During an interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, called for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to take a more active role in ensuring aviation safety. The discussion followed the second day of a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing investigating the January 29, 2025 mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342 near Washington National Airport (DCA), which resulted in 67 fatalities.
“There is an alternative, by the way, that is for the FAA to do its job, and we need this agency to be aggressive about safety, the data and information and the warning signs that were here that the NTSB has uncovered,” said Sen. Cantwell. “…We have to ask very tough questions of the FAA. How is it with those warning signs and with this information, and even air traffic controllers suggesting that this flight path should be changed, no one changed it?”
The NTSB hearing highlighted concerns about air traffic controller staffing levels at the time of the incident. Cantwell noted longstanding issues regarding workforce shortages among controllers. She stated: “…we did pass an FAA bill that increased the staffing, and I can tell you we were advocates from the very beginning that the number one priority in the legislation should be increasing the amount of air traffic controllers," she said. "We can't ask people to work on six days [a] work[week]. We can't have staffing shortages. We can't have people under-skilled not ready to handle the job. We need to make sure that we have the best qualified people. The other thing is, Jim, I think we have to think about is that we are now back to above 2019 levels. For a while, transportation took a break, if you will, during Covid, post-Covid. But now, we are back into growth numbers above 2019, and I think we have to ask ourselves: What kind of stress is that putting on the system? I want the FAA to wake up every day. I want the new administrator to wake up and say, ‘What kind of stress is that putting on the system that we may not be calculating and take account for it.’”
Cantwell also addressed broader issues involving military aircraft operating near civilian flights at busy airports like DCA.
“Well absolutely," she said when asked if there was concern about military-civilian aircraft interactions nationwide. "We want the FAA, we want Secretary of Transportation to investigate in high volume cities where there is transportation interface between military and commercial flights that we have acceptable routing… And so we want to make sure that if FAA didn’t take precautions in this particular…corridor what other corridors they might also be missing?”
On June 5th, Senator Cantwell joined several colleagues in introducing legislation aimed at improving aviation safety across U.S. airports including DCA after January's crash.
Senator Cantwell has played a key role in efforts related to aviation safety through her committee leadership positions over recent years; she helped advance major legislation such as the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2024 and previously sponsored measures designed to strengthen oversight of aircraft manufacturers.
During her interview with Sciutto she rejected claims made by former President Trump linking diversity initiatives (DEI) within air traffic control training programs as factors contributing to January’s crash.
“No," said Cantwell when asked if any investigation found evidence DEI played a role in causing or contributing to this tragedy." No…after those original comments…the President made he did walk those back after we provided lots of data…and evidence…it didn’t."
She added questions remain regarding why exemptions were granted allowing military helicopters without proper signaling equipment into restricted airspace but emphasized her main point: “So look it all boils down—we need a more aggressive FAA…That’s their job—to protect…the flying public.”
