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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has experienced a significant loss of employees due to policies implemented by President Donald Trump‘s administration. This has raised concerns, particularly as the U.S. has seen an alarming increase in plane crashes since the start of the year. Additionally, FAA officials have warned over the years that the agency is understaffed and that its employees are working in an overstressed system. In 2023, as reported by AP, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, told a Senate panel that air traffic and staffing shortages have worsened since the pandemic.
Following the deadly collision in Washington on January 29 between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet, President Trump appointed Chris Rocheleau as the Acting FAA Administrator. He described Rocheleau, a 22-year FAA veteran, as “highly respected.” Without evidence, the President blamed FAA diversity requirements and his two Democratic predecessors for the crash that killed 67 people, alleging lax air traffic control standards.
Find out more about the agency and layoffs below.
How Many Federal Workers Are There in America?
The number of federal workers in the U.S. varies, but according to The Hill, there are over 2.1 million federal employees across various agencies, including the Department of Defense, Health and Human Services, and the Department of Homeland Security.
What Is the FAA?
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a government agency responsible for regulating and overseeing civil aviation in the U.S., including air traffic control, aircraft certification, and aviation safety.
Did Trump Fire FAA Employees?
According to the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union, “several hundred” workers received termination notices on Friday, with the number estimated to be close to 300.
The firings at the FAA did not include air traffic controllers but appeared to affect engineers and technicians. Many of the workers terminated were probationary employees, having been employed for less than a year and lacking job protection.
“This decision did not consider the staffing needs of the FAA, which is already challenged by understaffing,” David Spero, the national president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO, said in a statement. “Staffing decisions should be based on an individual agency’s mission-critical needs. To do otherwise is dangerous when it comes to public safety. And it is especially unconscionable in the aftermath of three deadly aircraft accidents in the past month.”
