The basic problem, which reformers have been trying to remedy since the Clinton administration, is that the system is operated by a cumbersome federal bureaucracy—the same bureaucracy that’s also responsible for overseeing air safety. The FAA is supposed to be a watchdog, but we’ve put it in charge of watching itself.

Crews have recovered the victims and several more pieces of a regional passenger jet that plunged into the Potomac River last week after colliding with a Black Hawk military helicopter near Reagan National Airport.