Two U.S. government social media accounts made near-simultaneous posts containing contradictory information about a plane crash in Philadelphia on Friday night, leading to confusion about what had actually transpired. At 7:47 p.m. EST, the Federal Aviation Administration wrote that two people were on board the aircraft that had taken off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport and was bound for Missouri. Two minutes later, though, transportation secretary Sean Duffy wrote that “there were reportedly 6 people on board.” It wasn’t until nearly an hour later that the FAA posted an update confirming the number of passengers was indeed six. The FAA, which is already tasked with investigating Wednesday’s airplane-helicopter collision in Washington, D.C., is currently without a Senate-confirmed administrator. The previous holder, Michael Whitaker, resigned once Donald Trump took office due to threats of a lawsuit by Elon Musk after Whitaker proposed fining Musk’s company, SpaceX, for allegedly failing to comply with safety requirements.
