Nearly a month after the devastating collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the Trump Administration has fired hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees.
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According to USA Today, approximately 400 support staff were terminated from the agency late last week. Many of the employees were probationary workers hired or promoted within the past year.
David Spero, the national president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, the union representing about 11,000 FAA and Defense Department employees who support air traffic controllers, told the media outlet that the terminated FAA employees included workers who assisted FAA technicians both administratively and logistically.
Spero further explained environmental compliance workers, aeronautical information specialists, and maintenance mechanics responsible for maintaining grounds, roads, and facilities were also among those fired.
He then revealed the notices began arriving at 7 p.m. Friday and continued late into the night.
FAA technicians and aviation safety inspectors were exempt from the firings. Air traffic controllers, a group represented by the union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, did not receive termination notices.
Trump Administration’s FAA Firings Will Have a ‘Profound’ Impact on the Agency
However, Spero pointed out that the loss of the FAA’s employees will have a “profound effect” on the government agency.
“By exempting those people, the goal is to make sure that nothing that is directly impacting aviation safety has an adverse impact,” Spero said. “But when you lose all these other people, these other support people, that creates a huge hole in all those support functions that we need to have to do our jobs on the front line. So without them, your folks are severely handicapped.”
Meanwhile, a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesperson released a statement about the Trump Administration FAA terminations.
“The FAA continues to hire and onboard air traffic controllers and safety professionals,” the spokesperson said. “Including mechanics and others who support them. The agency has retained employees who perform safety-critical functions.”
The FAA was heavily criticized following the incident at Reagan National Airport. As American Eagle Flight 5342 was preparing to land, it collided with a Black Hawk helicopter. Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River.
All 64 people on the plane and three people in the helicopter were killed.