WASHINGTON — The Trump administration initiated the dismissal of hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees, impacting staffing during a busy travel period shortly after a fatal mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January.
Late Friday night, probationary employees received emails informing them of their termination, according to David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union.
Affected employees included personnel responsible for FAA radar, landing, and navigational aid maintenance, an anonymous air traffic controller told the Associated Press.
A Transportation Department official informed the AP that no air traffic controllers were affected and that the agency retained employees with critical safety roles. The agency later stated they would need to investigate whether the dismissed radar, landing, and navigational aid workers performed critical safety functions.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association issued a statement indicating they were assessing the impact of the terminations on aviation safety, the national airspace system, and their members.
Other terminated FAA employees worked on a classified early warning radar system for Hawaii, announced in 2023 by the Air Force, partially funded by the Department of Defense. This is part of the FAA’s National Airspace System Defense Program, managing radars for border surveillance.
Employees in this office usually provide comprehensive knowledge transfer before retirement, ensuring institutional knowledge preservation, according to Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander, a terminated employee.
Spitzer-Stadtlander emphasized the Hawaii radar and the program’s importance to national security, expressing concern for the implications of the firings.
Spero stated that termination notifications arrived after 7 p.m. Friday and continued late into the night, with more potential notifications over the weekend or access restrictions to FAA buildings on Tuesday.
The terminations, according to Spero, were “without cause” and communicated via a Microsoft email address associated with an “exec order,” not a government address. A termination email provided to the AP showed the sender as “ASK_AHR_EXEC_Orders@usfaa.mail.outlook.com”.
These firings occurred amidst a shortage of air traffic controllers. Federal officials have voiced concerns for years about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system, citing issues such as uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training, and mandatory retirements.
In the January 29th mid-air collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet, one controller managed both commercial and helicopter traffic at the busy airport.
Days before the collision, President Trump dismissed all members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, a Congressional mandate established after the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing. The committee reviews airline and airport safety.
Spitzer-Stadtlander suggested his termination stemmed from his views on Tesla and X (formerly Twitter), companies owned by Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency is leading Trump’s government reduction efforts.
Spitzer-Stadtlander, who is Jewish, expressed his anger at Trump’s inauguration on his Facebook page, urging friends to delete their Tesla and X accounts.
Spitzer-Stadtlander noted that a Facebook account labeled “Department of Government Efficiency” reacted with a laughing emoji to his post and subsequently engaged with older posts on his profile.
Multiple Facebook accounts use the name “Department of Government Efficiency,” with unclear operators. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stated on X that DOGE lacks a Facebook page.
Spitzer-Stadtlander believed he was exempt from the terminations due to his work on national security threats, specifically drone attacks on national airspace.
Spitzer-Stadtlander noted that he was fired despite his alleged exemption and that his computer access was revoked and files deleted without warning.
DOGE did not respond to a request for comment. CNN initially reported the firings.
—Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed from Washington.