American aviation has had an awful week after a passenger jet collided with a helicopter, a medical plane fell from the sky and two planes crashed on the tarmac in Seattle. Investigations into all three incidents are still ongoing, but America’s new lord and savior, Elon Musk, thinks he’s already gotten to the root of the problem and is planning to overhaul air traffic control in the U.S.
The collision between a passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter in DC killed 64 people and a further seven people were killed when a medical jet crashed in Pennsylvania. The death toll from these two incidents alone makes the past seven days the deadliest week in American aviation since 2001.
The cause of the two crashes is not yet known and investigators are still collecting the remnants of the aircraft involved as evidence that could help uncover a cause. Before that has even been given a chance, however, president Donald Trump has swooped in and blamed the collision in DC on diversity, equity and inclusion practices that he himself established in during his last term.
Issues have also been uncovered with air traffic control at the Washington airport involved in the crash, after it emerged it struggled with staffing levels and recruitment. This has paved the way for Trump’s best bud, Elon Musk, to come swaggering in and claim that he’s ready to save America’s aviation industry.
Musk, who has caused air traffic controllers in America his fair share of headaches with Space X launches, promised to “make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system,” reports Gizmodo. Musk and his made-up Department of Government Efficiency will reportedly “plug-in” to America’s air traffic control and turn it around:
“Big News – Talked to the DOGE team. They are going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tweeted Wednesday.
Elon Musk confirmed he was going to unleash his little dipshits on FAA, elaborating even further than Duffy had, while using a combination of words that don’t typically go together.
“With the support of President @realDonaldTrump, the @DOGE team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system,” Musk tweeted. “Just a few days ago, the FAA’s primary aircraft safety notification system failed for several hours!”
As with everything Musk does, the promises are big and the details are small. For the sake of everyone flying soon, let’s hope his fictional department’s attempt to revive air traffic control is a little less ham-fisted than Musk’s cronies’ work in other departments.
The Department of Government Efficiency has already swept though Washington cutting aid sent overseas, accessing sensitive information held by the Treasury and slashing spending in the Department of Education, NPR reports. Musk has little knowledge of overseas aid, less about paying taxes and, while he came to America on a student visa, hasn’t even sat through a lesson in a U.S. high school.
With his latest target, Musk is at least aware of the concept of air travel and has even made a pretty penny on transportation over the years. Given his attitudes towards safety with the rollout of Tesla’s autonomous driving features, and the endless delays that hit every Tesla launch, I’m not holding my breath that this intervention in air travel will be “rapid” or capable of living up to Musk’s vague promises.
