Are you ready to not?
As of today, most people 18 or older will need a Real ID (at minimum) to board an airliner in the United States. Or to access certain federal facilities. (Or a nuclear power station, if that’s your jam.) The document has extra security features and a little white star in the upper right-hand corner (above). If you have one already, you may have waited for hours at a state DMV office with “documentation showing: 1) Full Legal Name; 2) Date of Birth; 3) Social Security Number; 4) Two Proofs of Address of Principal Residence; and 5) Lawful Status.“
Got one? Great! You are now ready to fly at heightened risk.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday documented a litany of airline mishaps in the 3-1/2 months since Team MAGA took office. Some on the ground. Some in the air. Some close calls, others deadly. In all, roughly 130 people killed in flying accidents since January 20, starting with the midair collision over the Potomac River on January 29 that killed 67, half of the victims. As the AP reported it, “the deadliest US air disaster in almost a quarter century.”
It’s not terrorists we have to worry about under the Trump 2.0 administration. It’s their misadministration of air safety. Maddow reminds readers that Elon Musk, the largest campaign donor in history, demanded the sitting FAA director resign. Michael Whitaker had levied fines against Musk’s company SpaceX, so he had to go. Trump has not appointed a permanent replacement.
Trump’s new Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, sworn in after the midair crash in Washington, DC, had a career in television, served four terms in Congress from Wisconsin, and worked as a Fox Business co-host. He has no experience in aviation. But he looks good on TV.
Oh, and Newark Airport lost all communications with flights for 90 seconds last week. CNN:
The April 28 outage impacted information coming from radars located at a Federal Aviation Administration facility in Westbury, New York, where the air traffic controllers used to manage flights heading to Newark. Control over the airspace was transferred to Philadelphia in July. The radars are now operated using a remote line the source described as “a long extension cord.”
The outage was the result of
a failure of that copper wiring that transmits information to Newark approach control, a separate source tells CNN. “There was some infrastructure breakdown related to how the information is relayed right now.”Similar outages happened twice before, the first source notes.
Maddow reported:
According to Bloomberg, following the outage, multiple employees were placed on trauma leave. The incident reportedly “left several controllers visibly shaken, with some shedding tears, and at least one experiencing stress-induced heart palpitations.”
Shortages of air traffic controllers, attributable to DOGE firings, have plagued the airport for weeks (NPR):
But the shortage of air traffic controllers is among the most serious problems at Newark — an issue that has affected airports across the country for years. It took on greater significance after the Jan. 29 midair collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which killed 67 people. A full investigation into the crash will examine the role air traffic controllers may have had in the incident.
In the weeks prior to that crash, the Trump administration had begun laying off hundreds of FAA employees as part of a federal effort to cut back on workers. Officials said controllers and other “critical safety personnel” were not among those laid off.
Raw Story reports that Duffy got grilled about the problems Tuesday night on Fox News:
A top Fox News host was shocked after Donald Trump’s transportation secretary couldn’t explain why a U.S. Army helicopter grounded two flights at a D.C. airport last week.
The Ingraham Angle‘s Laura Ingraham questioned Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Monday after an Associated Press report revealed the Army was pausing helicopter flights at D.C.’s Reagan International Airport.
The pause came after a Black Hawk helicopter labeled a “priority air transport” helicopter forced two commercial planes to remain at the airport.
“Who was the VIP?” she asked. After Duffy said he and the Federal Aviation Administration—which his department oversees—didn’t know and promised to find out, Ingraham couldn’t contain her exasperation.
“Who do we ask?” she said. “You’re the transportation secretary, how do you not know?”
“How do we get a functional government back?” an exasperated Maddow asked.
Enjoy your flight.
* * * * *
Have you fought dictatorship today?
The Resistance Lab
Choose Democracy
Indivisible: A Guide to Democracy on the Brink
You Have Power
Chop Wood, Carry Water
Thirty lonely but beautiful actions
Attending a Protest Surveillance Self-Defense