Trump Gives Update on Potomac Plane–Helicopter Crash: 5 Takeaways

President Donald Trump speaks in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on Jan. 30, 2025. Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo

President Donald Trump, on the afternoon of Jan. 30, provided an update on the plane and helicopter collision on the night of Jan. 29 that left everyone on board both aircraft dead.

During his first appearance of his second term in the White House briefing room, the president called the crash, involving an American Airlines-operated flight and a U.S. Army helicopter, a “tragedy of terrible proportions.”

He said the U.S. military and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating, saying it is still not clear what caused the disaster. There were no survivors on board, he said, confirming fears expressed by Washington officials earlier in the day.

All 64 people aboard an American Airlines jet and three Army soldiers on an Army helicopter the night of Jan. 29 are dead after the two aircraft collided in midair, officials said Jan. 30. It is the deadliest U.S. commercial airline disaster since 2001.

At least 28 bodies, including those of the three soldiers who were on the helicopter, have been pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River as recovery operations continue.

Names New FAA Chairman

In the briefing, Trump told reporters that he had named a new acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the wake of the aviation disaster.

“I’m also immediately appointing an acting commissioner to the FAA: Christopher Rocheleau,“ he said. “A 22-year veteran of the agency, highly respected. Christopher, thank you very much, appreciate it.”

Rocheleau, a former FAA administrator and National Business Aviation Association executive, was in the room when Trump made the announcement.

Former FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker stepped down from his position on the same day that Trump was inaugurated. The FAA position needs Senate confirmation, and Whitaker was approved by the upper congressional chamber in 2023.

The president said the crash indicates that the Senate needs to confirm his Cabinet selections in a timely manner.

“For sure, we want fast confirmations,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question. “The Democrats, as you know, are doing everything they can to delay. They’ve taken too long. We’re struggling to get very good people that everybody knows are going to be confirmed, but we’re struggling to get them out faster.”

Believes It Is Safe to Fly in the US

When asked about whether U.S. citizens should be concerned about flying in the wake of the crash, Trump said he was not concerned.

“No, not at all. I’m not hesitant to fly,” Trump said. “We have the safest flying anywhere in the world, and we’ll keep it that way.”

Last week, Trump signed an executive order, called Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation, that directed the FAA to “immediately return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring, as required by law.”

Targets DEI Hiring

In the press conference, Trump criticized the previous administration for focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and hiring standards, alleging that the aviation disaster may have been linked to less stringent standards.

“I put safety first,“ Trump said, noting that former President Joe Biden changed aviation standards ”back to lower than ever before.“ The president accused Biden-era Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg of running the agency ”right into the ground with his diversity.”

In response, Buttigieg wrote on social media platform X, “As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying.”

He said that when he led the agency, it “had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.”

When a reporter asked about his comments on DEI, Trump quoted a 2024 New York Post article that stated that the FAA “is actively recruiting workers who suffer ’severe intellectual' disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.”

He noted that the program allowed for the hiring of people with hearing and vision issues, as well as paralysis, epilepsy, and dwarfism.

The president was referring to reports published last year, which cited an FAA website about the policy.

“Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring,” the FAA’s website reads. “They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”

Trump said air traffic controllers need to be brilliant to ensure safety.

“They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses,” he said. “You can’t have regular people doing their job.”

Questions Helicopter Pilots’ Decision

Trump asked questions about the three pilots on the Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that collided with the American Airlines jet, noting that the military aircraft was not doing what it was supposed to be doing before it collided with the plane.

“We had a situation where we had a helicopter that had the ability to stop,” he said.

“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, because the timing was so tight.”

The helicopter should not have been flying at roughly the same altitude as the plane, according to Trump.

“You could have turned the helicopter substantially; you could have stopped the helicopter,” he said. “For some reason, it just kept going and then made a slight turn at the very end, and by that time, it was too late.”

New Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a video earlier on Jan. 30 that the helicopter crew was “fairly experienced” and was performing an “annual night evaluation” with night-vision goggles.

Neither Hegseth nor other officials have so far provided details on the cause of the crash. Authorities have said that an investigation is underway, and the National Transportation Safety Board is the lead investigating agency.

Offers Condolences

“I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation,” Trump said at the briefing.

He said that there is a “massive search and rescue operation” that started overnight, which is “leveraging every asset at our disposal.”

“The work has now shifted to a recovery mission,” the president said. “Sadly, there are no survivors.”

Trump pledged to support families who were affected by the crash, saying, “We’re all searching for answers.”

American Eagle Flight No. 5342, which took off from Wichita, Kansas, with 60 passengers and four crew on board, was scheduled to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.