Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy elaborated on how recent airline tragedies have given the department a “focus” on increased future safety.
Duffy announced his plan in February to “supercharge” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s air traffic controllers after numerous fatal plane crashes over the past two months.
“All of the crashes that have happened over the course of our first two weeks in office — they have nothing to do with air traffic control specifically, but it’s given us a focus,” Duffy said Saturday on “My View with Lara Trump.”
The FAA will be “streamlining” its eight-step hiring process into a five-step process, with hopes it will accelerate the time to hire for “critical positions,” Duffy announced on X, formerly Twitter.
The protocol change aims to shave over four months off the old process, he said.
In addition, the agency stated it will “increase starting salaries by 30%” for candidates who go to the FAA’s Academy at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center.
Duffy also emphasized the need for new wires, radios, terminals and other equipment to Fox News host Lara Trump.
“Elon [Musk] made the point that the time is the enemy of the progress. If it takes six, eight, 10 years — money changes, priorities change, Congresses change, administrations change,” he said.
“So if we can get the money up front and move fast, we think we can get it done very quickly, but if we don’t do something now, we won’t have five, 10 years. This system truly will have failures, and people’s lives will be in danger.”
Duffy’s policy comes after a number of aviation disasters in the United States over the past few months, including the midair collision of an Army Black Hawk helicopter with a commercial passenger plane in Washington, D.C., which resulted in 67 casualties.
Days after the D.C. crash, which was the country’s deadliest aviation crash in over 20 years, a medevac plane plummeted into a Philadelphia street, killing all six on board and one person on the ground.
More disasters followed, with an Alaska crash killing 10 and an Arizona crash killing two.
In Canada, 21 people were injured when a Delta plane erupted in flames after overturning during a crash landing at Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Feb. 17.
Still, the Department of Transportation continues to push the message that “flying remains the safest way to travel.”
Duffy echoed that message on Saturday.
“Flying in America is incredibly safe,” he said. “I fly multiple times a week, and again, if it wasn’t safe, air travel would get shut down.”
“You will not fly if it’s not safe.”
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
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