The Federal Aviation Administration is facing scrutiny over flight safety and its recent cuts to staffing, and Democratic senators at a hearing on Wednesday with top agency officials expressed frustration over how little information they’re getting.
In the backdrop of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation’s hearing were recent high-profile incidents, including the crash outside of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January that killed dozens of people. Also repeatedly mentioned were the recent outages in Newark that left air traffic controllers unable to navigate planes, leading to questions about whether it’s safe to fly to that location.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, the ranking member of the committee, asked Franklin McIntosh, the FAA deputy chief operating officer, why the FAA’s oversight procedures have been failing, given the number of near misses before and after the fatal crash at DCA.