Quotes
The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???”
President Donald Trump continued to front-run the investigation, posting on his TruthSocial We’re looking at altitude. The president was clear about that … someone was at the wrong altitude,
That investigation is ongoing.”
Asked whether the controller handling incoming traffic at the airport that night was hired or not fired based on their race, Leavitt said Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch."
Former Transportation Secretary Buttigieg on X (formerly Twitter We must have only the highest standards for those who work in the aviation system. I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary,
Trump said during a press conference Thursday This is not sustainable. Being proactive regarding hiring is the probably the biggest measure our administration could make to alleviate the fears of the flying public. Luckily, they have the opportunity to do just that, and it will pay off in safer skies,
However, it's quite possible that if marginally qualified Academy graduates got sent to facilities where they could not control traffic successfully, the washout rate would have increased,
To be sure, it would be a very lengthy process to safely transform to a privatized model, with no guarantee of success. The top concern here in this case should be safety. Prioritizing targeted initiatives toward hiring qualified controllers and updated technology in the existing facilities would be a better investment,
We don't know enough about what led to yesterday's collision, but the controller shortage may have played a role. Also, there may be a need to restrict the operation of military helicopters in airspace close to commercial airport landing and takeoff paths,
All candidates who are accepted to the academy go through the same rigorous training process and are expected to perform to the same high standards if they want to continue on to their assigned facility. Then, they face even more training once they get to their actual facility,
It is imperative that we do everything we can to keep the training pipeline open so we can continue to train qualified candidates. I don't see the quality of the training as the problem, but rather that the staffing levels are not where they need to be,
We expect to recover all of the bodies,
Today's decision will immediately help secure the airspace near Reagan Airport, ensuring the safety of airplane and helicopter traffic, ... The American people deserve full confidence in our aviation system and today's action is a significant step towards restoring that trust."
Duffy said in a post on X This one was transitioning from track one to four as part of their normal procedure,
I am in the process of developing an initial plan to fix the @FAANews. I hope to put it out very shortly,
Duffy said on X on Thursday Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them,
said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation You need to train as you fight, you need to rehearse in ways that would reflect a real world scenario,
The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,
We look at facts, on our investigation, and that will take some time,
said Jennifer Homendy, the board's chair It’s one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracy theories, it’s another for the president of the United States,
said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York
