WASHINGTON >> For the Federal Aviation Administration, Jan. 29 was the beginning of one of the most challenging stretches it has faced in decades.

That night, an American Airlines regional jet collided with an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, resulting in 67 deaths. In a news conference the next day, President Donald Trump pointed his finger at the FAA, even though the crash investigation was just beginning.

On Jan. 31, a medical jet crashed in a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff, killing all six on board and one person on the ground. While it remains unclear whether the FAA’s lack of oversight contributed to the episode, the timing has raised concerns.

Adding to the agency’s woes, on Feb. 1, an aviation alert system had an outage, its first in two years.

The 10-day period of crises was capped by another deadly crash Feb. 6 involving Bering Air Flight 445 near Nome, Alaska, resulting in the deaths of 10 people.

As the incidents unfolded, confusion in the FAA grew regarding the future of its air traffic controllers, particularly about whether they were exempt from federal job cuts.

Less than a month into Trump’s new administration, the convergence of crashes, equipment malfunctions and fatalities is raising profound concern about the safety of U.S. airspace. Although the crashes may ultimately be attributed at least in part to pilot error, treacherous conditions or both, their quick succession and the recent system outage nonetheless point to a troubling question: Is the FAA still able to keep air travel safe?

“It has been a tough stretch for the FAA,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigator for the agency and the National Transportation Safety Board. “Whether it’s fair or not, they are under the white-hot spotlight because of these events. There is no doubt about that.”

Current and former FAA and NTSB officials say the spate of aviation incidents highlight the agency’s slowness in addressing safety concerns and its complacency. Each of the recent episodes occurred despite demands from Congress to tackle a pattern of near-misses, modernize critical systems and improve safety in Alaska, where planes are the main mode of travel for many communities.

Safety experts contend that despite a reputation as the premier global aviation regulator, the FAA failed to act on issues because it had an extended period without any crashes that led to many deaths. The midair collision over the Potomac River last month became the deadliest crash since a Colgan Air flight went down near Buffalo, New York, in 2009, killing 50 people. The FAA has earned the nickname “the tombstone agency” among aviation safety advocates for not addressing potential problems until disaster struck.

“I’ve been preaching for a while that complacency has been creeping into all areas of the FAA because of how great our safety record has been,” said John Goglia, an independent safety consultant and former NTSB board member.

Aviation episodes have increased in recent years, he said, citing the death of an airline worker who was struck by an aircraft tug on the tarmac at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Jan. 27. Goglia also pointed to recent instances involving aircraft clipping each other on runways.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy did not respond to an interview request from The New York Times. Appearing on Fox Business last week, Duffy said it had been a “hard week in aviation,” given the three incidents, and added that he was committed to updating the FAA’s technology, some of which dates back to World War II.

“We have to take another hard look at, what does aviation safety look like, how do we use our airspace, and I think there were mistakes made in the past,” Duffy said on Fox Business. “We’re going to review that moving forward and make sure we have a system in place that keeps our travelers safe.”

The most pointed discussions about needed change have concerned air traffic controller systems, which monitor and track flights to ensure their safe traverse from takeoff to landing.

Trump said last week that he would speak with Congress about legislation aimed at overhauling the nation’s aging aviation safety infrastructure, which air traffic controllers rely on. He said the American Airlines crash could have been avoided with updated technology.

Elon Musk’s cost-cutting initiative, the Department of Government Efficiency, will also take part in the effort to improve the FAA’s technology, at the request of Duffy. It is possible that Musk’s involvement could lead to the modernization that the agency has needed for years, but neither he nor Trump has outlined a clear timeline or plan.

A report issued in September by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an oversight agency, said 58 FAA systems that are critical to the safety and efficiency of the nation’s airspace are in unsustainable or potentially unsustainable condition.

Making matters worse for the beleaguered FAA, Trump appeared to place at least some blame on the agency just hours after the American Airlines crash, saying that standards for air traffic controllers had been too lax because of diversity efforts pushed by his Democratic predecessors.

“Incompetence might have played a role,” Trump said Jan. 30. “We’ll let you know that, but we want the most competent people. We don’t care what race they are; we want the most competent people, especially in those positions.”

The same day, all FAA employees, including air traffic controllers, were sent an email from Trump’s Office of Personnel Management reiterating a message from earlier in the week. The message urged them to resign and said they were in “lower-productivity jobs.” A few days later, Duffy said controllers were exempt from the offer.

The Times previously reported that more than 90% of the 313 air traffic control facilities in the United States operate below the FAA’s recommended staffing levels. Current efforts to hire and train new controllers are expected to fall short of demand, according to the agency’s projections.

The crashes, the whiplash about job status and Trump’s criticisms proved to be a huge blow to the agency, said Joe Jacobsen, an aerospace engineer and former FAA employee.

“When there’s a crash, that’s always tough on morale,” he said. “Any type of commentary about people at the FAA and their qualifications is a huge blow to morale.”

The NTSB and the FAA are investigating the three recent crashes, and no official cause has been made public. The safety of air travel in Alaska, where 82% of communities are not accessible by road, has long been a concern, particularly because extreme weather is so common in the state.