FAA personnel cuts were 'safety net' against air traffic collisions, delays

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A union representing approximately 400 FAA personnel fired on Feb. 28 says 130 of them were safety assistants, maintenance mechanics and nautical information specialists.

The positions are personnel who helped aircraft safety inspectors, repaired air traffic control facilities and updated digital maps for navigation by pilots, including the kinds of changes necessary by the FAA to avoid midair collision like what happened in Washington, D.C. in January, as reported by The Associated Press.

Philip Mann is a former FAA certified technician who told the AP that the personnel loss “is going to have long-term safety implications — just work that simply can’t be done.”

The federal cuts are part of President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency‘s (DOGE) goal to shrink the federal workforce and cut government waste. However, Americans have become concerned with air travel since the January collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport between an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, which killed 67 over the Potomac River.

Professional Aviation Specialists Association President David Spero, the union which represents the FAA employees who were laid off, said all of them were part of the department’s “safety net.”

“The more of them that are not there, the more difficult it becomes to do the actual safety oversight,” Spero told the AP.

The United States has been experiencing a shortage of air traffic control for a few years, and the FAA cuts will not help the situation.

“As short-staffed as air traffic controllers are, there are about three air traffic controllers for every technician,” Mann said.

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner of Virginia, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, expressing deep concerns about the recent firings and the troubling involvement of unaccountable entities, including SpaceX, in critical aviation safety decisions. The letter urges Duffy to prioritize the safety of America’s air travel system and to reverse recent cuts to essential FAA safety roles.

“We write to express our deep concerns with the recent firings of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel and the involvement of a cadre, unaccountable to the American people, in critical aviation safety decision making. The past week has seen mass firings of federal workers, done without regard to personal performance, the impact on mission effectiveness, and the effect on the country’s ability to deliver services at home or compete abroad. We urge you to stand up for the safety of our national air space and reverse these devastating cuts in key safety roles,” the senators wrote in late February.

The letter raises alarms about a series of concerning aviation incidents over the past month, including multiple crashes and close calls that highlight the need for highly trained, impartial professionals at the FAA. The lawmakers stressed the need for a commitment to safety, calling out the dangers of prioritizing political agendas over the well-being of American air travelers.

“We need experienced, qualified and impartial professionals to investigate these unfortunate incidents, develop plans to prevent these types of accidents from occurring in the future, and implement those plans with the safety of the public as the sole and guiding objective,” the letter states.

The senators also raised significant concerns regarding the role of SpaceX in the future of air traffic control, following public statements by Duffy that employees of Musk’s company are involved in delivering a new, world-class air traffic control system and that DOGE is “plug[ged] in” to the country’s aviation system.

The lawmakers noted that the involvement of Musk’s employees in the FAA “is troubling given that SpaceX has been investigated and fined by the FAA for multiple incidences of safety violations, and is at this time actively under investigation by the FAA for additional safety violations.”

The letter calls for a series of detailed answers from Duffy regarding the role of SpaceX, the processes used to evaluate and select external contractors, and the impact of recent personnel terminations on the safety and effectiveness of FAA operations. The letter also demands a full public accounting of the decision-making process that led to these significant changes, with a commitment to ongoing transparency.