DBEA55AED16C0C92252A6554BC1553B2 Clicky DBEA55AED16C0C92252A6554BC1553B2 Clicky
February 15, 2025
American
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We know very little about the cause of a mid-air collision in Washington, DC.  We know that a PSA Airlines airliner, operating as flight American Airlines 5342 from Wichita, Kansas to Washington DC Reagan National Airport, and an Army Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter collided over the Potomac River.  All on board both aircraft were killed—our condolences to the families and friends of the victims of this tragic event.

We don’t know the cause of the accident and won’t speculate. We prefer to await the conclusions of the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates all aviation accidents and has the resources and competence to determine the factors that caused it.

Unfortunately, the President of the United States inappropriately commented on the crash.  While not assessing individual blame for this accident, he railed about the FAA and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hiring practices, implying that some individuals may have been unqualified.  Unfortunately, he has jumped to an inappropriate conclusion not supported by the facts. 

Becoming an Air Traffic Controller

The process of becoming an air traffic controller is neither easy nor quick. It requires the ability to react to situations in a heartbeat, make the right decisions that impact many people’s lives, and be right 100% of the time. 

The training required to become an air traffic controller is extensive, and the job is highly stressful if candidates pass the training. The attrition rate for new air traffic controllers is relatively high, with more than half of initial hires leaving before they can become full-fledged controllers. It takes about 2-3 years to train a new controller to be ready for unsupervised work, and rookie controllers are not exposed to highly complex airspace like that around Washington, D.C. 

Every controller must show appropriate proficiency, whether a DEI hire or not. If they cannot meet the rigorous job standards, they will wash out, which happens to a very high percentage of candidates. That’s why it isn’t easy to hire and train enough controllers, as the standards are appropriately high.

Controllers are always supervised, and their performance is routinely evaluated and measured. Veteran, experienced controllers are assigned to more complex airspace, such as the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington and the complex airspace around the Capitol, with multiple restricted areas and military flights. A rookie or an incompetent controller would not have been on duty, and DEI has nothing to do with controller competence.

Politics Has No Place in Aviation Safety.

Once their investigation is concluded, we will find out precisely what happened from the NTSB. Hopefully, the industry will implement whatever recommendations emerge from their investigation to ensure this event will not happen again.  As an industry, we owe it to the victims to discover and correct problems so they never happen again.  The last mid-air collision in the United States was in 1978 and reflects how well the industry has improved.  Mid-air collisions are rare and almost always tragic in their results.  Eliminating a cause that was previously overlooked will save lives in the future.

There are people whose job is to find the truth without outrageous veiled statements that blame DEI as the cause.  We should listen to them. 

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author avatar
Ernest Arvai
President AirInsight Group LLC

1 thought on “Washington DC collision – wait for qualified answers

  1. It is unfortunately the fact that incompetent people make inappropriate and irresponsible comments about everything.
    That is a sad state of affairs.

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