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Tom Young, Contributor

Author, veteran, and airline pilot

Stolen Competence: Trump’s Claim on Aviation Safety

01/03/2018 08:12 am ET

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This week brought great news about commercial aviation: 2017 was the safest year in history. And Donald Trump wasted no time claiming credit. He tweeted: “Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation.”

That’s hardly the most hateful or harmful statement from this president. But to people in aviation, it might be the dumbest. No chief executive gets involved with day-to-day aviation enforcement; that’s the job of the Federal Aviation Administration. And Trump has not even named a permanent replacement for retiring FAA administrator Michael Huerta.

Last year’s great safety record stems, of course, from decades of hard work by professionals toiling in anonymity. The genius of aeronautical engineers, the oversight of regulators, the dedication of air traffic controllers, and the skill of air crews all combined to bring about this achievement. Trump’s claim is a civilian equivalent of stolen valor—when someone who never served puts on a uniform and struts around a mall to collect admiring glances. Stolen competence, in this case.

The idea that the president saved aviation by being “very strict” is all the more absurd when you know about the Aviation Safety Reporting System. If anything, it’s lenient. If a pilot makes an honest mistake that doesn’t cause an accident—for example, climbing to the wrong altitude—he or she can fess up and fill out a report on what happened. Having filed the report, the pilot can avoid penalties, and that way, we all learn from each other’s mistakes. It’s a great system; I’ve used it myself, and it’s one reason flying has become so safe.

In this era of celebrity worship, perhaps we should take a moment to consider who really should get the credit here. Above, engineers topped my list. They’ve invented gizmos that can tell a pilot when something bad is about to happen—and provide enough time to stop the bad thing from happening. The Traffic Collision Avoidance System, or TCAS, will tell you to climb or descend to prevent a mid-air. The Ground Proximity Warning System, or GPWS, says: “Hey, dummy, don’t fly into that mountain in front of you.”

Once inventors create this wonderful stuff, regulators—yes, those black-suited bureaucrats of the Deep State—determine how to employ the new technology. If a new invention can save lives, someone has to make sure that invention actually gets used. Regulators also set guidelines for training, aircraft maintenance, and rest requirements.

And speaking of government employees, let’s talk about another big reason for flight safety—air traffic controllers. They coordinate what amounts to precision crowd-control in the skies, and they’re more than mere mortals. Seriously. Their ability to bring order to chaos should be considered a superpower. If we had our values straight, there would be movies and comic books about air traffic Controllers.

Aircraft mechanics also share the credit. In broiling summer heat and in this week’s bitter freeze, they’re outside making sure your aircraft is ready to fly.

Then there are the air crews, and more importantly, the people who train them. As you read this—even if you read it in the middle of the night—there are pilots and instructors in simulators and in briefing rooms. The instructors are passing on lessons learned in a mentorship chain that goes all the way back to Orville and Wilbur.

Aviation safety brought a glimmer of good news about a year that will be more remembered for political rancor, alternative facts, and rank hypocrisy. Perhaps we can look forward to another safe year in flying, brought to you by old-fashioned values that need to return to the forefront our national life: Competence. Expertise. Honesty.