Donald Trump fires hundreds of air traffic controllers weeks after deadly plane crash

President Donald Trump has started firing hundreds of air traffic controllers weeks after the deadly American Airlines jet and Black Hawk helicopter crash. ‘Several hundred’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) probationary employees began receiving termination notices on Friday, the head of the union representing them told CNN. Workers were fired ‘without cause nor based on performance or conduct’, said Professional Aviation Safety Specialists president David Spero.

Most probationary workers have been employed for less than a year and do not have the right to appeal. The notices from an ‘exec order’ Microsoft email were sent after 7pm on Friday and more could go out through the long Presidents’ Day holiday weekend, he said. Fired workers could be prohibited from entering FAA buildings on Tuesday. They include people who were tasked to oversee FAA radar and landing and navigation aid maintenance, according to an air traffic controller who wished to remain anonymous.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association stated on Monday that it is ‘analyzing the effect of the reported federal employee terminations on aviation safety, the national airspace system and our members’. There is already a shortage of air traffic controllers in the US due to long shifts, intense training and requirements and a lack of competitive pay. It comes less than three weeks after an American Airlines regional plane a US Army helicopter collided and dropped into the Potomac River in Washington, DC, killing 67 people and marking the worst aviation disaster in the US since 2001.

At the time, one controller was handling commercial airline and helicopter traffic at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Immediately after the incident, Trump blamed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring initiatives implemented by the Biden administration, without evidence that they caused the mid-air collision. Trump vowed to get rid of air traffic controllers who are not ‘mentally competent’.

‘For some jobs, they have to be at the highest level of genius,’ he said the day after the January 29 crash. ‘We have to have the smartest people, it doesn’t matter what they look like.’. Trump and Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk, his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head, have fired officials and convinced 77,000 employees to voluntarily resign in less than a month.

An FAA worker fired over the weekend, Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander, claimed he was axed by DOGE and lost access to his work compute warning. ‘The official DOGE Facebook page started harassing me on my personal Facebook account after I criticized Tesla and Twitter,’ wrote Spitzer-Stadtlander on LinkedIn. ‘Less than a week later, I was fired, despite my position allegedly being exempted due to national security.’.

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