-misses at DCA.”
Additionally, Duckworth slammed the Trump Administration’s drastic cuts to FAA staff—with 700 employees reportedly having accepted FAA’s first deferred resignation offer and more than 2,000 projected to accept it in a second round—for being detrimental to the agency’s mission of protecting the flying public. Duckworth stressed, “Acting FAA Administrator Rocheleau said he expects a further reduction in force. We’ve been told the administration isn’t terminating air traffic controllers or others who are critical for safety—but FAA’s mission is literally safety. How do they think firing thousands of dedicated employees is going to help FAA meet this safety-critical moment?”
For years—long before the deadly DCA crash—Duckworth has been soundingthe alarm that we must make these critical aviation safety investments immediately to prevent all-too-often near-misses from becoming catastrophic tragedies. Last Congress, Duckworth chaired two CST Aviation Subcommittee hearings—one last December and the other a year prior—to address our aviation industry’s chilling surge in near-deadly close calls and underscore the urgent need to improve air traffic control systems to protect the flying public.
As our nation continues to experience an air traffic controller shortage amid multiple near-misses, midair collisions and communication outages, Duckworth has underscored how critical it is that the FAA does not sacrifice effectiveness in favor of efficiency by lowering its longstanding high standards that new controllers must meet. Two weeks after the horrific DCA aircraft collision that killed 67 passengers and crew, the Trump Administration began firing hundreds of FAA employees. Last month, Duckworth sent a letter to FAA Acting Administrator Rocheleau on the reasoning behind these cuts to the workforce.
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