An American Airlines regional jet went down in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after colliding with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, with no survivors.
Map of the area around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the layout of Runway 33, which the regional American Airlines jet was approaching at the time of the collision with the Army Black Hawk helicopter, according to officials.
ABC News, Google Earth, Flightradar24, ADS-B Exchange
Trump says military helicopter shouldn’t have been flying same height as plane
President Donald Trump said the military helicopter shouldn’t have been flying the same height as the plane.
"You had a confluence of bad decisions that were made," Trump said.
"For some reason, there weren't adjustments made," Trump said.
Trump said the helicopter "should have seen where they were going."
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters about the collision of an American Airlines flight with a military Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
"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," Trump said.
Trump maintained that U.S. air travel is safe.
Jan 30, 2025, 11:54 AM EST
Trump goes on the offensive against DEI at plane crash briefing
President Donald Trump went on the offensive against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at his press briefing on the plane crash, but did not cite evidence to back up his claims that DEI policies or any deficiencies on the part of air traffic controllers were factors in the accident, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier that "everything was standard in the lead up."
Trump called Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary in the Biden administration, "bulls---," and said Buttigieg has "run [the Department of Transportation] right into the ground with his diversity."
President Donald Trump speaks about the mid-air crash between American Airlines flight 5342 and a military helicopter in Washington, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
Trump said before he entered office the Federal Aviation Administration's diversity and inclusion hiring plan was "actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems."
"Brilliant people have to be in those positions," Trump said.
"Those disabilities at the federal government as a matter of policy, as identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring. The FAA website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism all qualify for the position of a controller," he said.
When pressed by ABC News' Mary Bruce, Trump said that "we don't know" what caused the crash and added that they're still looking into it.
Another reporter pressed Trump about how he concluded DEI policies were to blame and Trump said that it was because he has "common sense."
The diversity initiative Trump referred to was in place during his first term.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared alongside Trump, adding, "We will have the best and brightest in every position possible. As you said in your inaugural, it is colorblind and merit-based."
"The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department, and we need the best and brightest, whether it's in our air traffic control or whether it's in our generals, whether it's throughout government," Hegseth said.
No other official, including in Trump's administration, had raised diversity as an issue prior to the president.
Buttigieg on social media called Trump "despicable."
"As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying," he said. "We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again."
Jan 30, 2025, 11:40 AM EST
Trump: 'Tragedy of terrible proportions'
President Donald Trump called the crash a "tragedy of terrible proportions."
"Our hearts are shattered," Trump said in a press briefing at the White House, after holding a moment of silence. "Our prayers are with you now and in the days to come."
Emergency response units search the crash site of the American Airlines plane on the Potomac River after the plane crashed last night on approach to Reagan National Airport on January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
"We are all searching for answers," Trump said, adding, "We do not know what led to this crash" but have "some pretty good ideas."
Jan 30, 2025, 11:21 AM EST
Army secretary nominee: Training near airports like Reagan might be too risky
President Donald Trump's nominee for Army secretary, Daniel Driscoll, said at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, "I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk, and it may not be ... at an airport like Reagan."
While he does not have any insider details on the crash, Driscoll said, "It's an accident that seems to be preventable, from what we can tell today."
