The worst tragedy in the United States for over 20 years has followed the long -term alarm on the sacred air system of the country.
COVID PANDEMIC worsened the nationwide shortage of air control officers only in the demand for empty journey to fly after passengers returned. Politically motivated government financing confrontation has made new workers training and rewaring outdated safety devices. The Federal Aviation Bureau, all center, spent extended stretches without permanent leaders.
The authorities will probably take a formal conclusion about the cause of the crash drop on Wednesday night at Ronal Dragan Washington National Airport for more than a year. The Army Black Hawk Helicopter, which conducts a routine training with the passenger jet from Wichita, Kansas, collided. However, one of the veterans of the aviation system states that this probe is likely to include investigations such as factors, fatigue, distractions, and potential misunderstandings that have been repeatedly repeated in the previous precious calls. I did it.
The country was watching a rapid collision spike in the airport involved in the airport. In 2022, there were 11 cases in 2023 that the five incidents and at least one passenger aircraft approached another plane or ground vehicle. A FAA database that tracks these events.
In 2024, there was only one call near the airport, which was classified as serious, but FAA was investigating some cases before the end of this year. The two passenger jets were almost collided last year in Reagan National, but the FAA classified this event as not very miserable.
“We know that air traffic controllers have a serious shortage. Many of them are forced to work overtime and are often tired. It is mainly due to the parliament.” 4 years of House of Representatives Transportation Committee.
“I don't know that air traffic control is a problem in this example,” said Defazio. However, he stated that it was leading a survey, an independent federal agency, the National Traffic Safety Committee, to the crash drop on Wednesday.
NTSB chairman Jennifer Homendy told reporters in late 2023 that air traffic systems needed to rescue and needed to rescue controllers and technology.
“We are ringing the bell of the alarm. We need action,” said Homendy at the time. She added as follows.
On Thursday, Homendy said that the “government as a whole” effort was underway to find evidence to spell out what had happened at Reagan National. “We are here to guarantee that we do not turn the stone over the stones in this survey,” she said.
The aviation industry calls the air traffic control system “broken”, but the independent committee of the aviation expert has made it more difficult for the FAA to work, so the parliament “Repeated grid rock. Was blamed. FAA is also sufficient for airplane manufacturers such as Boeing, following the fatal accidents in Asia and Africa during the first term of Trump and the non -fatal blowing of airplane door panels beyond Oregon. I am facing questions repeatedly whether or not the scrutiny is applied. last year. (Boeing aircraft was not involved in Wednesday collisions.)
The FAA has been paying attention to the lack of labor in recent months -Approximately 3,000 controllers with about 45,000 employees have a shortage of 3,000 controllers nationwide. With Oklahoma. However, the authorities have acknowledged that the labor for a while will not start to see net income.
Questions about the actions of the aviation control officer and the helicopter crew emerged immediately after the Wednesday accident. The authorities stated that it occurred in a fine weather. In the radio communication feed on the air traffic controller just before the crash, I was able to ask the controller to see if the controller had seen an inbound jet.
The laypoint arrangement of the Reagan National Control Tower was quoted from the New York Times on Thursday, saying that the time and traffic amount are not normal during the crash, and from the preliminary FAA report on crashes. 。 However, the staff who are familiar with tower operations decided to monitor both airline flights and helicopters on one controller, but the number of tower air control officers is appropriate. I told Politico.
Obviously, these tasks are divided into two controllers after 9:30 pm, and officials who have not been allowed to speak the crash under investigation have said. Wednesday collision happened around 9 pm
Authorities anticipated that there were no survivors from two aircraft on Thursday, saying that 60 passengers and four crews had three soldiers on an American Airlines flight and helicopter.
The Bombardier CRJ700 and Sikorsky H-60 helicopters operated by PSA Airlines said in a statement on Wednesday that the Jet dropped crash while approaching the runway. Local airlines were operated on behalf of American Airlines.
The helicopter participated in the training mission. This emphasizes that Senator Tamny Duckworth (D-ILL), a former Army helicopter pilot, is everyday. “That just means they practice their crafts and work on a daily basis,” she said. After receiving a phone call from FAA and NTSB, DuckWorth said that a helicopter crew was “using eyes to break away with other aircraft.”
“Obviously, you are dependent on air traffic control,” she said. The air traffic control told the crew to search for an American plane approaching the airport.
This collision was involved in a Korean jet attack in San Francisco International Airport in 2013, killing three teenagers, and involving domestic airlines since Buffalo in 2009, CRASH dropped out of Buffalo, New York. Since the first fatal Crash accident, it has been the first fatal passenger crash accident in the United States. It killed 50 people and influenced the safety reforms required for Congress. CRASH dropped in November 2001 in Bell Haber, New York, but it was the most fatal US collision that killed 260 in just two months on September 11.
The relatively gentle thing in the US airspace over the past 20 years has reached the safest period in the United States since the night of the flight. Both FAA and NTSB explained to members of the Diet on Thursday, as the elected leader asked for an answer on the seemingly sudden end of the era.
“This should have happened, and I want to understand what happened,” said Ted Bad (RN.C.), a member of the Senate Commercial Committee.
Even before the answer, President Donald Trump argued without evidence that the Diversity's Diversity policy had caused a crash. Buttigieg, who was asking for an answer about the cause of the collision near the aviation when he was a secretary, replied in X that Trump's remark was “sneaky.”
Duckworth, the chairman of the Senate Small Committee, also exploded when Trump jumped into a diversity story. He suggested that Trump and his efficient emperor, Elon Musk, have worsened the tension among FAA employees. She pointed out that an agency worker was among those who received e -mail from the Human Resources Management Office in the White House this week.
Duckworth said that these letters have headed to “some air traffic controllers in charge of the Northeast Area.” I think the Trump administration is now in a strong position to start to blame others. ”
Former FAA officials are the so -called diversity and fairness of the institution, despite Trump's claim that the Biden administration has encouraged people with “severe intellectual disabilities” and “severe intellectual disabilities”. Opposition to the proposal that the incident program has enabled unqualified people to help as an air control officer. Psychiatric problem. ”
NTSB probably has a conclusion on the cause of the accident after investigating the air traffic control tower, pilots of each aircraft, intended flight routes, and many other factors, and for at least one year Yes.
Both pilots and air control officers need to be often takes years of strict training. According to the occupation, the candidate for this job said, “After taking some mental and physical most strictest tests, before they are hired, the process is very difficult, so it is very small. The applicant will participate in the training. ”
However, due to the sustainable insufficient placement, the air traffic controller was forced to work overtime, and in some cases, the FAA had to move the controller to fill some gaps in Japan's busy airspace.
FAA is not looking at the steady continuity of leadership.
Former administrator Mike Whitaker resigned just before Trump was appointed. Before WHITAKER got a job in October 2023, a series of acting was presented while GOP was questioning the first choice for former President Joe Biden and the qualification of Phil Washington of Denver International Airport CEO. The chief played a role for 18 months. 。
After the catastrophe on Wednesday, the Republican member of the Capitol Hill suggested that more information was needed before taking action.
Senator Jerry Moran (R-KAN) emphasized that the cause of the crash was not informed. However, he followed up what NTSB found by the Senate Commercial Committee and said, “Leading efforts to pursue legislative changes necessary to further protect people on travel. I added it if I was expecting it.
The Democratic Party did not have the details provided immediately after the collision.
At a hearing on Thursday, Senator Richard Bluementhal (D-Conn) made efforts to ensure the tools, funds and resources needed to the FAA, NTSB, and transportation departments to prevent different tragedies. To “double”.
He was asked if he wanted to reduce the number of flights at the airport. Representatives Tim Kane (D-Va), a topic of last year's discussion, had previously expressed concern about the more crowded sky safety via Reagan National. “Follow NTSB and its conclusions.” Kaine and other DC members oppose the number of flights inside and outside the airport, and increase the congestion of the runway, despite the fact that dot and FAA work so that it does not occur. He claimed that it could increase safety.
Billy Noren, who held a “summit” for a close collision as a FAA agent two years ago, said Politico that the US aviation safety record is “very resilient” in consideration of daily flights. I talked to. It is currently shared in the sky, combined with other drones, space rockets, and other crafts.
“13 to 14 billion people have traveled. Without a fatal commercial airline accident in the United States,” Noren said, near Buffalo in 2009. “I mean thinking about the number.”
Eventually, NOLEN says that the FAA and the remaining administration “pick up the work and say” OK “freely to create the largest and most complicated aerodynamic ecosystem. Let's promise. The world, no bar, it will be as great as possible. ”
Sam Ogozalek and Cris Marquette have contributed to this report.
