Prior to 60 Minutes’ March 29, 2026 broadcast, which featured correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi’s report on Flight 5342, we reached out to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford for comment on our story, “Inside the Tower.” The statements provided in response to 60 Minutes are printed here, exactly as received:
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy:
“One the ninth day of this administration, the tragedy of flight AA5342 revealed a startling truth: years of warning signs were missed, and the FAA needed dire reform. It set the course for President Trump and I’s mission to bolster safety and revolutionize our skies.
We immediately took action to fix these safety gaps once and for all. That includes immediately restricting fixed wing cross traffic, launching the largest reorganization of the FAA in the agency’s history, and implementing new AI tools to mitigate risk, and most recently upgrade air traffic control protocols for how helicopters are handled around the country.
But we didn’t stop there. Working with the families of flight AA5342, we secured $12.5 billion to aggressively overhaul our air traffic control system and modernize our skies.”
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford:
“The January 2025 midair collision is a sobering reminder of why the FAA exists, and it galvanized us to pursue our safety mission with renewed urgency and bold action. We remain focused on identifying and addressing safety risks across the national airspace and strengthening our workforce so the FAA can deliver the world’s safest, most modern, and most resilient aviation system for the American people.”