The FAA is facing a major crisis without a leader because Elon Musk pushed him out
The Federal Aviation Administration is facing its first major aviation disaster in 16 years without a leader because Elon Musk helped push him out.
Michael Whitaker stepped down as FAA administrator on January 20th, the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration, after clashing with Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX is regulated by the agency. Musk publicly called on Whitaker to resign after the FAA fined SpaceX for failing to get approval for launch changes. And now the power vacuum at the agency is coming into sharp focus after an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet Wednesday evening in Washington, DC, killing everyone on board.
At a press conference Thursday with rescue officials, newly confirmed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ignored reporters’ questions about whether the FAA had an acting director in place to help manage the crisis. [Continue reading…]
Like most of the country’s air traffic control facilities, the tower at Reagan airport has been understaffed for years. The tower there was nearly a third below targeted staff levels, with 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023, according to the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan, an annual report to Congress that contains target and actual staffing levels. The targets set by the F.A.A. and the controllers’ union call for 30.
The shortage — caused by years of employee turnover and tight budgets, among other factors — has forced many controllers to work up to six days a week and 10 hours a day. [Continue reading…]
Last week, just days after his inauguration, Donald Trump eliminated the membership of a key committee that handles aviation security. And on Wednesday night, a passenger plane collided with a military helicopter in the Washington, D.C., area.
On Tuesday, January 22, the Aviation Security Advisory Committee’s members received a memo from the Trump administration saying that the Department of Homeland Security was getting rid of the membership of all advisory committees in a “commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security.” At the same time, Trump also fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard.
Congress mandated the aviation committee in 1988, after the PanAm Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. After Trump’s move, the committee technically continues to exist but has no members to examine safety issues in airlines and airports. Its membership consisted of key groups in the aviation industry, from major unions to representatives from major airlines, as well as a group associated with victims of the PanAm bombing.
Throughout its existence, the committee’s recommendations were adopted into air travel procedure. It was out of commission for more than a week until Wednesday’s disaster. [Continue reading…]