Diyar Guldogan
06 February 2025•Update: 06 February 2025
WASHINGTON
President Donald Trump said Thursday that the US needs a new computerized system for air traffic control to prevent incidents.
"Last week, only a few miles from here, our nation witnessed a terrible tragedy when 67 people were killed in a horrible accident near Reagan airport .... Like the tragedy last week, should remind us all ... We should have had the proper control," Trump said at a national prayer breakfast at the Capitol.
The US has "obsolete" equipment, he said.
The victims were killed Jan. 29. when a military Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and plunged into the Potomac River.
"It's amazing that it happened, and I think that's going to be used for good.
"I think what is going to happen is we're all going to sit down and do a great computerized system for our control towers, brand new, not pieced together, obsolete, like it is land-based, trying to hook up a land-based system to a satellite system," said Trump.
The US spent billions of dollars trying to renovate an "old, broken" system, he said, adding there are some countries that have "unbelievable" air controller systems.
Trump told lawmakers a bill must be passed to get "the best" control system.
"When I land in my plane, privately, I use a system from another country because my captain tells me I'm landing in New York, and I'm using assist. I won't tell you what country, but I use the system from another country because the captain says, this thing is so bad, it's so obsolete, and we can't have that. So, we're gonna have the best system," he added.
