Trump: No survivors in plane-helicopter collision outside US capital

Anadolu, Philippine News Agency

Trump said officials do not yet know what led to the crash late Wednesday of American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport, but said, “We have some very strong opinions and ideas.” (File Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said Thursday that no one survived after a commercial plane carrying 64 people crashed with a military helicopter outside of the nation’s capital, Washington DC.

Trump said officials do not yet know what led to the crash late Wednesday of American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport, but said, “We have some very strong opinions and ideas.”

“We think we have some pretty good ideas, but we’ll find out how this disaster occurred, and we’ll ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. The FAA and the NTSB and the US military will be carrying out a systematic and comprehensive investigation,” he said, referring to the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Even as the investigation continues, Trump appeared to blame the military helicopter crew, saying, “You had a pilot problem from the standpoint of the helicopter.”

“It was very clear night, it was cold, but clear as you could be. The American Airlines plane had lights blazing, they had all their landing lights on,” he said.

“You had a helicopter that had the ability to stop. I have helicopters. You can stop a helicopter very quickly. It had the ability to go up or down. It had the ability to turn. And the turn it made was not the correct turn, obviously. And it did, somewhat, the opposite of what it was told. We don’t know that would have been the difference.”

Trump was appearing to reference instructions given by air traffic controllers at Reagan National, whom he later said he was not blaming for the tragic accident.

“I’m saying there are things that you could question, like the height of the helicopter, the height of the plane being at the same level going in opposite directions. It’s not a positive,” he said. It is not immediately clear to what Trump was referring.

The president confirmed that Russians are among the foreign nationals killed in the crash, saying there were “a couple of others” from other countries among the dead.

Trump said the US would work to facilitate the return of remains of the Russian nationals despite the fact that there are no direct flights between the US and Russia.

He further lashed out at former Transpiration Secretary Pete Buttigieg, calling him a “disaster” and claiming he’s “got a good line of b******t,” and saying he ran the FAA “right into the ground with his diversity.”

Since assuming office, Trump has sought to erase diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs within the federal workforce, and said that while there is no evidence yet that the crash could be blamed on diversity hires “it just could have been.”

“We have a high standard. We’ve had a higher, much higher standard than anybody else. And there are things where you have to go by brain power. You have to go by psychological quality,” he said.

Asked if he was getting ahead of himself by blaming Democrats, diversity efforts and the helicopter crew, Trump said, “I don’t think so at all.”

Trump said officials would soon be releasing a full list of all the names of the victims. (Anadolu)