A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The busy skies above Ronald Reagan Airport - the site of this week's deadly midair collision - has raised safety concerns for years. Michael McCormick is familiar with that airspace. He's a former vice president of the FAA Air Traffic Organization, and he was in charge of airspace security for the U.S., including in the Washington region.
So, Michael, I mean, this is a particularly crowded piece of airspace. I mean, right outside the nation's capital, very close to the Pentagon. So military helicopters, such as that Black Hawk involved in Wednesday's crash, routinely fly through there. Does that make it challenging for air traffic controllers to ensure safe conditions?
MICHAEL MCCORMICK: Absolutely. The airspace in and around Washington, D.C., is very complex and very unique in its challenges in the United States and globally. That makes it a challenge for both commercial pilots to fly in and out of Washington National and a challenge for the controllers who have to operate within that airspace and at that airport.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, what do you think investigators will be looking for when they analyze the cockpit voice and flight data recorders that they recover from the passenger jet?
MCCORMICK: I believe the prime information that the investigators want to try to come to is what were the pilots seeing and what were they doing.
MARTÍNEZ: And do you think we'll be able to get a good sense of that once all that data is analyzed?
MCCORMICK: At least from the American flight with the cockpit voice recorder and the black box recovery, they'll be able to pick up what the conversation was going on in that cockpit, what the pilot and co-pilot were saying to each other, what they were looking at, and if they were concerned at all about the helicopter. We'll have more of a challenge to try to do that with forensic data from the helicopter since they are not normally equipped with cockpit voice recorders.
MARTÍNEZ: Wow. OK. Now, there are questions, though, being raised about air traffic control staffing at the DCA tower. It's not unusual for controllers to sometimes work multiple roles at the same time. Isn't necessarily dangerous, either. But, Michael, what do you think? I mean, could staffing levels have contributed to what happened on Wednesday?
MCCORMICK: Staffing levels for air traffic controllers is a problem across the country. Due to budget shortfalls, lapses in budgeting and the COVID pandemic, the FAA has had numerous stops to its hiring and training of air traffic controllers, and that has led to a nationwide shortage. It's just not at Washington National. Washington National is not a chronically understaffed facility in the United States. They're - it is a popular facility for air traffic controllers to want to work at. So staffing really isn't a problem at Washington National and probably did not contribute to this event.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. You know, Michael, I've flown into that exact airport many times when I visit NPR's HQ. And I've always wondered how much sense it makes to have an airport so close to so many sensitive buildings such as the Pentagon, the White House, the Capitol building. I mean, has that ever been thought of, like, that all these aircraft are flying around all these sensitive buildings?
MCCORMICK: Certainly, that was a question that was asked and answered after September 11, 2001. The role that Washington National plays in the economy of Washington, D.C., the regional economy and the convenience of the passengers that fly in and out of Washington eliminates the possibility of shutting down Washington National Airport.
Instead, the process was to develop the necessary security protocols in and around Washington, D.C., to ensure that there would not be any sort of action similar to September 11, 2001. And I'm not concerned about anything happening to Washington D.C. because of Washington National Airport remaining open.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. Michael McCormick is the former vice president of the FAA Air Traffic Organization. He now teaches at Embry-Riddle Aeronomical (ph) University in Daytona Beach, Florida. Michael, thanks.
MCCORMICK: Thank you, A. Have a good day. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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