Kaine, Warner want answers from FAA about possible Musk intervention

In the wake of the fatal Washington, D.C., collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and an airplane, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, along with other Democratic lawmakers from Maryland and Virginia, want assurance that leaders at the Federal Aviation Administration will notify Congress if billionaire Elon Musk directs the agency to take any steps that could impact aviation safety.

In a letter sent Monday to Chris Rocheleau, acting administrator of the FAA, the lawmakers point to Musk’s Feb. 5 post on X that states the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which was created by President Donald Trump by executive order, “will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system.” The Congress members also flag a Feb. 5 post on X by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, announcing that the DOGE team is “going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.”

The letter follows the Jan. 29 midair collision of a Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The aircraft crashed into the Potomac River, and 67 people died in the crash.

“We are extremely concerned that an ad hoc team of individuals lacking any expertise, exposure, certifications, or knowledge of aviation operations being invited, or inserting themselves, to make ‘rapid’ changes to our nation’s air traffic systems,” the lawmakers write. “This is the wrong course of action to take.”

The lawmakers go on to ask Rocheleau whether he will commit to quickly report to Congress  “any actions that the FAA is directed to undertake at the direction of the President, DOGE, or by the Office of the Secretary of Transportation regarding any aspect of aviation safety.”

The letter was signed by Warner and Kaine, along with U.S. Reps. Don Beyer, Gerald Connolly, Suhas Subramanyam, who all represent districts in Northern Virginia, and U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, who represent Maryland, as well as Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents Washington, D.C.

Additionally, the members of Congress state that the FAA “should identify and implement immediate steps to improve safety.” They applaud the FAA for restricting helicopter traffic near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport until a preliminary investigation is released by the National Transportation Safety Board about the collision and for its pause of the use of two of the smaller airport runways.

The FAA announced Tuesday that those runways had been reopened. With the runway reopenings, the FAA says it increased the hourly arrival rate at DCA to 28 aircraft. The regular maximum hourly arrival rate for DCA is 32 aircraft, according to the agency.

Warner and Kaine had previously warned that the DCA was overburdened.  The two senators spoke out in May 2024 against the Senate passing a provision in the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act that allowed the addition of five incoming and five outgoing flights at DCA.

“The Senate abdicated its responsibility to protect the safety of the 25 million people who fly through DCA every year,” the pair said in a statement then.