Aviation safety faces its harshest scrutiny in years as revelations surface that key officials were dismissed at Musk's urging just before a fatal collision near the nation's capital. The upheaval has sparked debate about regulatory integrity and the role of personal influence in public safety decisions.
Near Washington, D.C., a passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter collided, and President Trump removed or fired several of the appropriate authorities who were supposed to investigate the crash.
The Daily Beast reported that Elon Musk demanded the resignation of FAA administrator Michael Whitaker in September over safety concerns regarding proposed fines of more than $600,000 for SpaceX, and that Whitaker was subsequently forced out of his position. As a result, the agency is currently without a Senate-confirmed head.
"The FAA space division is harassing SpaceX about nonsense that doesn't affect safety while giving a free pass to Boeing even after NASA concluded that their spacecraft was not safe enough to bring back the astronauts," Musk stated on his X platform on September 17.
Following Trump's inauguration on January 21, aviation industry veteran Chris Rocheleau took the oath of office as deputy FAA administrator. Since Whitaker resigned after serving one year of his five-year tenure, the responsibility for handling the response to the deadliest air accident since 2009 now rests with Rocheleau.
In his December resignation letter to FAA staff, Whitaker credited their dedication to aviation safety for making the United States' airspace the safest and most complex in the world.
Musk held Whitaker responsible for obstructing his plan to bring humans to Mars, according to his complaints.
According to Tesla's CEO, the main issue is that the FAA needs drastic reform, as advocated by an Australian YouTuber who believes the agency should not exist. Without such reform, humanity would be restricted to Earth indefinitely.
The day after assuming office, Trump also removed the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and every member of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, claiming that the Department of Homeland Security was doing this to prevent the "misuse of resources" and make sure that DHS operations put our national security first.
Even though it is devoid of any members, the aviation security committee-mandated by Congress in the aftermath of the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland-continues to exist and fulfill its purpose to supervise airport and airline safety concerns.
The majority of the safety measures recommended by the panel-which included airline representatives, members of big unions, and someone connected to the PanAm 103 bombing victims-have been implemented over the years, and it is said that the newly inaugurated president fired them.
"I naively thought, 'oh they're not going to do anything in the new administration, to put security at risk - aviation security at risk,' but I'm not so sure," stated Stephanie Bernstein, whose husband was killed in the bombing and who had served on the committee, just eight days prior to the crash that killed 67 people on board both planes.
Also this week, the Trump administration urged the 2.3 million government workers who work for the Office of Personnel Management-now rife with Musk supporters and partisans-to either join the MAGA cause or take a buyout offer, The Raw Story shares.
Despite the FAA's ongoing efforts to address a critical scarcity of air traffic controllers, the email was sent to millions of government employees and shared language with a message sent to Twitter employees in the fall of 2022, when Musk took over.
Jennifer Homendy, who has also argued with Musk over the safety of his Tesla vehicles' self-driving software, chairs the independent National Transportation Safety Board, which will handle the inquiry into the crash.
