President Donald Trump scrapped an aviation safety committee that had been in place for more than three decades, just a few days before a deadly airplane crash at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night.
Officials have said they believe all passengers onboard an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac River were killed. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told reporters, “We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.”
D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly, speaks during a news conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday morning, Jan. 30, 2025.
Among the passengers on the jet were a group of figure skaters and their coaches on their way home from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.
On Jan. 21, his second day in office, Trump sent a memo to members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee telling them that their membership had been eliminated. The committee made recommendations to the FAA on issues relating to travel safety.
The Trump memo said the gutting of the committee was being done as part of a process of “eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that [Department of Homeland Security] activities prioritize our national security.”
The committee was formed by Congress after the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people in 1988.
Kara Weipz, president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, criticized the announcement in a statement. “Today’s action by the Trump Administration will undermine aviation security in the United States and across the globe.”
As part of an ongoing effort to upend civil rights gains, Trump also issued an executive order ending diversity recruitment programs at the FAA. The order went out even though the FAA has experienced a shortage of critical air traffic controllers for years.
Tennesse Garvey, who worked as a pilot for 22 years, told NBC News at the time, “It’s incredibly astonishing within this industry, where the goal is to promote aviation safety, that they are getting rid of programs that can help with safety.”
In addition to the elimination of the safety committee, the FAA is currently without a director. Michael Whitaker was supposed to serve a five-year term after being appointed in 2023. Trump megadonor Elon Musk pushed for his ouster after Whitaker fined Musk’s SpaceX for safety violations and Whitaker left on the day Trump was inaugurated.
Conservatives have long advocated for small government, while also pushing to stop government advocacy in favor of diversity and civil rights. With Trump’s actions, the right elevated these concerns despite the safety implications—and now the families and loved ones of the National Airport crash will have to deal with the fallout.
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