Media said massive layoffs at FAA after Washington, D.C. plane crash

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has embarked on massive staff cuts at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), laying off hundreds of employees just weeks after a deadly plane crash near Washington airport. The Associated Press (AP) reported the news on Feb. 17.

Employees responsible for FAA radar, landing and navigation equipment have been targeted for layoffs, an anonymous air traffic controller told AP.

David Spero, head of the Aviation Safety Professionals union, told the agency that the employees were laid off "without cause, not based on performance or behavior."

Spero also noted that the e-mails were sent "from a Microsoft e-mail address as an executive," not a government e-mail address.

It is noted that the layoffs came at a time when the agency is facing a shortage of air traffic controllers. Federal officials have raised concerns for years about an overburdened and understaffed air traffic control system, especially after a series of near-collisions of airplanes at U.S. airports. They cited uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements among the reasons for the staffing shortages.

Gone under water: in the U.S., an airplane collided with a helicopter near the Potomac River

Extensive work is underway, divers are retrieving bodies

On the night of January 30, an American Airlines passenger plane and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. After the crash, they fell into the Potomac River. There were 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the civilian aircraft and three military personnel on the helicopter. Trump reported no survivors of the plane crash in Washington.

On January 31, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported that there were Russian citizens in the plane that crashed in Washington. He specified that there were Russian figure skaters on board the passenger plane.