Former Air Traffic Controller Says Short Staffing, Incompetence ‘Attributable To Obama Admin’

A former air traffic controller blamed the Obama administration Thursday on Fox News for the short staffing in the aviation industry, which reportedly led to the air collision at the Washington Reagan National Airport.

A military helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet collided near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., resulting in the deaths of everyone on board both aircraft. An internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety report reviewed by The New York Times revealed that staffing at the Ronald Reagan National Airport air traffic control tower was insufficient for the time of day and traffic volume when the collision occurred. Former air traffic controller Michael Pearson said on “The Ingraham Angle” that the short staffing was “attributable to the Obama administration.”

“The system has been under attack due to DEI and the FAA bowing to wokeness since 2010, since the Obama administration,” Pearson said. “The lack of staffing is directly attributable to the Obama administration terminating the lists of eligible, well-trained air traffic control statements in 36 universities across the country in 2013 because they were too white.”

Simultaneously, the FAA rolled out an immunity program which, Pearson said, has fundamentally altered the handling of operational errors.

“The FAA also, at the same time, implemented an immunity program. So you think you’re seeing legitimate statistics? You’re not. In the old days, before 2010, the immunity program, if an air traffic controller got two airplanes too close, too many times, it would be decertified and retrained,” Pearson said. “Now, they’re not. All they have to do within 48 hours of being noticed or being investigated for a potential separation error, they’re called operational errors in the FAA, the controller simply has to avail themselves of this program that gives them immunity.”

The former controller said the immunity prevents the FAA from retraining those who repeatedly demonstrate incompetence.

“The FAA cannot retrain these people. If somebody has a repetitive instance of malfeasance or lack of competency, the FAA, because of this immunity program, cannot rectify the situation. They have to basically allow the person to remain in the same position,” Pearson said. “The union and the FAA working together to basically use this program to gerrymander the statistics of near-matter collisions.”

Earlier today, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said that DEI hiring practices have led to an increase in operational errors in the air, resulting in hundreds of incidents. In 2024 alone, the FAA reported that Reagan National Airport witnessed at least eight near-midair collisions due to a shortage of air-traffic controllers on the eastern seaboard, which also forced a reduction in the number of flights in the region.