After a series of plane crashes, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says “of course” it’s safe to fly

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sought to alleviate fears about flying amid a spate of plane crashes and incidents in recent weeks, telling CBS News in an interview Wednesday, “of course” it’s safe to fly. 

“If you get in a plane, if you look at how many people fly, how many flights we have, of course it’s a safe space,” Duffy said. 

Duffy said there isn’t a pattern behind the incidents, calling them each “very unique.” 

“I do think as we look at the incidents or the crashes, it gives us an opportunity to say what went wrong? What can we improve upon in the system off these crashes?” he said. 

The U.S. saw its deadliest air crash in more than two decades in January when a Black Hawk helicopter with three crew members on board collided with an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members near Washington, D.C. There were no survivors. 

Days later, seven people died when a small plane crashed in a Philadelphia neighborhood. 

On Monday, a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis caught fire and flipped upside down while landing in Toronto. All 80 onboard survived. 

Duffy said improving the nation’s air traffic control system is a priority and stressed that changes need to be made immediately because there are systems in the network “that are run on floppy disks.” 

“The systems that we use are so old,” he said. “I need the Congress to move faster with us. We can’t wait four years, six years, 10 years. We have to do it right now.” 

He has enlisted the help of Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who has been advising President Trump on his overhaul of the federal government. Duffy said a team from SpaceX has been asked to give advice on “simple, easy steps” the government can take to modernize the air traffic control system. 

Duffy said he’s tried to avoid potential conflicts of interest with SpaceX’s involvement at the Federal Aviation Administration, which has investigated and fined Musk’s company. 

“I don’t want to see conflicts of interest,” Duffy said, adding that Musk has talked with air traffic controllers but “didn’t plug into the system.” 

The SpaceX team has “looked at the technology that they used, asked them — had a back-and-forth — about what works well for you, what doesn’t work well,” Duffy said. 

Duffy, who is also facing demands for answers from Democratic lawmakers over his decision to terminate hundreds of FAA employees amid the recent plane crashes and near misses, defended the cuts as “incredibly small.” 

The FAA employs 45,000 federal workers, according to Duffy. 

“All the critical safety positions like air traffic controllers and inspectors, all of those positions have been protected. No one’s been fired. Actually we were hiring into those spaces,” he said. “So 352 cuts is 0.8% of the workforce.” 

Kris Van Cleave

Emmy Award-winning journalist Kris Van Cleave is the senior transportation correspondent for CBS News based in Phoenix, Arizona, where he also serves as a national correspondent reporting for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms.