Washington (TNND) – President Donald Trump has said that the plane crashed into a river near Washington, and the widespread shutdown of a system that provides real-time safety warnings to pilots last weekend has led to the federal aviation agency safety infrastructure used by air traffic controllers. He vowed to work with Parliament to modernize it.
Government watchdogs and officials have long warned that despite the US's track record as in-flight safety, the country's aviation safety system is in desperate need of upgrades and modernization. Last week's crash crash between an Army helicopter and a local American Airlines flight was the first major fatal crash crash in the United States in more than 15 years.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating that the two aircraft have collided and have not yet determined an official cause. However, warnings about the air traffic controller system have raised concerns about the long-standing need for upgrades and the slow and steady decline in safety at American airports.
A government accountability report released last year found that 51 of the FAA's 138 air traffic controller systems were considered unsustainable, while another 54 were deemed unsustainable. Many of them faced “historically problematic challenges for the aging system,” the report said.
“Part of that long history has been cutting funding,” said Dan Babu, an associate professor at the University of Nevada and a former airline pilot at Las Vegas University of Honorary. “It's not only cut into your staff's bones, but now you may have to put a portion of that project on hold in the hopes that your funds will recover in the future.”
Last year's report was urged by a serious shutdown in January 2023, resulting in thousands of flights across the country being grounded. The system went offline for several hours last weekend, but air travel didn't cause much confusion.
Elon Musk's government efficiency is tasked with examining the system after its outage. The non-official governmental agency, the cost-cutting group, will work to “proceed with a rapid upgrade of its air traffic control system” to X, previously known as Twitter.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said he spoke to Doge on X about the efforts but did not provide any details about what they were working on.
Trump said efforts to repair patchwork of existing systems were overly expensive and did not produce the best results.
“We spent billions of dollars trying to renovate old, broken systems rather than trying to loosen it, run out of money and build a great system,” Trump said.
He said he would talk to Congressional leaders and come up with a bill that would get the best control system.
“We have the best system, but it's a lot of money, but not that much money. And it happens quickly and it's done by the general expert. And when it's done, you “We won't have an accident,” Trump said. “They do not have it in effect.”
The president's announcement was immediately supported by a group of airlines who advocated for improving the air traffic safety system.
“The days of paper strips and floppy disks must end,” said Nick Calio, CEO of Airlines for America, a group of merchants for major airlines. “Airlines have made significant changes and meaningful investments in technology, operations, products and people. Governments need to do the same in an organized and timely manner.”
Congress has over 20 years ago, a major overhaul for a project to allow airlines to operate more flights and improve safety and efficiency, known as the next-generation air transport system or NextGen. I have approved. However, billion-dollar projects are repeatedly delayed due to problems with technology with limited progress and building budget cuts.
The FAA announced its initial plans for Nextgen in 2004. Last year, he said he plans to complete it by 2025.
The GAO report estimates that some modernization projects will take as long as 13 years to complete, and the four systems do not have sustained funding to complete them. The FAA faced a $5.2 billion shortfall last year, and its business is maintained, with industry groups calling on Congress to shift $8 billion to infrastructure improvements over five years.
“If this really works, then just commit and implement it completely, give the FAA the resources they need to complete the project, implement it, and train the controller,” Bubb said. I say it. “Let's finish the work.”
