USDOT Secretary Meets With Families Of American Eagle Crash Victims Promises “Transparency” In Investigation
Sean Duffy, the new Secretary of Transportation, has said that he met with the families of the victims of the January 29 accident in Washington, DC, the United States.
He vowed that the investigation into the accident would be transparent, despite the fact that Donald Trump
, the President of the US, already claimed that diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) policies were at fault for the crash.
Unexpected first days on the job
In a statement published on X, formerly known as Twitter, Duffy said that this was not what he expected his first days as the Secretary of Transportation to be. Duffy added that he had met with some of the families who lost loved ones in the crash near Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) on January 29.
Photo: DOT
67 people perished when a US Army (USA) Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided with a PSA Airlines
, operating American Airlines Flight 5342
on behalf of American Eagle
, Mitsubishi CRJ700. 60 passengers and four crew members were onboard the latter, while three USA members were onboard the former.
“Their pain is immeasurable. I can’t take away their pain, but I can do a very small part to help ease it by keeping my promise to get to the bottom of what happened and be 100% transparent about the results of the investigation. They have my word.”
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Sean Duffy already remarked that the DOT has been working hard to remove “government overreach.”
Transparent investigation
Duffy added that he was in the process of developing a plan to “fix” the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA
) and that he would continue informing stakeholders about the evolving situation regarding the crash.
“[Trump] is the most transparent president in my lifetime. I intend to reflect that spirit during this investigation and in all my work at [ DOT
].”
However, Trump already blamed his predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, in an executive order titled ‘Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety’ on January 30. He alleges that they made problematic and “likely illegal decisions” during their administrations that eroded merit and competence in the FAA.
Photo: US Coast Guard
According to the order, Obama’s administration implemented shifted the focus from “objective aptitude,” while the Biden administration “egregiously rejected merit-based hiring” by implementing “dangerous” DEI policies.
During a press conference on January 30, Trump continued to push the false narrative, pinning the blame on diversity initiatives for the crash. Trump explained his thought process by saying that he used his “common sense.”
The National Transportation Safety Board’s ( NTSB
) chair Jennifer Homendy pleaded for more time to analyze the information and data and to establish the chain of events that resulted in the crash. Per the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), investigators have up to 30 days to publish a preliminary report about a safety event.
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Trump said that he based his claims that the crash could be blamed on diversity policies within the FAA on his “common sense.”
Fixing the FAA
Whatever the case might be, the FAA does have issues on its hands, in particular, the lack of air traffic controllers (ATC) and dated technologies. A December 2024 report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that some of the FAA’s systems were unsustainable.
Photo: RaksyBH | Shutterstock
A June 2023 Department of Transportation (DOT) report concluded that the FAA has continued to face staffing challenges and lacked a plan to address that problem, noting that 20 of 26, or 77%, of critical facilities are staffed below the 85% threshold.
“Additionally, COVID-19 led to training pauses over a period of nearly 2 years – significantly increasing controller certification times. FAA will not know the full impact of the training suspension on certification times for several years because training outcomes vary widely, and it can take more than 3 years to train a controller.”
In a press briefing on January 30, the NTSB said that it would review any information related to ATCs, including their positions and potential fatigue levels. It added that the information would be part of the investigation process and that it could not speculate about anything that is public.
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Without evidence, President Trump claimed that the FAA’s diversity initiatives may have contributed to the collision.
