Quotes
We've had a loss of personnel during the pandemic, pilots, air traffic controllers, technicians across the board,
says Shahidi
We have redundant systems in our country—automation systems as well as protocols and training that all work together to give us the transportation system that we have today and the safety record that we've had over all these years,
says Hassan Shahidi, president and CEO of the Flight Safety FoundationFor some jobs, we need the highest level of genius,
Trump saidAviation has come a long way in a sense of technology and a sense of pilot training and controller training. That's not to say it couldn't get better,
he saysCommercial aviation in the U.S. hasn't had a major accident since 2009. So you're talking about almost two decades of safe flying, considering all the number of flights that are going on out there. So, it's still very safe to travel, like I said, the major U. S. carriers do have a great safety record,
Brauchle added
There is probably, maybe not every day, but probably on average, every other day, a plane crash somewhere in the United States,
Jim Brauchle, an aviation attorney for Motley Rice, told Newsweek via video chat on Thursday ... adding thatI won't fly privately, but I will fly commercially, and I stick with the major carriers."
Lawyer Jim Brauchle told Newsweek on ThursdayAt this point we don't believe there are any survivors."
The precise number of casualties and survivors remains unclear, but D.C. Fire EMS Chief John Donnelly said at a Thursday morning news conferenceSo, generally speaking, commercial air travel on airlines and regional airlines is very, very safe, ... It's not say we don't have some problem areas like we saw last night."
he said, addingThe reaction by the industry, and I'm talking about the system, pilots, controllers and so forth, is to really sharpen their skill set. And so usually in the immediate aftermath, there's much less risk. Where the risk is that after some time and people lapse back into the old patterns and habits, then we get back to the same or worse risk environment,
he said
When one person dies it's a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die it's an unbearable sorrow."
Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas said during a media briefing following the collision
I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport. May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders."
President Donald Trump said in a statement
We have to know what the experience level was, especially of that military pilot, because it appears that that's the pilot that should have made a different decision because they were flying under visual flight rules,
Harris said
It's amazing to me that they allow the military helicopters to fly into where the landing pads are at National Airport,
he said