John Fetterman dissuades fears of flying and calls for support of Pa. programs during air traffic safety hearing

Sen. John Fetterman called for bipartisanship and asked for support for Pennsylvania programs during a Senate hearing on Wednesday about air traffic safety.

“I refuse to play in the blame - it’s his guy, that’s his problem, it’s this that and the other thing - I just really want to make sure we can agree that it’s very bipartisan,” he said, clad in a black Carthartt hoodie. “We want to make flying safer but not turning it into like a finger-pointing thing.”

Fetterman (D., Pa.) said he flies most weeks out of the year and that he was in the air about 30 minutes before the Washington, D.C. plane collision between a passenger jet and Army helicopter that killed everyone on board in January.

“I think it really needs to be said more,” Fetterman said. “Flying in America is incredibly safe. It’s incredibly safe.”

Alarm has been raised across the country about issues concerning the FAA’s air traffic control system, which officials say is outdated. The federal agency has also expressed that there’s a staffing shortage contributing to concerns over safety.

Newark Liberty International Airport has faced delays and canceled flights after radar outages at a Philadelphia facility responsible for overseeing for flights going in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport.

Fetterman himself recently made airplane-related headlines when a video of the senator arguing with an airline crew member over the correct way to wear his seat belt on a flight to Pittsburgh went viral after former staffers shared concerns about his behavior.

On Wednesday, Fetterman used public concerns over air traffic control staffing to call attention to a school in Pennsylvania.

“We’ve constantly heard that there’s a lot of shortage of air traffic controllers,” Fetterman said to Franklin McIntosh, the FAA’s deputy head of air traffic control, at the Senate hearing . “And we know sometimes it might be difficult for the FAA to meet their staffing goals.”

“Now we have what I would describe the Harvard of air traffic control schools in Beaver County in my state, which plays a huge role in training the next generation of the air traffic controllers,” he added..

Community College of Beaver County, located in southwest Pennsylvania, is the only school in Pennsylvania that offers FAA air traffic controller training.

The school offers a two-year training program that allows graduates to bypass the first five weeks of FAA Academy training but does not offer a program that replaces the FAA Academy training altogether. There are 24 others schools that offer programs like Beaver across the country, and five others that are equivalent to the FAA Academy.

“If this offers additional people into our training pipeline, that’s pivotal for us to increase our candidate pool as well as ensuring that we have enough controllers,” McIntosh said in response to Fetterman.

Fetterman also asked FAA officials to request that President Donald Trump’s administration reconsider proposed funding cuts to the Essential Air Service program, which subsidizes flights from small airports.

He said the program is “a lifeline in Pennsylvania” that provide “smart investments.”

“I’m not sure why we would have any kind of budget cuts that might impact these kinds of programs, maybe up to 15%,” he said.

Fetterman said the program helps small communities in Pennsylvania like Altoona, Johnstown, and Lancaster.

“Ironically, it’s not about politics but all of those three communities that I referenced, they’re all in red counties,” he said. " ... Flying should be safer and it’s bipartisan."

Wayne Heibeck, deputy associate for the FAA’s Office of the Associate Administrator for Airports said that as a “fellow Pennsylvanian” he shares an interest in the state’s small rural airports. He said his department supports small airports through grant programs and that he would pass Fetterman’s message on to the Department of Transportation, which administers the essential air program.

Trump’s proposed FY 26 budget says the Essential Air Service subsidizes “half empty flights from airports that are within easy commuting distance from each other, while also failing to effectively provide assistance to most rural air travelers.”

Lawmakers from New Jersey and Delaware also pressed the FAA officials.

Sen. Andy Kim (D., N.J.) told McIntosh that workers in the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control, who direct airplanes for Newark airport, still haven’t heard specifics about what has caused telecom issues for the site, a concern he expressed in an interview earlier this week.

Lisa Blunt Rochester (D. Del) questioned the officials about “workforce planning” plans, particularly for safety inspectors.