Hundreds of FAA employees fired by Trump administration weeks after midair DC collision
WASHINGTON – About 400 recently hired support staff employees at the Federal Aviation Administration were fired over the weekend as part of the Trump administration's mass terminations of federal workers, according to the union representing the employees.
The dismissals come less than three weeks after a midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter outside Washington killed 67 people and brought new scrutiny to air traffic controllers and their workloads.
Like others across the federal workforce, the terminated FAA employees were probationary workers hired or promoted within the past year.
The terminated FAA employees included workers who assist FAA technicians administratively and logistically, according to David Spero, national president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, a union that represents about 11,000 FAA and Defense Department employees who support air traffic controllers.
He said environmental compliance workers, aeronautical information specialists and maintenance mechanics responsible for the upkeep of grounds, roads and facilities were among those fired.
Spero said 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, as were air traffic controllers, a group represented by a different union, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
Nevertheless, Spero said the loss of the FAA probationary workers will have a profound effect.
"By exempting those people, the goal is to make sure that nothing that is directly impacting aviation safety has an adverse impact," Spero told Paste BN. "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."
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Transportation in a statement said, "The FAA continues to hire and onboard air traffic controllers and safety professionals, including mechanics and others who support them. The agency has retained employees who perform safety critical functions."
Following the Jan. 30 midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, President Donald Trump partially blamed diversity, equity and inclusion hiring initiatives for the crash, despite his lack of any evidence to support the claim.
The mass firings of probationary workers across the federal workforce are part of Trump's efforts to drastically reduce the size of the government through billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which has swiftly gone from one department to another to slash spending.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said members of Musk's SpaceX team will be visiting the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Virginia on Monday to review the air traffic control system, speak to air traffic controllers and "envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system."
Duffy, in a post on X, disputed any suggestion he is giving "special access" to DOGE and his team, arguing that the FAA frequently gives tours of the command center to media and private companies.
"My door at @USDOT is open to any and all patriotic developers or companies who want to help our country in this incredible, game-changing mission. I hope to hear from any company committed to ushering in America’s golden age of travel!" Duffy said.
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.