The deadly collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter near Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night came a week after President Donald Trump ordered changes to Federal Aviation Administration hiring policies which the White House claimed would restore “excellence and safety” at the agency.
Authorities have not yet released details on what caused the midair crash between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk chopper near Reagan National Airport.
With first responders still working to free bodies trapped in the wreckage in the Potomac River on Thursday morning, officials fear all 64 people on the plane and the three soldiers in the helicopter have been killed, which would make the crash the deadliest aviation disaster in America since Nov. 2001.
The catastrophe came after Trump took executive action last week concerning the FAA, one of several measures his new administration has taken to crack down on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and policies.
The memorandum, titled “Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation,” came on Trump’s second day in office. It highlighted the FAA’s crucial role in overseeing “safety for more than 45,000 flights and 2.9 million airline passengers,” adding that Americans “trust the FAA’s public servants with their lives, and it is therefore imperative that they maintain a commitment to excellence and efficiency.”
“During the prior administration, however, the FAA betrayed its mission by elevating dangerous discrimination over excellence,” Trump’s order said.
An accompanying White House fact sheet said Trump had signed a presidential memorandum that “ends DEI madness and restores excellence and safety” in the FAA.
It added that the action “orders the Secretary of Transportation and FAA Administrator to immediately stop Biden DEI hiring programs and return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring,” and requires the administrator to “the past performance and performance standards of all FAA employees in critical safety positions and make clear that any individual who fails to demonstrate adequate capability is replaced by someone who will ensure Americans’ flight safety and efficiency.”
The fact sheet also said that, as part of a DEI initiative, the “Biden FAA” had recruited people with “‘severe intellectual’ disabilities, psychiatric issues, and complete paralysis.”
News reports in conservative outlets in Jan. 2024 cited the FAA’s recruitment of people with “severe intellectual” disabilities after the door plug of an Alaska Airlines flight blew out shortly after takeoff. According to Snopes, the text referenced from the FAA website was real—but had been online since 2013, and had remained there throughout Trump’s first administration.
A Republican lawmaker also questioned if DEI had played a role in the Washington, D.C. crash. “You hate to jump to any conclusions,” Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee said on Fox Business News Thursday, before adding: “Was it some sort of equipment failure? Did DEI play a role in this type of thing?”
Trump on Thursday morning referred to the crash as a “terrible accident” in a Truth Social post. “May God Bless their souls,” he wrote. “Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
