Latest news with #DennisTajer
CNBC
21-05-2025
- Politics
- CNBC
Capt. Tajer: Newark Airport is the 'earthquake epicenter' of infrastructure and staffing failure
Captain Dennis Tajer, Allied Pilots Association spokesperson, joins CNBC's 'Power Lunch' to discuss the recent turmoil at Newark Airport.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Is it safe to fly to Newark Liberty International Airport in the wake of recent outages? Officials say it is
Several equipment outages over the past two weeks at the Philadelphia-based air traffic control center that guides planes to and from Newark Liberty International Airport have raised concerns on how safe it is to fly at one of the nation's busiest airports. The outages — with two in the past week — come as anxiety around flying has spiked amid an already tumultuous year with a deadly collision and several close calls. On Sunday morning, the Federal Aviation Administration said it implemented a ground stop for flights heading to Newark because of a 'telecommunications issue' affecting controllers at Philadelphia TRACON Area C. The ground stop lasted about 45 minutes, according to FAA air traffic advisories. In this case, the transportation department says a backup system kicked in. Another 90-second-long radar and radio outage happened early Friday morning at the TRACON. Both incidents follow an outage at the same control center last month during the busy afternoon of April 28, which resulted in five air traffic controllers taking trauma leave, triggering more than a thousand canceled flights at the airport. And flights arriving and departing Newark late Monday night were being handled by as few as three air traffic controllers. Should passengers be concerned following the outages affecting Newark? 'I can tell you, uncategorically, that the travel into Newark today is safe,' acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau said Monday at a news conference. Air traffic controllers tell CNN the recent outages put airline workers and passengers at risk, with one describing the loss of communications alone as 'the most dangerous situation you could have.' 'I've never seen anything like this,' said one Newark approach controller who has worked in air traffic control for more than 20 years and requested to remain anonymous because he is a current employee. 'We're playing Russian roulette.' The outages are the latest in a turbulent year for flying, following the deadly midair collision over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a Medevac jet crash in Philadelphia and a regional airline crash off the coast of Nome, Alaska, that killed 10 people. Those events come on the heels of deadly Jeju Air and Azerbaijan Airlines crashes in December 2024 and about a year after an alarming Boeing door panel blowout in the United States and a fiery runway collision in Japan. In 2023, a string of near-collisions at US airports spurred the creation of an independent safety review team. Dennis Tajer, a captain and spokesperson for Allied Pilots Association, the union representing American Airlines' pilots, said professional pilots 'don't train for everything to go well.' If pilots lose radio contact, there are at least two radios on airliners, and air traffic control still has several frequencies should one go out, Tajer said. There's even a 'guard frequency,' should pilots require an emergency frequency that is heavily monitored. 'The bottom line is, we, by regulation, have a procedure for this by training,' he said. 'We are experts in the use of and we have additional equipment, such as additional radios, additional frequencies to at least make contact and speak with other aircraft.' The traffic collision avoidance system, or TCAS, is also available on board, to identify other planes that might be dangerously close and keep them apart, Tajer added. Even accounting for serious accidents, air travel remains 'the safest mode of transportation,' Anthony Brickhouse, a US-based aviation safety expert, told CNN in March. Should the tower not be able to broadcast, but can see the aircraft, there are also lights that can be flashed to alert pilots when to land or when to hold off, he said. 'Statistically speaking, you're safer in your flight than you were driving in your car to the airport,' said Brickhouse, who has decades of experience in aerospace engineering, aviation safety and accident investigation. Reports analyzed by CNN from the National Transportation Safety Board show the number of accident investigations is down for the first quarter of 2025. The NTSB led 171 civil aviation investigations from January to March 2025, which include commercial, general, rotorcraft and specialized aircraft. During the same time frame last year, there were 185 investigations. And the first three months of 2010 to 2019 averaged 215 investigations. 'I think this year is bad, even more, other than (Reagan National Airport), because of all the things that have come to light,' said CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo. 'Without the NTSB, would we have ever known about the 15,000 near misses,' she told CNN in April, referring to the 15,214 'near miss events' the board uncovered from 2021 and 2024, where aircraft were within one nautical mile of colliding, with a vertical separation of less than 400 feet at Reagan National Airport. 'That's shocking - we wouldn't have known about that,' she added. A number of issues plague America's aviation system including inconsistent funding, outdated technology and short-staffed facilities. Newark has been impacted by all three factors, and the chaos has been compounded by the closure of the airport's busiest runway for 'rehabilitation work.' The FAA confirmed that 'at least three' air traffic controllers were working in the Newark approach control facility Monday night. At the busiest times of the day, the number of controllers could be as high as 14. An FAA spokesperson underscored to CNN that 14 was a staffing maximum and there had not been that many controllers working during a shift for years due to the nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers. Despite these obstacles, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby tells CNN flying is still safe at Newark — and nationwide — because airlines are scaling back the amount of flights departing day by day. 'What happens when there are staffing shortages or technology outages – we train for those. But really what we do is we slow down the airline,' Kirby added. 'We have fewer departures at every airport, so that we maintain the margin of safety everywhere that we fly.' Kirby delivered a similar message Monday in an email addressed to MileagePlus members who 'live near' or 'have an upcoming trip that includes' the airline's hub at Newark. 'The truth is that all the flights in and out of (Newark) are absolutely safe,' Kirby said. 'When there are (Federal Aviation Administration) issues, such as technology outages or staffing shortages, the FAA requires all airlines to fly fewer aircraft to maintain the highest levels of safety.' The email includes a link to a video highlighting the number of safety protocols already in place to protect passengers, such as back-up radar services and 'advanced safety technology' that helps pilots see other aircraft around them. But those booking flights for summer vacation should avoid flights through Newark, according to CNN analyst and former FAA safety inspector David Soucie, who notes that nearby airports could experience delays due to reduced traffic at Newark. 'Until we see a reliable, repetitive nature of the flights and without delays at that airport, I would avoid it if I can,' Soucie added. Summer travel is expected to be 'dreadful,' according to Peter Goelz, a CNN aviation analyst and former managing director of the NTSB. 'Particularly around the high-volume holidays of the Fourth of July and Labor Day,' he said. While a reduction in the overall number of flights could mean weeks, if not months, of misery for travelers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said this approach is one way airlines can maintain safety during the summertime rush. 'Our mission is safety, and so I hate delays. I hate cancellations, and I hate families who come with little kids that are sitting there for four hours,' Duffy said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'But I want you to get to where you're traveling, and if that means slowing down flights into Newark, we slow them down to make sure we can do it safely.' Duffy last week announced plans for a 'delay reduction meeting' in which airlines – brought together by the FAA – collaborate to reduce delays. The meeting is set for Wednesday according to an FAA statement. These talks have to 'start with the FAA,' Soucie told CNN Sunday. 'We can't rely on the air carriers to say, 'Here's how much we think you can handle.'' 'That's the FAA's job,' Soucie added. On Thursday, the US Department of Transportation announced a three-year-plan to build a 'brand-new air traffic control system,' involving critical upgrades of communications, surveillance, automation and facilities. By 2028, more than 4,600 sites will get new high-speed network connections replacing antiqued telecommunications lines with fiber, wireless and satellite links, the department said. 'What you saw in Newark, you will see variations of that through the airspace in the coming years, unless we undertake this mission,' Duffy has told CNN. The FAA also plans to add three new 'high-bandwidth telecommunications connections' from New York to Philadelphia, replace copper lines with fiber-optic technology, and deploy a backup system to provide more speed and reliability. Duffy said the ongoing air traffic control failures began with the Biden administration and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. 'I think it is clear that the blame belongs with the last administration,' Duffy said during a news conference at the DOT headquarters Monday. 'Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden did nothing to fix the system that they knew was broken.' Chris Meagher, a Buttigieg adviser, said Duffy 'needs to spend more time doing what the American people are paying him to do — fix problems — and less time blaming others.' Duffy said he will ask the inspector general to open an investigation 'into the failures of the last administration' and the move of controllers handling flights in and out of Newark from a New York facility to Philadelphia TRACON Area C. Tajer called the Newark's disruptions the 'volcano that's erupting right now,' but there are other volcanoes in the air travel system. 'We've got to make sure that we bring them to an inactive state by investing in these modernizations of technology,' he said. 'When it comes to safety, we got your back. We don't fly without that confidence.' On Sunday, a pilot radioed the approach controller, about the same time as flights headed to Newark were halted by the ground stop, according to radio frequency recorded by the website 'Newark, just so you know, we're all rooting for you, for better equipment and more staffing.'
CNN
30-01-2025
- General
- CNN
US airlines' 16-year safety record ended with tragedy. There were warnings ahead of the crash
US airlines had gone 16 years without a fatal crash until Wednesday night. But as impressive as that safety record had been, there have been warning signs in recent years of a significant risk of a collision like the one that just killed 67 people. A regional jet from Wichita, Kansas, operated as an American Airlines flight by feeder carrier PSA Airlines, was preparing to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when it collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter that was crossing its path just a few hundred feet above the ground. The cause of the crash was unknown Thursday as the investigation is just beginning. It was the first fatal crash of a commercial US airplane since 2009. As safe as air travel has become, the US air travel system has been under increasing stress in recent years — with a well-established shortage of the air traffic controllers throughout the nation, despite years of attempting to ramp up hiring. And congestion in many major metropolitan areas, especially around Washington DC, make flying riskier than 16 crash-free years might suggest. 'I'm saddened, but I'm not surprised,' said Anthony Brickhouse, an aviation safety expert. 'In the last two to three years, we've had so many close calls with commercial planes having near collisions in and near airport environments. If changes aren't made, you eventually meet with tragedy.' Experts say that while America retains a gold standard for airline safety and that commercial air travel is the safest form of travel, there are stresses on the system that have been apparent in a series of near tragedies in recent years. A strained air traffic control system and congestion in the air space over many major cities has squeezed the margins of safety needed to operate the America's air transportation system, Captain Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot, told CNN early Thursday. 'You've got all the things stacked up against you,' he said. 'We've got to protect the American public's trust in the system and prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again. The saying goes, 'You have to investigate accidents before they happen, not after, to get long-term fixes.' Complacency has no place in our skies today, and we have to make sure we maintain that attitude.' The near collisions, often wrongly referred to by the public as 'near misses,' are far more common that most passengers know. There was one such incident less than three weeks ago in Phoenix when a United Airlines flight from San Francisco carrying 123 passengers and six crew members and a Delta Air Lines flight carrying 245 passengers from Detroit both got clearance to land at virtually the same time, resulting in both receiving warnings they were too close to one another. The aircraft were 1,217 feet — less than a quarter-mile — apart, according to data from flight-tracking site Flightradar24. The cockpit warning systems that alerted those two planes likely was not able to warn the pilots in the American Airlines flight Wednesday night, because it was only 375 feet above the ground when the Army helicopter was approaching it. Details of what warning the pilots of both aircraft received will be determined in the upcoming crash investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Some near collisions take place on the ground, not in the air. But they can be just as dangerous, given the speed that planes are traveling on takeoff or landing. On December 27, a charter jet carrying the Gonzaga men's basketball team nearly crossed a runway at Los Angeles International Airport on which a Delta plane was taking off. Some of the near collisions brought two planes even closer to one another. On February 4, 2023, a FedEx jet came within 150 feet of the runway before its pilots realized a Southwest jet was taking off on the same runway. It was one of five such incidents in a period of just seven weeks at the start of last year. And none of those were potentially as serious as an incident in July 2017, when an Air Canada jet piloted by a captain who had been awake for more than 19 hours nearly landed on a taxiway at San Francisco International Airport where three wide-body jets filled with passengers were waiting to take off. The NTSB later determined the Air Canada jet got within 100 feet of the ground before it took off again without making contact with any of the passenger planes on the ground. The safety regulator said more than 1,000 people on the four planes might have died had the accident not been averted at the last moment. 'It would have been the worst disaster in aviation history,' Brickhouse, the aviation safety expert, said. 'Pilots, air traffic controllers, mechanics — they're all human, and humans make mistakes. We've been working toward designing the system so that when mistakes are made, we can recover from them without it being a tragedy.' And such near collisions have become so common that the Federal Aviation Administration announced an audit of such incidents last fall. Prev Next Despite the fact that there is nothing known at this point as to the who was at fault for the crash — air traffic control, the plane's pilot or the helicopter's pilot, let alone the qualifications of the people involved in those roles Wednesday night — President Donald Trump, without evidence, blamed the crash on Democrats' efforts to have a 'diversity push' as part of the hiring process at the the FAA's air traffic control system. Vice President JD Vance echoed that claim. Asked at a press conference if he was blaming the air traffic controllers for the crash, or had evidence that they were in that job despite not being qualified, Trump responded, 'It just could have been.' Asked why he believed diversity hiring efforts played a role in the crash, he responded, 'Because I have common sense, OK, and unfortunately, a lot of people don't.' Trump has signed executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs at most of the federal government, including the Transportation Department. But he had not nominated a new head of the FAA until Thursday's press conference, when he announced that he had picked Chris Rocheleau to lead the nation's key aviation safety regulator. The previous FAA administrator, Michael Whitaker, left the job the day Trump took office. Some airports and air space are under more stress than others. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has the busiest runway in the nation. The airport has seen a number of near collisions in recent years, including an American Airlines flight bound for Boston in May that was forced to abort takeoff to avoid another plane that was landing. And a JetBlue plane and Southwest plane nearly collided on the runway of Reagan National Airport in Washington on April 18, when one was cleared for takeoff as the other was directed to cross the runway it was on. Tight restrictions on where planes can fly is a major issue in Washington DC, with narrow flight paths to avoid areas with high-security needs like the Capitol building and White House. The nation's capital represents a unique conundrum for flights in the US. Demand is huge at Reagan Washington National thanks to how close it is to downtown Washington. And members of Congress, which controls how many aircraft can use that airport, are often pushing for more direct flights to more destinations. Congress approved five additional round trip flights at the airport just last fall. At a press conference at the airport early Thursday, just hours after the crash, Senator Jerry Moran said that he had pushed American to schedule the flight from Wichita to the Washington airport. 'I know that flight. I've flown it many times myself,' said Moran, a Republican from Kansas. 'I lobbied American Airlines to begin having a direct nonstop flight service to DCA. That flight has been existence about a year.' At press conferences Thursday morning, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who took office just hours before the crash, said he is convinced that the air traffic system is safe but that the crash is a sign that things need to change. 'What happened yesterday should not have happened,' he said. 'When Americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination. That didn't happen yesterday. That's not acceptable.' CNN's Alexandra Skores, Pete Muntean, Samantha Waldenberg and Donald Judd contributed to this report.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Reagan airport, the notoriously congested destination of the crashed American Airlines flight, experienced at least 8 near-miss accidents last year alone
An American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter while en route to Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan National Airport. The airport near the U.S. capital is notorious for being congested and the site of several near-miss aircraft collisions. The tragic collision of a commercial American Airlines flight with a Black Hawk helicopter has reignited frustration and worry over flight near-misses, particularly at the congested Washington, D.C.-area Ronald Reagan National Airport. American Eagle Flight 5342 carrying 64 passengers from Wichita, Kansas, struck a military UH-60 over Washington, D.C., Wednesday night. Fuselage from the two aircraft plunged into the Potomac River. There are no survivors expected on either vessel, according to the Washington, D.C. fire chief, making Wednesday's devastation the deadliest U.S. airplane crash since February 2009, when a Colgan plane crashed outside Buffalo, New York, killing 50. The Federation Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, and Pentagon will investigate the disaster. The flight's Reagan airport destination, also known as DCA, is the country's busiest runway and a hub for incoming government officials, dignitaries, and legislators. Originally built to accommodate 15 million passengers annually, Reagan sees 25 million travelers every year. 'It's a beehive of activity,' Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines captain and spokesperson for the U.S. pilot union Allied Pilots Association, told the Washington Post. 'It's extremely compact, and it's a high volume of traffic.' The high volume of travellers at the airport is correlated with several close safety calls. In 2024 alone, DCA saw at least eight near-miss incidents, according to the FAA. In May, an American Airlines flight headed to Boston had an almost-collision with another aircraft after speeding down the runway at about 100 miles per hour before being ordered to stop. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates Reagan, directed Fortune to the FAA for comment, and the FAA did not immediately respond to Fortune's request. Some safety experts say the near-misses at DCA are a reflection of a broader trend of almost-collisions happening in commercial aviation. The FAA reported 1,757 almost-collisions total in fiscal 2024, about the same as the 1,760 reported the year before. 'The past two to three years, we've had several close calls at various airports in the U.S.—between the airplanes on the ground having issues and almost colliding on the runway and taxiway,' Anthony Brickhouse, a U.S.-based aviation safety expert, told Fortune. 'In safety, what we look for is trends…and when trends happen over and over again, if changes aren't made, that near-miss becomes a mid-air collision,' he added. 'And unfortunately, that's what we had last night.' Regulating traffic at DCA has been a hotly contested issue. Ronald Reagan, along with New York's LaGuardia Airport, are uniquely subject to a decades-old perimeter rule, which limits travel to within 1,250 miles to or from the respective airports. While proponents of the rule argue changes to it would cause more congestion and stress airport systems, others have pushed back against the law, arguing less restriction could help create new jobs and help meet high flight demands. Rep. Blake D. Moore, a Republican representing Utah, has advocated tweaking the law enforcing the perimeter. Moore told the New York Times in July 2023 the loosening of the rules would encourage tourism between D.C. and his Salt Lake City hometown. He also said it would make a more convenient commute for him—a perk other legislators, both Democrat and Republican, would share. Moore did not immediately respond to Fortune's request for comment. Those wanting to slacken the perimeter rule notched a victory in October, when the Transportation Department, under pressure from some airlines, awarded five new long-haul routes from Ronald Reagan to major airlines, including Delta, United, and American Airlines. Last May, when Congress was considering an FAA reauthorization bill that would grant DCA those flight slots, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, who represents Virginia, opposed the bill and told reporters more routes at the hub could cause a collision. "God forbid waking up and looking in a mirror one day and say, 'Wow, I was warned,' Kaine said. 'I was warned, and I shouldn't have done this.' Aviation safety expert Brickhouse warned against placing blame for the crash on Reagan airport. He said there's still not enough information as to why the crash happened and that, in instances of safety, numerous factors contribute to safety outcomes. Beyond airport congestion, safety bodies like the FAA and NTSB will probe pilots and their experience, air traffic control, and any technology malfunctions, he said. Historically, myriad issues have contributed to near-misses. In fiscal 2023, about 60% of total runway incursions were a result of pilot deviations, about 20% were due to air traffic controller action or inaction, and the other 20% were due to pedestrian or vehicle deviations, NBC Washington reported last April after a near-miss at DCA, using data from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced he would fire the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard and gut the aviation safety group Aviation Security Advisory Committee formed in 1988. The group—composed of airlines, unions, and other key players to recommend changes to the industry—will continue to exist, but won't have any personnel. Identifying which issues were key contributors to Wednesday's tragedy will take patience, Brickhouse said. 'Safety is something that you always work towards, because different threats, different hazards and different risks are always presenting themselves,' Brickhouse said. 'As safety professionals, our job is to constantly be aware of those changes that happen so that we can make the proper adjustments to maintain a high level of safety.' This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
US airlines' 16-year safety record ended with tragedy. There were warnings ahead of the crash
US airlines had gone 16 years without a fatal crash until Wednesday night. But as impressive as that safety record had been, there have been warning signs in recent years of a significant risk of a collision like the one that just killed 67 people. A regional jet from Wichita, Kansas, operated as an American Airlines flight by feeder carrier PSA Airlines, was preparing to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when it collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter that was crossing its path just a few hundred feet above the ground. The cause of the crash was unknown Thursday as the investigation is just beginning. It was the first fatal crash of a commercial US airplane since 2009. As safe as air travel has become, the US air travel system has been under increasing stress in recent years — with a well-established shortage of the air traffic controllers throughout the nation, despite years of attempting to ramp up hiring. And congestion in many major metropolitan areas, especially around Washington DC, make flying riskier than 16 crash-free years might suggest. 'I'm saddened, but I'm not surprised,' said Anthony Brickhouse, an aviation safety expert. 'In the last two to three years, we've had so many close calls with commercial planes having near collisions in and near airport environments. If changes aren't made, you eventually meet with tragedy.' Experts say that while America retains a gold standard for airline safety and that commercial air travel is the safest form of travel, there are stresses on the system that have been apparent in a series of near tragedies in recent years. A strained air traffic control system and congestion in the air space over many major cities has squeezed the margins of safety needed to operate the America's air transportation system, Captain Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot, told CNN early Thursday. 'You've got all the things stacked up against you,' he said. 'We've got to protect the American public's trust in the system and prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again. The saying goes, 'You have to investigate accidents before they happen, not after, to get long-term fixes.' Complacency has no place in our skies today, and we have to make sure we maintain that attitude.' The near collisions, often wrongly referred to by the public as 'near misses,' are far more common that most passengers know. There was one such incident less than three weeks ago in Phoenix when a United Airlines flight from San Francisco carrying 123 passengers and six crew members and a Delta Air Lines flight carrying 245 passengers from Detroit both got clearance to land at virtually the same time, resulting in both receiving warnings they were too close to one another. The aircraft were 1,217 feet — less than a quarter-mile — apart, according to data from flight-tracking site Flightradar24. The cockpit warning systems that alerted those two planes likely was not able to warn the pilots in the American Airlines flight Wednesday night, because it was only 375 feet above the ground when the Army helicopter was approaching it. Details of what warning the pilots of both aircraft received will be determined in the upcoming crash investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Some near collisions take place on the ground, not in the air. But they can be just as dangerous, given the speed that planes are traveling on takeoff or landing. On December 27, a charter jet carrying the Gonzaga men's basketball team nearly crossed a runway at Los Angeles International Airport on which a Delta plane was taking off. Some of the near collisions brought two planes even closer to one another. On February 4, 2023, a FedEx jet came within 150 feet of the runway before its pilots realized a Southwest jet was taking off on the same runway. It was one of five such incidents in a period of just seven weeks at the start of last year. And none of those were potentially as serious as an incident in July 2017, when an Air Canada jet piloted by a captain who had been awake for more than 19 hours nearly landed on a taxiway at San Francisco International Airport where three wide-body jets filled with passengers were waiting to take off. The NTSB later determined the Air Canada jet got within 100 feet of the ground before it took off again without making contact with any of the passenger planes on the ground. The safety regulator said more than 1,000 people on the four planes might have died had the accident not been averted at the last moment. 'It would have been the worst disaster in aviation history,' Brickhouse, the aviation safety expert, said. 'Pilots, air traffic controllers, mechanics — they're all human, and humans make mistakes. We've been working toward designing the system so that when mistakes are made, we can recover from them without it being a tragedy.' And such near collisions have become so common that the Federal Aviation Administration announced an audit of such incidents last fall. unknown content item - Despite the fact that there is nothing known at this point as to the who was at fault for the crash — air traffic control, the plane's pilot or the helicopter's pilot, let alone the qualifications of the people involved in those roles Wednesday night — President Donald Trump, without evidence, blamed the crash on Democrats' efforts to have a 'diversity push' as part of the hiring process at the the FAA's air traffic control system. Vice President JD Vance echoed that claim. Asked at a press conference if he was blaming the air traffic controllers for the crash, or had evidence that they were in that job despite not being qualified, Trump responded, 'It just could have been.' Asked why he believed diversity hiring efforts played a role in the crash, he responded, 'Because I have common sense, OK, and unfortunately, a lot of people don't.' Trump has signed executive orders banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs at most of the federal government, including the Transportation Department. But he had not nominated a new head of the FAA until Thursday's press conference, when he announced that he had picked Chris Rocheleau to lead the nation's key aviation safety regulator. The previous FAA administrator, Michael Whitaker, left the job the day Trump took office. Some airports and air space are under more stress than others. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has the busiest runway in the nation. The airport has seen a number of near collisions in recent years, including an American Airlines flight bound for Boston in May that was forced to abort takeoff to avoid another plane that was landing. And a JetBlue plane and Southwest plane nearly collided on the runway of Reagan National Airport in Washington on April 18, when one was cleared for takeoff as the other was directed to cross the runway it was on. Tight restrictions on where planes can fly is a major issue in Washington DC, with narrow flight paths to avoid areas with high-security needs like the Capitol building and White House. The nation's capital represents a unique conundrum for flights in the US. Demand is huge at Reagan Washington National thanks to how close it is to downtown Washington. And members of Congress, which controls how many aircraft can use that airport, are often pushing for more direct flights to more destinations. Congress approved five additional round trip flights at the airport just last fall. At a press conference at the airport early Thursday, just hours after the crash, Senator Jerry Moran said that he had pushed American to schedule the flight from Wichita to the Washington airport. 'I know that flight. I've flown it many times myself,' said Moran, a Republican from Kansas. 'I lobbied American Airlines to begin having a direct nonstop flight service to DCA. That flight has been existence about a year.' At press conferences Thursday morning, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who took office just hours before the crash, said he is convinced that the air traffic system is safe but that the crash is a sign that things need to change. 'What happened yesterday should not have happened,' he said. 'When Americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination. That didn't happen yesterday. That's not acceptable.' CNN's Alexandra Skores, Pete Muntean, Samantha Waldenberg and Donald Judd contributed to this report.
