Aviation safety experts met with some of Virginia’s politicians Friday to lay out strategies and changes to make sure nothing like the horrific crash earlier this year at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) ever happens again.
Sixty-seven people died the night of Jan. 29, when an Army helicopter collided with American Airlines flight 5342 over the Potomac River.
While the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) works to complete its final report, one thing is already clear, according to experts: There are several lingering safety problems that contributed to that disaster.
Seven months later, experts and politicians are addressing several issues they say contributed to the disaster. At the table with them during Friday’s discussion was a man who says quite bluntly it should not have cost 67 lives to address issues that the aviation industry knew about for years.
Matthew Collins’ brother, Christopher, was one of those killed in the crash.
“My heart goes out to my mom and dad every day because you talk to them and you think things might start getting a little bit better, but they just seem to be getting worse for them,” he said.
Collins and others who lost loved ones on that flight have been lobbying politicians to commit time and money to improving safety.
“There’s a bill that I’ve got with Sen. Cantwell that looks at all the component parts,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, said. “Sen. Cruz has got another bill I think that’s frankly good.”
One of the issues is the understaffing of air traffic controllers. In a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report that came out last month, the agency said DCA is short seven air traffic controllers out of 30 total positions.
The FAA said the night of the American Airlines crash, one controller was doing the work of multiple positions. However, the FAA told Congress it doesn’t actually know just how short-staffed air traffic control is.
Warner acknowledged that frustrates him, saying, “Yeah, it makes no sense to me.”
“If you are in charge of air traffic safety and you can’t determine how many air traffic controllers we actually need, particularly in a congested airspace, to get the job done, we’ve got a real problem,” he said.
In addition to needing more staff, legislation in the Senate would also fund updated safety equipment.
Carlos Aguirre, a representative from the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, says the flight controllers are ready for the upgrades.
“We strongly believe that this workforce has the expertise and the capability to assist,” Aguirre said. “We’re committed to the mission and able to accomplish the work, if given the proper staffing and training.”
But rarely does anything in Washington move quickly.
Collins says improving safety has to be a priority for lawmakers, so other families never have to feel the loss that his family feels.
“[U.S. Transportation] Sec. [Sean] Duffy has told us that it’s gonna take three and a half [to] four years to implement all these changes, and I’m holding him to it,” Collins said. “And if it’s done in three and a half [to] four years, I’ll be happy.”
Collins says he won’t stop fighting until it’s done.
News 4 reached out the FAA for comment about its staffing numbers and exactly how many people it needs to hire. We have not heard back yet, but data released by the FAA shows the agency employed more than 14,000 air traffic controllers nationwide in 2024. The report states the FAA says it plans to hire and train several thousand air traffic controllers over the next several years.
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