President Donald Trump on Feb. 6 said he will meet with congressional leaders to seek the passage of legislation overhauling U.S. air traffic control systems after an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet collided midair last week near Washington, killing all 67 passengers and crew members.
Trump made the comments before lawmakers at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. While reflecting on the close call when a bullet grazed his ear during the July 2024 attempt on his life, the president said the Jan. 29 tragedy “should remind us all that we have to make the most out of every single day we have.”
He said the disaster highlights the need for upgraded systems at the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control system, which has been working with antiquated technology for years.
“We should have had better equipment,” Trump said. “We have obsolete equipment. They were understaffed for whatever reason. I guess the helicopter was high, and we'll find out exactly what happened.”
The president said that, regardless of the mistakes that caused the crash, the tragedy can be “used for good.”
“We’re all going to sit down and do a great computerized system for our control towers—brand new, not pieced together, obsolete,” he said.
“We spent billions and billions of dollars trying to renovate an old, broken system instead of just saying, ‘Cut it loose, and let’s spend less money and build a great system.’”
Trump said he will speak with Senate leadership—Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)—as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) about passing legislation for an optimized control system.
Trump noted that when he uses his private plane to land, he relies on an air traffic control system from another country, but he declined to say which one.
“I use the system from another country because the captain says, ‘This thing is so bad, it’s so obsolete.’ And we can’t have that,” he said, referring to U.S. air traffic control.
The U.S. Travel Association praised Trump’s call to upgrade air traffic control.
“The travel industry has repeatedly called for greater investments in technology and manpower to build a world-class aviation experience. We are eager to work with the president to build the system Americans deserve, one that can ensure their safety and keep up with a surging demand in air travel,” U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman said in a statement.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Department of Defense are still investigating the cause of last week’s midair collision. The NTSB is reconciling conflicting altitude readings for the helicopter, which had a 200-foot altitude ceiling for that airspace.
The NTSB recently said the preliminary air traffic control data showed the helicopter at roughly 300 feet but that its investigators would have to review additional information from the still-submerged craft to confirm the data.
