© U.S. Coast Guard HeadquartersAn American Airlines passenger plane and a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, killing 67 people in the country’s deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter-century.
The Federal Aviation Administration is fighting a class-action lawsuit alleging it denied 1,000 would-be air traffic controllers jobs because of diversity hiring targets — as it was revealed that staffing levels were "not normal" at the time of this week's deadly midair collision.
Complaints about the FAA's hiring policies resurfaced after the American Airlines passenger plane and a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, killing 67 people in the country's deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter-century.
Details of the litigation re-emerged, too, as Andrew Brigida, the lead plaintiff in the suit filed in 2015, suggested the federal aviation agency's obsession with diversity hiring and inclusion had only ensured that an accident was likely to happen.
The crux of the lawsuit is that the FAA, under the Obama administration, dropped a skill-based system for hiring controllers and replaced it with a "biographical assessment" in an alleged bid to boost the number of minority job applicants.
Brigida, who is white, alleges he was discriminated against solely based on his race when his application was rejected, court papers state.
© Andrew Brigida / FacebookAndrew Brigida, the lead plaintiff in the suit, suggested the federal aviation agency’s obsession with diversity hiring and inclusion had only ensured that an accident was likely to happen.
The lawsuit adds to the mounting criticism the FAA has faced this week over its hiring policies — with some, including President Trump, claiming diversity programs were in part to blame for understaffing and overall lower standards for air traffic controllers.
Asked if he thought years of diversity hiring ensured that an aviation accident was bound to happen, Brigida told the Telegraph, "Yes, that's kind of accurate."
© New York PostThe flight path details of AA Flight 5343 and the Blackhawk helicopter over Washington DC, January 29, 2025
Staffing in the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was "not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic," the FAA found in its preliminary report into the crash.
The understaffing resulted in a controller pulling double duty — overseeing helicopters while also guiding arriving and departing planes on the busy airport's runways, according to the report, which added that the responsibilities are typically split between two controllers.
The airport's air traffic control facilities have been understaffed for years — with only 19 fully certified controllers on deck as of September 2023, according to Congress' Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan report.
Brigida, who now works in the FAA as a program manager, said he hoped Trump would "immediately" work to fix the apparent staffing crisis within the agency.
"He obviously sees the issue at hand and if he didn't, I'm sure people that work in the Department of Transportation and the FAA informed him that there is an issue with staffing and air traffic control and I'm hoping they can work on it immediately," he told the Telegraph.
The Post reached out to the FAA regarding the ongoing lawsuit but didn't hear back immediately.
The aviation agency and US Department of Transport are fighting the suit, which is slated to go to court early next year.
Comment: Matt Walsh called it over a year ago: