Current and former air traffic controllers are raising concerns about the Federal Aviation Administration’s hiring practices and “immunity program,” warning that these issues may have contributed to the recent midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
According to former air traffic controllers, the FAA’s emphasis on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hiring practices that began during the Obama administration led to the employment of less qualified controllers and a staffing shortage, a concern that was first echoed by President Donald Trump during a press conference following the deadly disaster, Just the News reported.
Combined with an “immunity program” that does not hold controllers accountable for mistakes, these factors are believed to have contributed to the January 29 collision between an American Airlines plane and a U.S Army helicopter, which resulted in both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River near the Washington, D.C., area airport, killing all 67 people aboard.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the incident.
A 2023 report warned the FAA that air traffic controllers were increasingly making last-minute flight adjustments due to traffic and staffing shortages, raising safety concerns. The report highlighted quality-control issues and staffing deficits in America’s air traffic control system, which jeopardize safety, the outlet reported.
The November 2023 report also emphasized that personnel shortages were forcing controllers to work extended hours and make abrupt, last-minute changes to flight plans, thereby increasing risks.
Regulators acknowledged that in 2023, there were 19 serious near-misses at U.S. airports that could have been catastrophic, marking one of the highest totals in many years.
Some former air traffic controllers have cited changes in the FAA’s hiring practices during the Obama administration as a factor contributing to the current situation in air traffic control, which has led to an ongoing class action lawsuit.
In December 2013, thousands of students who had participated in the FAA’s Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI)—a program designed to prepare individuals to become Air Traffic Control Specialists—were notified that their previous scores on the AT-SAT, a cognitive and skills-based test, would no longer be considered. Instead, the students were required to pass a biographical survey before retaking the cognitive portion of the test, Just the News reported.
The program graduates were unaware that only 14% of them would successfully complete the new biographical questionnaire. This was surprising, considering that half of them had already passed the skills-based test and met all FAA pre-qualification requirements to advance in the process of becoming Air Traffic Control Specialists.
Eventually, one of the CTI graduates, whose career was derailed by the biographical questionnaire, filed a class action lawsuit against the FAA for discrimination.
Michael Pearson, a former FAA air traffic control specialist with over 26 years of experience, is one of the lawyers involved in the lawsuit against the FAA, which alleges racial discrimination in the agency’s hiring practices.
Pearson told Just the News on Tuesday that the ATC at Reagan International failed to follow proper procedures, which he believes contributed to the crash. He explained that there was a conflict alert on the radar, giving the air traffic controller “27 seconds to do something.”
“When a [conflict alert] goes off, you take immediate action,” he said.
While the media largely seems to blame the crew of the Army helicopter for the crash, Pearson believes that the air traffic controller (ATC) is primarily at fault. Pearson advised that the controller “didn’t tell the jet that the helicopter was in sight,” despite being “required to, and didn’t give safety advisories” when the conflict alert sounded.
Regarding hiring practices at the FAA, Pearson said that the agency “stopped hiring” in order “to figure out how to eliminate the CTI program” because FAA leaders believed there were “too many white people.” Although the CTI program wasn’t eliminated, the FAA ceased using it for hiring purposes, Pearson said.
Another issue is the Air Traffic Safety Action Program (ATSAP), which the National Air Traffic Controllers Association says “helps resolve safety issues that otherwise might not have been identified or resolved.”
