President Donald Trump yelled on Truth Social Friday morning that the helicopter involved in the fatal crash in Washington, D.C., “was flying too high, by a lot.”
Apparently lashing out at people who disagreed with his aeronautical analysis, he wrote: “It was far above the 200-foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???”
An hour after blaming DEI policies at the FAA and air traffic control, Trump flipped back to pointing his finger at the helicopter for veering off path after a story published in the New York Times claimed that the U.S. Army chopper may have flown 100 feet higher than its approved flight path.
Just before 9 p.m., the military black hawk helicopter collided with American Airlines Flight 5342, which was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members from Wichita, Kansas, to Reagan National Airport.
The Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was taking part in a training flight and was carrying three U.S. Army soldiers, all from Bravo Company, 12th Combat Aviation Battalion, which is based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Due to the busy nature of Reagan National airspace, the New York Times reported that the pilot requested to fly at a low altitude along the Potomac River. The paper cites four unnamed people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.
The helicopter was supposed to be flying below 200 feet, which would have positioned it out of the flight path of the plane. But at the time of the fatal collision, it was above 300 feet and at least half a mile off the pre-approved route, the sources said.
According to data from the flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the midair collision occurred at an altitude of about 300 feet.
The Daily Beast has contacted the U.S. Army and the White House for comment.
U.S. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters on Thursday that the commercial jet and helicopter were traveling along flight paths “that were being flown from the military and American” and “that was not unusual for what happens in the D.C. air space.”
“We have early indicators of what happened here, and I will tell you with complete confidence we have the safest airspace in the world,” Duffy said during a press briefing.
Jonathan Koziol, a retired Army chief warrant officer, told reporters on Thursday that the three Army soldiers on board the helicopter were “very experienced,” with more than 1,500 hours of flight time collectively, ABC News reported.
Figure skaters and coaches from the United States and Russia were among the 67 victims of Wednesday’s deadly crash. All onboard are presumed dead.
The Pentagon has launched an investigation into the collision, the cause of which remains unclear.
Both black boxes from the American Airlines jet have been recovered.
