I Assign Blame to FAA
Below is a copy of the ICAO risk mitigation chart. Everyone can see that these operations into DCA would be in the red zone mandating a fix. They've always been in the red zone because we should never have had military operations conducting training and flying below passenger aircraft.
The FAA did not mitigate risk in this high risk environment, despite every message saying they should, and thus this accident happened. The question was never "if" it would happen, it was always "when" it would happen. The FAA rolled the dice on the profitability of airline operations over passenger safety. The passengers, crew, and all their families lost.
Our safety system is supposed to identify and reduce risk so accidents don't happen. In the past, we had a system that fixed the problem after we killed people, so it wouldn't occur again. Today we have systems in place to mitigate risk, to avoid the crash before we kill people, but the FAA does not enforce any of them.
History taught us that poor crew communications impacted safety, thus in 1990 CRM began. AQP became a methodology for training with a CRM focus. The 5th generation of CRM brought us Threat and Error Management. These regulations and programs identified our industry was working towards a positive safety culture. Without a positive safety culture, we do not have a safe environment. Then in 2015 came Safety Management Systems (SMS). But wait! Did you know that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) introduced SMS to its annexes in 1980? It took the FAA 35 years to enact SMS in the United States. This federal regulation was not enacted until 2015, but airlines were not required to have one in place until 2018.
SMS is a federal regulation that mandates risk mitigation. Everyone in the organization is tasked to identify and report high-risk operations to those empowered to create change and reduce risk and avoid accidents. Unfortunately employees are retaliated against when they report safety concerns and their lives are subsequently destroyed. Even when the FAA knows of the violations, the employees still face adverse actions. While it's not the FAA's responsibility to defend pilots, it is their responsibility to protect the airspace! The FAA received ASAP reports and knew of the multiple near misses and yet they did nothing.
We know that that the Blackhawk helicopter hit the American Eagle Jet. We know that this was a checking event. We even know they were off altitude and course. The answers as to why the course and altitude irregularities, will (should) be disclosed after the accident investigation. I speculate that human error was involved. Human error is inevitable, and the reason we have implemented safety measures over the years, to help trap and capture those errors. While it appears the industry has been working to improve safety, unfortunately todays safety measures are nothing but smoke and mirrors.
Because the FAA has an incestuous relationship with airline management. Many of those in FAA oversight also do not have a clue as to the new regulations or constraints of flying today. One FAA oversight inspector on Delta's certificate said, when I mentioned SMS and AQP, "I don't know what those are because I retired before they came into effect." That is scary. Regardless, the options as how to mitigate risk in this DCA environment were many, but they would have impacted the bottom line of airline operations. Therefore, status quo until death.
Until we prohibit the revolving door between airline management, the FAA, and the board of directors position, and find an FAA administrator who believes in life over money and doing the right thing, we will continue to play Russian Roulette with passengers lives.
My heartfelt prayers go out to the families of those lost in this accident. I will not allow your loved ones deaths to be in vain. I'm actually angry at what transpired because it could have been avoided if the FAA did its job. This is the very reason I spoke out in 2015, to fight for safety so accidents would not happen and I fought a legal battle for seven years to create change. (Petitt vs Delta, Seattle Times) Nobody was held accountable. No change was made. And the FAA looked the other way and even sanitized records of violations. There are a lot of good people working in the FAA, but they too are fearful for their jobs if they speak out. Something must be done. I took early retirement in 2023 so I could be a voice for safety, and I while we cannot bring your loved ones back, I will fight to make change happen.
I hope that every person will file a wrongful death lawsuit against the FAA. I have evidence of what I write here today and will provide as requested. We cannot bring your loved ones back, but we can create change together and ensure the pain you feel will never be experienced by anyone else.
A350, B777, A330, B747-400, B747-200, B767, B757, B737, B727
