Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blames Biden admin for dated air traffic control system
Fox News chief Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel has the latest on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's statements about recent air traffic control incidents on 'Special Report.'
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently announced that artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to detect and address air traffic risks, following a slew of near-misses and fatal plane crashes across the country.
Duffy told FOX 5 DC that officials are implementing AI to "identify and address potential air traffic risks nationwide," potentially aiding in preventing tragedies like the fatal Jan. 29 midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) that claimed the lives of 67 people.
Following the Potomac River crash, which involved a commercial plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, Duffy announced a plan to build a new "state-of-the-art" traffic control system that will equip locations with better technology to reduce outages, improve efficiency and reinforce safety.
Duffy told FOX 5 that when investigators were looking into how to prevent collisions, they asked themselves, "Are there any other DCAs out there?"
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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks during a news conference following up on the issuance of the National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report on the midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on March 11. Duffy later announced a new "state of the art" air traffic control system. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) previously said it identified 15,214 instances of planes getting alerts about helicopters in close proximity near DCA between October 2021 and December 2024.
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Duffy said the Department of Transportation is now using AI to "help us analyze different hot spots in the country" and take action "before you have the tragedy of what we saw on the 29th of January."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told Fox News Digital it is analyzing other "hot spot" airports that have charted helicopter routes and nearby airplane traffic, as well as the Gulf of America, including offshore helicopter operations.
"This work is well underway," a spokesperson said. "We are using machine learning and language modeling to scan incident reports and mine multiple data sources to find themes and areas of risk."
Passengers arrive at Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, on May 7. (Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)
AI and machine learning are not being used by air traffic controllers, and will not aid in the controller shortage at Newark Liberty Internal Airport, which Duffy attributed to the previous administration's transfer of airspace control from New York to Philadelphia.
The FAA said the new technology is only being used to assess safety data and areas of risk.
AI is not being used to identify "hot spots" in U.S. airspaces. (J. David Ake/Getty Images)
"We have an antiquated and old air traffic control system, anywhere from 25 to 35 [years old], 40 years old in some places. It is in desperate need of a brand new build," Duffy said during a news conference on Wednesday.
"The last administration signed a 15-year contract to upgrade the telecom [wiring with fiber lines]," he continued. "It shows how there was not a focus on the true issues that the FAA was facing… We are not going to pass the buck. We're actually going to fix it. We're going to do the work, to make sure that we do have a state-of-the-art air traffic control system."
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The Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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