What’s Next in the DC Jet Crash Investigation

On Thursday morning, President Donald Trump appeared to place the blame for a midair collision that killed 67 people on the previous administration’s approach to hiring aviation professionals. “We need to verify information.” “We Will Analyze the Facts” On Wednesday evening, a US Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided with the tail of a Bombardier CRJ-700 jet coming in for landing at Washington, DC’s Ronald Reagan National Airport. In a White House briefing Thursday morning, Trump pointed to a program that also existed through his first administration aimed at expanding the talent pool for the US Federal Aviation Administration to individuals with disabilities. But he made the connection, he said, “because I have common sense and unfortunately some people don’t.” Later on Thursday, the White House released a statement criticizing the Biden administration’s “rejection of merit-based hiring” at the FAA in favor of a hiring program that encouraged diversity. Trump also ordered the FAA and the US secretary of transportation to review all of the FAA’s hires and safety protocol changes made during the four years of the Biden administration, “and to take such corrective action as necessary to achieve uncompromised aviation safety,” which might include firings.