Without evidence, Trump blames DEI for deadly DC crash

While last night’s tragedy in DC was preventable, a number of troubling contributing factors may have made it inevitable. None of them have to do with DEI.

Last night just before 9pm local time, an American Airlines flight from Wichita, KS, was coming in to land at Reagan Washington National Airport (call sign DCA) in Washington, D.C. This flight was carrying 60 passengers and four crew. As it approached, an Army Black Hawk helicopter was flying in the same vicinity carrying three soldiers on a training exercise.

A DCA air traffic controller made contact with the helicopter, asking if it could see the arriving plane. Moments later, the controller made another radio call, “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ”. This was apparently to instruct the helicopter to allow the American Airlines Bombardier CRJ-701 jet to pass.

The helicopter made no reply, and 30 seconds after air traffic control’s first call out to the helicopter, the jet and helicopter collided mid-air in a fiery explosion before dropping into the icy waters of the Potomac River below.

The 64 people on the jet and the 3 soldiers on the helicopter did not survive. We don’t know much yet about the victims. We do know that some of the victims were part of the figure skating world, including two 16-year-old skaters returning from a training camp with their mothers and their two Russian coaches.

Trump blames DEI

This afternoon, President Trump held a press conference about the crash in which he railed against hiring practices brought in by the Biden administration at the Federal Aviation Administration. Some of these directives encouraged greater diversity, equity and inclusion in new FAA hires amidst a long-standing staff shortage.

Newly sworn-in Transport Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth likewise took aim at Biden-era DEI policies within their own departments. Trump underscored that he had rescinded these policies shortly after coming into office.

When asked by a reporter if there was any evidence tying last night’s incident to DEI, Trump only answered, “It just could have been“.

According to a former FAA official who spoke to ABC News, the DEI policies Trump referred to do not apply to air traffic controllers.

Long-standing safety issues, ATC shortage

The only, very preliminary, assessment we have points to a contributing factor in last night’s crash that has nothing to do with DEI. A preliminary FAA report obtained by the press shows that at the time of last night’s crash, one DCA flight controller was doing the job of two people. The controller who was handling helicopter traffic in the vicinity of the airport was also in charge of instructing planes landing and departing the runways. These jobs are usually performed by two separate people.

Air traffic control facilities across the country have been chronically understaffed for years. Officials estimate that about 3,000 more air traffic controllers need to be hired nationwide. DCA has been particularly affected, with only 19 fully certified controllers when the facility should have 30.

Another aspect that shouldn’t be overlooked is an uptick in recent years of serious military aviation incidents.

Lobbying trumps air safety in Congress

Adding to the stress for overworked air traffic controllers is the increasing air traffic at DCA, one of the nation’s busiest airports.

This was not helped last year when Congress passed the FAA reauthorization Act with a provision opening new daily takeoff and landing slots at the already overcrowded DCA. Congress passed this provision despite two near collisions at the airport in the last 2 years.

The provision for increased slots were added to the 2024 FAA authorization in the Senate Commerce Committee. Lawmakers from the region lambasted the committee, particularly Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who rejected a proposed amendment that would have required safety approval from the Department of Transportation for the increased flights.

Regardless of the well-founded safety concerns, President Biden signed the bill and the Department of Transportation began handing out new slots for DCA in December 2024.

The provision added to the FAA authorization closely resembled the Direct Access to the Capital Act, a bill which was narrowly defeated in the House in 2023. The bill was pushed for by Delta Airlines’ political action committee, and was co-sponsored by two of the committee’s biggest donation recipients, Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA).

Trump transition chaos

Before Trump’s administration was sworn in, previous FAA Michael Whitaker stepped down after clashing with Trump ally Elon Musk. Trump only appointed an acting head for the FAA today in the aftermath of last night’s crash.

On Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order imposing a blanket federal hiring freeze. “No federal civilian position that is vacant at noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be created,” the order read. There is some confusion as to whether this includes air traffic controllers.

The wording of the order exempted “public safety” personnel, which in legislation often includes air traffic controllers. However, this exemption was not explicit and has led to confusion, even among lawmakers and FAA employees, who of course did not even have acting leadership until today.

NTSB: “We look at facts”

In a press conference today, National transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy stressed that “we look at facts in our investigation and that will take some time”. The recording devices from the two aircraft have only just been recovered.

It seems abundantly clear that last night’s tragedy was preventable and should have never happened. However, the investigation into why and how the crash occurred is less than 24 hours old. Currently, there’s no direct evidence to point the finger of blame at any one of the above factors or any one administration. Equally, as President Trump himself admitted, there is currently no evidence that DEI initiatives at the FAA were responsible.

Without evidence, Trump blames DEI for deadly DC crash – National & International News – THU 30Jan2025