Trump Looks To Assign Blame For Midair Crash: ‘Why Didn’t the Control Tower Tell the Helicopter What to Do?’
Tragedy struck on Wednesday night when an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided in midair near Reagan National Airport. Sixty passengers and four crew members were aboard the plane, and three soldiers were on the helicopter. As of 1 a.m. ET, 18 bodies had been recovered.
About two hours after the crash, President Donald Trump issued a statement on White House letterhead saying, “God Bless their souls.” He also thanked the first responders who were on the scene.
An hour or so later, he took to his Truth Social media platform, where he suggested that the helicopter pilot or those in the air traffic control tower (or both) were to blame:
The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!
At this time, it is unclear what led to the collision.
In a second post fired off one minute later, Trump followed up with a more measured response, writing, “What a terrible night this has been. God bless you all!”
The Federal Aviation Administration, said that the plane involved was a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet that was being operated on behalf of American Airlines.
A webcam positioned at the Kennedy Center captured the collision.
CNN’s Pete Muntean reported on the incident, stating he was “stunned.”
“I’m just stunned. Initially we had heard that this may have been a collision with a police helicopter, and what the FAA is laying out here is that it’s not the case,” he said on air. “This was a mid-air collision between this commercial flight and a government or military helicopter. To put this into context for you, Reagan National Airport is right across the river, on the Maryland side is Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling. That is where the presidential helicopter fleet is based.”
