The fatal midair collision over the Potomac River on Wednesday should be a wake-up call to Congress and the nation to address long-unresolved issues like an air traffic controller shortage and D.C. airspace congestion, according to many in the aviation industry.
Chief among the concerns is the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s promised cuts to the federal workforce and government spending, which they warn could disrupt expertise and funding at the Federal Aviation Administration and harm aviation safety.
“The problem with the system — it’s a tombstone mentality. Nobody does anything, we’re always reactionary until something like this happens,” said Brian Alexander, partner at law firm Kreindler & Kreindler LLP who focuses on aviation accident law, in an interview. “I think there will be some positive changes and some funding changes as a result of this crash. Ultimately, that’s a good thing, but it shouldn’t be a good thing at the expense of this terrible tragedy.”
Details are still emerging on the crash between a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter and a regional passenger jet, although it typically takes over a year for FAA and National Transportation Safety Board investigators to determine the final cause and contributing factors.
Trump initially pointed to diversity-based hiring practices as a potential cause and promptly signed a memo Thursday calling for a review of all hiring decisions and safety protocols over the past four years.
That action comes on top of a hiring freeze and an offer of buyouts to federal employees who leave their jobs voluntarily by Feb. 6, in a dramatic attempt to quickly shrink the federal workforce.
Asked if the administration’s freeze and buyout offers apply to air traffic controllers and other essential FAA workers, the FAA deferred to the White House, which did not respond to a request for information. If public safety personnel are exempt, the directives might still impact administrative functions at the agency that help controllers do their jobs.
Controller shortage
Aviation experts are sounding alarms that safety will take a huge hit if air traffic controller retention and hiring is impaired during a freeze or review of hiring practices.
“These are people that are on the front line, without which this whole system does not work and who have kept us so safe for so long,” Alexander said. “In light of this accident, they ought to reverse course as it relates to air traffic control, that’s for sure.”
The air traffic controller workforce has been facing a shortage for years. In a 2023 federal report, an independent review commissioned by the FAA found that despite the severe shortage, demands on the workforce due to increased complexity of the airspace have grown, and that overtime was at an all-time high and increasing.
Congress last year passed provisions in an FAA reauthorization bill directing the agency to attain maximum hiring of air traffic controllers to boost the workforce. But lawmakers speaking about the crash this week declined to predict if additional legislation will be needed.
Clay Foushee, a former director of the FAA’s Office of Audit and Evaluation and an industry veteran, added that a buyout is especially concerning for controllers.
Those who accept the offer would retain any pay and benefits regardless of daily workload until Sept. 30. Considering many current air traffic controllers are eligible for retirement and often overworked, Foushee said that’s a good deal for those looking to leave the job.
“I mean, if I was going to retire in a year or two anyway, but now they’re going to pay me $150-160,000 to leave now, and I still get my full retirement,” he said. “I’m gonna take that.”
DC congestion
Aviation experts are also concerned about congestion in the Washington, D.C., airspace, which serves commercial flights to and from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as well as military flights and those for national security purposes.
Alexander, who also served as a U.S. Army captain and pilot, said he’s flown a similar route down the Potomac River hundreds of times. He said he became “hyper-vigilant” in this specific airspace, especially since the airport traffic has increased over the past few decades.
Foushee added that “there’s no place like DCA, it is unbelievably complicated. It was designed for less than half the traffic that it’s experiencing today … then you add in the helicopters and all the military traffic in the area. For years, a lot of us have been holding our breath about DCA.”
According to an FAA report obtained by the Associated Press, one air traffic controller at National was responsible for coordinating helicopter and airport traffic when the collision happened rather than the typical two. Foushee said, however, that’s a normal practice when traffic is light.
National airport, which is federally owned and exclusively operated by Congress, has a perimeter rule lawmakers set in the 1960s establishing it as a short-haul airport, limited to flights within 1,250 miles, with some exemptions, which are subject to congressional approval.
Since 2000, Congress has added 42 flight slots beyond the perimeter — including 10 in the most recent FAA reauthorization bill — and 22 within.
Foushee and Alexander said they expect Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy to heavily review routes and uses for the airspace in the aftermath of the crash.
“They need to step back. They need to slow down,” Alexander said. “But this will hopefully cause decision-makers to invest in rather than take things out of that system.”
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