While acknowledging that the cause of the 29 January midair collision remains unknown, US president Donald Trump has cited diversity hiring practices by the Federal Aviation Administration and potential missteps by the pilots of a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
Speaking to reporters on 30 January, Trump also said that too often investigators overseeing large-scale inquiries do not release information fast enough.
“This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions,” Trump says. “Sadly, there are no survivors… We do not know what happened, but we have some very strong opinions.”
The accident involved the collision over the Potomac River of a Black Hawk and a PSA Airlines MHIRJ CRJ700. Both aircraft plummeted into the river, killing 64 people aboard the CRJ700 and three aboard the Black Hawk.
The president spent much of the briefing criticising prior Democratic administrations and the Federal Aviation Administration for prioritising diversity when hiring, which he says precludes hiring the most-skilled workers and counters the FAA’s mission to ensure safe air travel. On 22 January, the president signed an executive order intended to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies within the federal government.
“I’m not blaming the controller. I’m saying there are things you can question,” Trump says of the 29 January accident. “You had two planes at the same [flight] level… That shouldn’t have happened.”
The FAA did not respond to a request for comment. In recent years th agency has been seeking to accelerate its hiring amid a nationwide shortage of air traffic controllers.
Trump also addressed the actions of the Black Hawk pilots.
“You had a pilot problem from the standpoint of the helicopter… It was a very clear night,” the president says. “We do not know what happened, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas.”
The collision occurred at low altitude as the CRJ700 was on final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National airport’s runway 33.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating. “We have not recovered the flight-data recorders yet. They are there. They are underwater,” says NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy.
An NTSB investigator adds that the airliner suffered “a very quick, rapid impact” and that neither the aircraft’s emergency slides nor life rafts appear to have been deployed.
