Hegseth calls for ‘highest possible standards’ when selecting pilots and air traffic controllers

Published January 31, 2025 10:45am ET



Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called for the “highest possible standards” when selecting pilots and air traffic controllers following Wednesday’s deadly plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

“The environment around which we choose pilots or air traffic controllers, as the president pointed out correctly yesterday, better be the highest possible standard,” Hegseth told Fox News’s Fox and Friends. “The best of the best who are managing a flight a minute and managing radio traffic.”

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