A midair collision near D.C. has raised concerns over FAA staffing, prompting scrutiny of air traffic control and aviation safety oversight.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said late on Thursday he will soon announce a plan to reform the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after a devastating collision between an American Airlines regional plane and an Army helicopter killed 67 people.

Mike Whitaker, unanimously confirmed as the FAA administrator in October 2023, stepped down early from his five-year term on Jan. 20 when Trump took office and for 10 days the FAA declined to say who was running the agency on an acting basis. Trump has not yet named a permanent candidate to replace Whitaker.

While that office may be ready to go to work, the FAA itself is not fully on the job. That’s because it’s without an administrator. Michael Whitaker, who had led the administration since Oct., 2023, stepped down earlier this month,

The midair collision at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night has presented Sean Duffy with a major crisis just hours after he was sworn in as secretary of transportation.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy echoed Trump’s remarks about diversity programs, saying “only the best brightest” should hold federal aviation jobs. “We will not accept excuses,” Duffy said. “We will not accept passing the buck.

It appears that the first major air disaster in the U.S. since 2009 has occurred while the Federal Aviation Administration does not have a permanent leader.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had been sworn in just hours before the deadly midair collision of a plane and helicopter near Washington, D.C.

The FAA, under the first Trump administration, also tried to increase the hiring of people with targeted disabilities.

Investigators have recovered the black boxes from the American Airlines jet involved in a mid-air collision with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C.

Gov. Henry McMaster reacted to a deadly mid-air collision in Washington, D.C. between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet.