US authorities said on Jan 30 it was not yet clear why a regional jet crashed into a US Army helicopter at a Washington airport, killing 67 people in the deadliest US air disaster in more than 20 years.
President Donald Trump said – without providing evidence – that federal diversity efforts could have been a factor, reiterating a theme that has become a focus of his presidency.
Rights groups and Democrats accused him of politicising the disaster.
The investigation into the crash in the nation’s capital has just begun.
The American Airlines Bombardier carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with the Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River as it prepared to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan 29 night.
The names of all the victims have not yet been released, but they included a number of promising young figure skaters and people from Kansas, where the flight originated.
Senator Maria Cantwell said that the dead on the plane included citizens from Russia, the Philippines and Germany.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators said they would have a preliminary report within 30 days. Investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Bombardier CRJ700 plane, NTSB said.
The agency has begun collecting wreckage, including portions of the helicopter, and is storing it at a hangar at Reagan National Airport. Washington’s fire and emergency department said its divers had searched all accessible areas and would conduct additional searches to locate aircraft components on Jan 31.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both aircraft had been flying standard flight patterns on Jan 29 and there had been no breakdown in communication.
“Everything was routine up to the point of the accident,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin told Reuters. Washington’s primary airport is located just across the river in Virginia.
At the White House, Mr Trump criticised the helicopter pilots and suggested air traffic controllers were to blame.
“We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas,” he said.
Radio communications show that air traffic controllers alerted the helicopter about the approach jet and ordered it to change course.
One controller rather than two was handling local plane and helicopter traffic on Jan 29 night at Reagan National, a situation deemed “not normal” but considered adequate for lower volumes of traffic, according to a person briefed on the matter. The New York Times first reported the “not normal” designation.
The decision to combine duties in the evening is not uncommon, the source said.
A shortage of air traffic controllers in the United States in recent years has spurred safety concerns. At several facilities, controllers work mandatory overtime and six-day work weeks to cover shortages. The Federal Aviation Administration has about 3,000 fewer controllers than it says it needs.
Crowded flight corridor
Airspace is frequently crowded in the US capital region, home to three commercial airports and several major military facilities, and officials have raised concerns about busy runways at Ronald Reagan National Airport. Several near-miss incidents at the airport have sparked alarm, including a near-collision in May 2024.
Mr Trump accused his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden of lowering hiring standards and suggested the Federal Aviation Administration’s diversity push could have weakened its capabilities.
Asked if the crash was caused by diversity hiring, he said: “It just could have been.”
The Trump administration has not provided any proof to back these assertions, and there is no evidence that efforts to make the federal workforce more diverse have compromised air safety. Mr Trump has moved quickly to quash federal diversity initiatives since taking office on Jan 20, drawing criticism from rights advocates who fear he is rolling back progress the United States has made to overcome its history of discrimination.
Mr Trump cited FAA policies stating that physical and mental disabilities would not on their own disqualify applicants from a controller’s position. Those policies were in place throughout Mr Trump’s initial 2017-2021 White House term, according to aides to Mr Biden’s transportation secretary, Mr Pete Buttigieg.
Mr Buttigieg called Mr Trump’s remarks despicable. “As families grieve, Mr Trump should be leading, not lying,” he said on social media.
Crash cause unclear
Mr Trump’s remarks contrasted sharply with those of other officials, who said there was no immediate indication why the crash took place.
American Airlines chief executive officer Robert Isom said the pilot of the American Eagle Flight 5342 had about six years of flying experience. The Bombardier CRJ-700 jet was operated by PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter was flown by a “fairly experienced crew” of three soldiers who were wearing night-vision goggles on an annual training flight.
Officials said they were grounding other flights from the Army unit involved in the crash and would reevaluate training exercises in the region.
Source: Reuters
