Let’s wait to cast blame for the air collision tragedy and make sure we have the facts | Opinion
While bodies are still being dragged from the Potomac River after a regional airliner from Wichita and an Army helicopter collided, Donald Trump is already casting blame with his Truth Social account fingering the chopper pilot and air traffic control. He’s not alone, but he is the president and the first thing a good Commander-in-Chief does is not blame the troops before the facts are in.
We’d all do well to avoid the blame game as investigators dig into the tragedy and families bury their dead.
There is plenty for them to look into. A 2023 New York Times investigation examining FAA and NASA data found that near-misses between aircraft were occurring more than once a week around the United States. The cause was mostly human error.
“Some air traffic controllers have long voiced fears that a deadly crash was inevitable as the country’s aviation safety net came under mounting stress,” The New York Times reported.
In Washington, D.C., and at Reagan National Airport, the problem may have been more acute. A bipartisan compromise law signed by President Joe Biden added five new flights to the airport’s already busy schedule last year. The Washington Post reported safety concerns on the busiest single runway in the nation that pilots say is the most challenging to get into and out of.
Virginia’s two Democratic senators were among the most vocal in opposing such an expansion because of the dangers of overcrowding. The Virginia senators and two colleagues from Maryland said in a statement last February that, “With this profoundly reckless decision, the Committee is gambling with the safety of everyone who uses this airport.”
We don’t yet know what the Federal Aviation Administration and the White House did then to make sure the move was safe.
It will be up to the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigators to find out exactly what caused Wednesday’s collision, but if crowding is an issue, it is up to the Republican-led Congress to fix it.
Why Congress? National and D.C.’s other airport, Dulles International, are owned by the federal government. As a result, Congress feels free to micromanage them through regular updates to FAA authorization.
In any case, it will be months before we have the facts of how this disaster took place. We’d be better off if we focus on the victims now and wait to cast blame later.
This story was originally published January 30, 2025 at 10:05 AM.
