TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas asserted President Joe Biden’s attempts to improve diversity among air traffic controllers by rejecting white male applicants factored in the catastrophic midair collision of a passenger jet from Wichita and a military helicopter.
Marshall, a Republican, said he was convinced the Biden administration’s emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion policies within the Federal Aviation Administration lowered hiring standards, increased the frequency of near-miss incidents in U.S. airspace and set the stage for the Jan. 29 crash.
He connected those points to the fireball collision of a U.S. Army Black hawk helicopter and American Airline’s Flight 5342 about half a mile from Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C. The 64 people on the airline, including passengers from Kansas, and three aboard the helicopter died.
“I think diversity issues did contribute to the accident,” Marshall said during a news conference Monday in Topeka. “What I think you’re going to find is there were a lot of qualified white men that they were not hiring because they were holding spots for DEI hires.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, Wichita Mayer Lily Wu, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom and U.S. Rep. Ron Estes, a Republican representing Wichita, issued a joint statement declaring their “unequivocally stand with the families and friends of the passengers of Flight 5342. Caring for and supporting those impacted is our top priority.”
The group vowed to be “unrelenting in our work at the local, state and federal levels to ensure U.S. aviation safety remains the best in the world.”
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas, said the roster of victims hadn’t been made public, but there were Kansans among them.
“Many Kansans are personally impacted by this tragedy,” Moran said. “It was a sad day for Kansas and our nation, and I know this is a loss we will be grieving for a long time.”
Marshall, too, expressed concern for victims and their families or friends. He said at least three of the dead were from the El Dorado area where he grew up.
Marshall, who was employed as a physician prior to election to Congress in 2016, said working in an air traffic control tower was more difficult than being a medical doctor because of the multitude of tasks and responsibilities involved in directing aviators in and out of airports.
“It takes a very special person,” the senator said. “I don’t care if it’s a guy or a girl, what color your skin is, it needs to be a qualified person. They need to be able to do their job.”
Marshall echoed comments by President Donald Trump, who criticized DEI initiatives at the FAA. Trump pointed to an FAA report noting the agency had been intent on hiring more people with disabilities as air traffic controllers.
In addition to the DEI issue, Marshall questioned why the Reagan National air controller didn’t step in when the Army helicopter climbed to an altitude of 325 feet when that route required helicopters to hold to a ceiling of 200 feet. He said the controller should have been commanded the military helicopter pilot to reduce altitude and ordered the crew to more closely hug the shore of the Potomac River.
The National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation of the collision of the Virginia-based helicopter and the passenger jet from Wichita’s Eisenhower National Airport.
Early indications were a single air traffic controller was handling both aircraft at Reagan National and the helicopter pilot was warned twice about presence of the passenger jet on final approach.
Marshall said there had been an unresolved shortage of air traffic controllers since he was first a candidate for U.S. House in 2016.
“There’s a huge problem with the air traffic control situation, a huge problem where the military helicopter was,” he said. “I’m not the person that thinks we have to form committees and pray about this for two years to realize that there was a problem here.”
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