World
Trump links drive for air traffic controllers with ‘intellectual disabilities’ to Washington plane crash
Donald Trump has linked a diversity drive at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under previous governments to a deadly plane crash in Washington DC.
Sixty-seven people were killed when an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter collided mid-air on Wednesday night.
Speaking at the White House, the new US president suggested the diversity efforts had made air travel less safe.
He said: “We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas.”
Emergency personnel at the site of the crash. Pic: Reuters
Read the latest on the crash in Washington
Later Sky’s US partner NBC news said staffing at Reagan Washington National Airport, where air traffic controllers were guiding the flights, was “not normal”, according to an initial FAA report.
The tower normally has a controller who focuses specifically on helicopter traffic.
But at the time of Wednesday night’s crash, a source said, one controller at DCA was overseeing both plane and helicopter activity.
FAA guidelines do allow for this position to be combined.
At his briefing Mr Trump blamed his predecessor, former president Joe Biden, for lowering standards for air traffic controllers.
“We have to have our smartest people,” he said. “They have to be naturally talented geniuses.”
He added: “The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.”
Mr Trump criticised Mr Biden and another Democrat former president Barack Obama for putting “policy over safety” when it came to US aviation.
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CCTV captures moment of mid-air collision
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Audio captured moments after the crash
“I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary,” Mr Trump said.
He said that after being sworn in last week, he signed an executive order which “restored the highest standards of air traffic controllers”.
Read more:
Washington DC plane crash: What we know so far
Air traffic control heard diverting planes moments after collision
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‘We look at the human, the machine, the environment’
Mr Trump also said: “When I left office and Biden took over he changed them [standards for those who work in aviation system] back to lower than ever before, I put safety first, Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen because this was the lowest level.”
At a later briefing he was asked if gender or race played a role. He answered: “It may have, I don’t know. Incompetence may have played a role.”
Authorities have said the rescue operation for passengers on board the jet and the Black Hawk helicopter shifted to a recovery one as they believe there are no survivors.
A total of 28 bodies, including 27 from the jet and one from the helicopter, have been recovered from the Potomac river.
“This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history and a tragedy of terrible proportions as one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly,” Mr Trump said.
The American Airlines jet was carrying 60 passengers and four crew when it crashed with the military helicopter, carrying three soldiers, shortly before 9pm local time on Wednesday.
Flight 5342 was preparing to land on runway 33 at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when it collided with the helicopter.
The crash is the country’s worst civil aviation disaster since 2009.
Mr Trump also said “the people in the helicopter should have seen where they were going” and that the crash involved a “confluence of bad decisions”.
The Pentagon and US army are investigating the crash, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said on X.