The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a fatal midair collision near Washington.

"The passenger families on that aircraft demand justice, they demand answers, and they demand accountability, and they're entitled to that," attorney Bob Clifford said.

The first steps toward a lawsuit were filed Tuesday by the family of a victim of the deadly midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight last month in Washington. Claims were filed against the Federal Aviation Administration and the Army for $250 million in damages by an attorney for the family