Plane crash in DC is first big test for Trump, new Transportation boss
WASHINGTON – The fatal airline crash at Washington’s airport – the first U.S. passenger plane crash since 2009 – became the first major test of President Donald Trump’s new administration. It also came on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s first day on the job.
“Safety is our expectation,” Duffy told reporters Thursday morning in response to the crash. “Everyone who flies in American skies expects that we fly safely, that when you depart an airport, you get to your destination. That didn’t happen last night, and I know that President Trump, his administration, the FAA, the DOT − we will not rest until we have answers for the families, and for the flying public.”
Duffy, a former reality television star who served eight years in the House from Wisconsin, has no experience in transportation or managing a large government agency. But he leaped into the job by heading to the airport and participating in two news conferences within 12 hours of the 8:48 p.m. EST crash.
Officials believe there are no survivors after an American Airlines flight with 64 people aboard crashed into an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and fell into the frigid Potomac River.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former infantry officer in the Army Reserve and National Guard with no management experience and who was sworn in Saturday, said in a video message he expected special investigators to answer whether the Army helicopter was flying in its assigned air corridor and at the right altitude at the time of the collision. He said pilots were conducting an annual training flight for night flying and had night-vision goggles.
“We are actively investigating what happened and why,” Hegseth said.
Donald Kettl, a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland who wrote a book about government competency, told USA TODAY several weeks before Wednesday’s plane crash that Trump chose his administration’s appointees for their loyalty rather than their experience in policy and administration. He said that would bring risks about how they would carry out their jobs.
Hegseth and Duffy now face a big challenge in investigating what happened with the crash, delivering accountability and reassuring Americans that airline travel is safe.
“For large agencies and especially sensitive ones, the risks are enormous,” Kettl said. “Catastrophe is always a step away in their everyday work. The lack of experience magnifies the risk.”
Trump explains what he thinks caused the crash
At the White House on Thursday, Trump took the unorthodox step of describing what he thought caused the collision, even while federal investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board could spend months or years to reach their conclusions.
Typically, investigators avoid drawing judgments until after examining flight data recorders nicknamed “black boxes,” interviewing witnesses and scrutinizing equipment.
But Trump said the American Airlines jet was flying a customary track to land at the airport and the Army helicopter should have been flying at a different height.
“The people in the helicopter should have seen where they were going,” Trump said. “What was the helicopter doing in that track? Very sad. But visually, somebody should have been able to see and taken that helicopter out of play and they should have been at a different height.”
Trump said he didn’t blame the controllers on duty, although he criticized the diversity policies in the hiring of previous Democratic-led administrations while specifically criticizing former Biden-era Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“I’m not blaming the controller,” Trump said. “I’m saying there are things you can question.”
Soon after Trump’s press conference concluded, Buttigieg replied in a post on X that he put safety first and drove down close calls with no commercial airline fatalities while he led the Department of Transportation until earlier this month.
“Despicable,” Buttigieg said of Trump’s comments, adding: “As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying.”
Trump: Crash ‘NOT GOOD!!!’
Trump opened his remarks from the White House by asking for a moment of silence for the victims in what he called “an hour of anguish for our nation.”
“The local, state, federal, military – including the United States Coast Guard, in particular – have done a phenomenal job. So quick, so fast,” Trump said.
“This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions,” the president added. “As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly. We are in mourning. This has really shaken a lot of people.”
Trump had issued a statement two hours after the crash saying he had been fully briefed and thanking the first responders.
“I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise,” he said.
Trump also posted questions about the crash on Truth Social just after midnight Thursday. He cited the clear night and questioned why the helicopter hadn’t gotten out of the way of the airliner.
“Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane,” Trump wrote. “This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
US airspace safest in the world: Duffy
Fatal airline crashes are exceedingly rare for any administration to face in recent decades.
The last crash of a U.S. airliner was the Colgan Air accident in February 2009, which killed 49 people on the plane and one on the ground during a snowstorm near Buffalo, New York. Among foreign airlines, an Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul, South Korea, to San Francisco in July 2013 crashed after striking the seawall off the end of the runway, killing three passengers and injuring nearly 200.
“I will tell you with complete confidence that we have the safest airspace in the world,” Duffy said.
Duffy said both the American airliner and the helicopter were flying standard patterns that are common around the busy airport during a clear night.
“If you live in the D.C. area, you’ll see helicopters up and down the river,” Duffy said. “This was not unusual when you have a military aircraft flying the river and aircraft landing at” the airport.
FAA staffing of air traffic controllers is contentious
Lawmakers have voiced concerns about the busy air traffic at Reagan National, which is hemmed in by the Potomac River and has a federal cap on the number of flights per day.
“We’ve got very busy airspace,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said on Thursday, adding that safety questions would wait until after families of the victims were notified. “There will be time for those discussions.”
House Democrats complained on Jan. 22 that Trump had issued an Inauguration Day executive order that included a freeze on the hiring of air traffic controllers nationwide.
“Hiring air traffic controllers is the No. 1 safety issue according to the entire aviation industry,” said Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee, the top Democrat on the panel’s Aviation Subcommittee, said the aviation community would “speak with one voice condemning this short-sighted policy.”
Duffy had talked at his Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 15 about improving airline safety and hiring more air traffic controllers.
“In aviation, safety will remain the top priority,” Duffy said. “America needs more air traffic controllers. The best and the brightest.”
Vice President JD Vance swore Duffy in Wednesday afternoon in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House. Duffy, who was accompanied by his wife Rachel Campos-Duffy and seven of their nine children, spoke of his enthusiasm for getting started on the job.
“We are going to usher in the golden age of transportation,” Duffy said in his brief remarks. “Let’s get to work.”
(This story has been updated with more information and photos.)
This article was originally published by a www.usatoday.com . Read the Original article here. .