FAA firings put definition of ‘safety-critical’ under scrutiny

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The Federal Aviation Administration’s abrupt termination of probationary employees that began Feb. 14 has sparked confusion and anger as the industry and broader public watch the focus of the Trump Administration’s cost-cutting and workforce reduction efforts turn to the country’s aviation regulator.

The move, which followed last week’s arrival of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the FAA, has so far affected administrative and support personnel within the Air Traffic Organization (ATO), which is responsible for the safe operation of the national airspace system (NAS), as well as the Aviation Safety organization (AVS), which is responsible for oversight of manufacturers, operators and others who participate in the NAS.

The news of the dismissals first surfaced publicly in a Feb. 15 statement released by the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) union, which represents many of the employees who were laid off. PASS told The Air Current that the full scope of the layoffs was not communicated to the union until today, Feb. 18, when a spokesperson said it had confirmed with the FAA that 133 of its members had been laid off. That’s down from an earlier estimate of the union’s entire probationary membership of about 300, raising questions without immediate answers over why some employees with the same designation were fired while others were kept.

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Other FAA employees represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) were also impacted, although a spokesperson for the union declined to comment on specific details beyond saying that the union is “analyzing the effect of the reported federal employee terminations on aviation safety, the national airspace system and our members.” In a Feb. 17 post on X, transportation secretary Sean Duffy said that fewer than 400 employees in total were let go across the agency.

The same PASS spokesperson confirmed to The Air Current that the FAA communicated its 133 affected members were spread across nine positions including management and program analysts and assistants, aviation safety assistants, legal instruments examiners, flight operations program specialists, aeronautical information specialists, environmental protection specialists, maintenance mechanics and telecommunications specialists.

As the news of the layoffs at the FAA spread on Sunday and into Monday, erroneous reports surfaced that the terminations had also included safety personnel like those who directly maintain critical air traffic control equipment. At the FAA, this position is known as an Airway Transportation System Specialist (ATSS).

No ATSS personnel were laid off last week as indicated by their absence from the FAA list communicated to PASS and shared with TAC, although it remains unclear whether these positions have been permanently classified as exempt from any future reductions in force. In a Feb. 17 post on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “No air traffic controllers nor any professionals who perform safety critical functions were terminated.”

Duffy and the White House were quick to clarify that the layoffs only affected probationary employees, who by definition had been hired less than a year ago. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management defines a separate probationary period that goes into effect for existing, potentially more senior employees “upon initial appointment to a supervisory and/or managerial position,” although a White House spokesperson confirmed to TAC that no employees at the FAA with this specific probationary designation were terminated (PASS told TAC they interpreted probationary periods in a similar manner).

Safety-oriented roles

Many of the individuals who were terminated occupied positions that support safety-critical work. A maintenance mechanic, for example, may plow away snow needed to access a broken instrument landing system (ILS), which would then be serviced by an ATSS. Legal instruments examiners review and approve (or deny) medical certificates for pilots and controllers. Telecommunications specialists support the upkeep of key communications equipment for controllers, like the infrastructure in New York City that failed last year and caused radar outages at Newark Airport. Aeronautical information specialists are responsible for the evaluation, selection and preparation of navigational charts and other air traffic procedures which are used by both pilots and air traffic controllers.

While the strict “criticality” of these roles may be up for debate by the White House, other reports point out there are risks of farther-reaching implications from these types of layoffs given the overall fragility of the workforce.

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The layoffs come at a critical time for the U.S. aviation industry, just barely three weeks after a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a CRJ700 in flight near Washington, D.C., killing 67 people. On Feb. 17, a Delta Air Lines CRJ900 operated by Endeavor Air crashed during landing in Toronto before coming to rest upside down near the runway. All 76 passengers and four crew on board the regional jet survived, though some with injuries.

Looking beyond current safety issues, the layoffs could exacerbate problems for the broader workforce in the future. Although the FAA has retained non-probationary employees in all of the affected positions, these layoffs have effectively drained the pipeline of new professionals expected to eventually take over when permanent employees depart the agency or retire. The FAA is already staring down extended work backlogs industry contends are reducing the growth of and imposing operating constraints on the NAS, as well as staffing shortages for air traffic controllers and ATSS personnel.

“The FAA continues to hire and onboard air traffic controllers and safety professionals, including mechanics and others who support them,” a Department of Transportation spokesperson said in a statement. As of publishing, no FAA postings for any of the affected PASS positions were visible on USAJobs.

Write to Will Guisbond at will@theaircurrent.com