Tammy Duckworth: FAA Failures Leading To ‘Critical Safety Lapses’ Puts ‘Flying Public At Risk’

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During Wednesday’s Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) spoke about failures from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Transcript

00:00I now turn to Ranking Member Duckworth.

00:04Thank you, Chairman Cruz, and thank you to Ranking Member Cantwell, who we will be hearing

00:07from later.

00:09Welcome to our witnesses.

00:10I'm disappointed that the Acting Administrator was unavailable, but I thank you each for being

00:14here.

00:15I look forward to hearing about FAA's efforts to implement the FAA reauthorization law,

00:19but I must first address the recent critical safety lapses that we've seen.

00:23Close calls, a deadly crash, equipment outages, these are all terrible, but unfortunately,

00:27they're not a surprise.

00:29Farm bells have been ringing about near misses and aging equipment for years.

00:32We've held hearings, we've passed the FAA bipartisan reauthorization bill, but there is so much

00:37more work to do.

00:38We need both a long and a short-term plan, and that's what I hope we'll hear from the

00:42FAA today.

00:43A large-scale overhaul of our air traffic control system will take years.

00:47In the meantime, we need to know what FAA is doing now to prevent another tragedy.

00:52How is FAA ensuring that other airports don't experience the type of radar and communications

00:56failures impacting Newark?

00:58What is FAA's plan for inspection, maintenance, and testing to ensure redundancy and resiliency

01:02system-wide?

01:03FAA needs to be proactively looking for risk and mitigating it.

01:07Yet, FAA failed to spot a clear trend of helicopter-related near misses near DCA.

01:13After 67 people died, FAA permanently closed the risky helicopter route, but even that long-overdue

01:18action failed to fully solve the problem.

01:21Aviation failures between the FAA and the military has continued to put the flying public at risk.

01:26In March, after the deadly January 29th crash, a departing flight came within 200 vertical feet

01:32of an Air Force jet conducting a flyover of Arlington Cemetery.

01:36More recently, another Army helicopter from the same brigade involved in January's deadly

01:41crash came within 200 feet of a commercial flight near the Pentagon.

01:45These are foreseeable risks.

01:47And in the aftermath of the worst deadly aviation incident on U.S. soil since a horrific Colgan

01:51air crash, the administration's lack of a more aggressive, proactive mitigation approach

01:55is simply inexcusable.

01:57FAA and DOD must coordinate better.

02:00We don't need to wait for the completion of a lengthy investigation to know that.

02:04Look, I know this is complicated.

02:06I've flown Black Hawk helicopters in Chicago's Class B airspace.

02:09It is always among the top three most busiest airspace in the nation, and it's not easy

02:14in the best of circumstances.

02:16But there are things that can be done to mitigate these risks.

02:19Following the DCA crash, my colleagues and I asked FAA to proactively review helicopter

02:23operations in other busy commercial airspace.

02:26And I appreciate FAA taking this urgently needed action.

02:31But let's be honest.

02:32That required a request from me, the ranking member, and the chairman of this committee

02:36to spur this kind of proactive risk analysis.

02:39The fact that it took those requests to have that analysis done is hardly inspiring.

02:45So I hope we'll hear from FAA today about what it is doing proactively in the near term

02:48to prevent more Newark-type failures while Congress considers longer-term reforms.

02:53I also hope to get an explanation from FAA about its staff cuts.

02:57How do they think these are going to help FAA meet this safety-critical moment?

03:00How do they think these cuts are going to help them implement FAA reauthorization law on

03:04time?

03:05Earlier this year, FAA fired hundreds of probationary workers.

03:10In addition, 700 FAA employees reportedly accepted FAA's first deferred resignation offer,

03:16and more than 2,000 are now projected to accept it in a second round.

03:20Acting Administrator Rochelot has said FAA expects further reductions in force.

03:24We've been told the administration isn't terminating air traffic controllers or others who are critical

03:29for safety.

03:30But FAA's entire mission is literally safety.

03:34And everybody who works there is there to support that mission.

03:38Implementation of the FAA reauthorization law is also critical for safety.

03:41For example, the FAA law requires FAA to establish realistic airplane evacuation standards that

03:48take into account the presence of carry-on bags, seniors, children, and people with disabilities,

03:53none of which were included in recent FAA in-person simulations.

03:57The law also sets hiring targets for air traffic controllers, advances airport surface surveillance,

04:02and expands the Aviation Workforce Development Grant Program to help recruit and train future

04:06pilots, mechanics, and aviation manufacturing technical workers.

04:10All of these were supported in a bipartisan way out of this committee.

04:13Importantly, the law also makes long-overdue reforms to improve accessibility and safety for

04:18passengers with disabilities so they can travel with the dignity that all Americans deserve.

04:23For example, it requires FAA to establish minimum training standards for airline staff to assist

04:28passengers using wheelchairs with boarding and deplaning, and training for how to handle

04:33wheelchairs and scooters so they will be damaged less frequently.

04:36I look forward to our discussion today, and I yield back.

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