WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday in the wake of a tragic plane and helicopter collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
His action comes after an Army helicopter and American Airlines Flight 5342 collided Wednesday night before crashing into the Potomac River. Authorities worked throughout the night to recover the bodies of the deceased, and said Thursday that there were no survivors out of the 67 people on both aircrafts.
Trump’s first executive order appoints Chris Rochelau as deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Rochelau will serve as the acting administrator since the administrator seat is currently vacant, the president’s staff secretary, Will Scharf, said at the signing.
The president’s second executive action is titled: “Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety.” It orders the Secretary of Transportation and the FAA administrator to “review all hiring decisions and changes to safety protocols made during the prior 4 years, and to take such corrective action as necessary to achieve uncompromised aviation safety, including the replacement of any individuals who do not meet qualification standards.”
“This review shall include a systematic assessment of any deterioration in hiring standards and aviation safety standards and protocols during the Biden Administration,” the order notes.
(Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)
Trump laid out in the executive action, as he did during Thursday’s press briefing, how former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden took steps to minimize merit and competence by prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion principles in the FAA.
“The Obama Administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude,” his executive action says. “During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence. But the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous ‘diversity equity and inclusion’ tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA.”
“On my second day in office, I ordered an immediate return to merit-based recruitment, hiring, and promotion, elevating safety and ability as the paramount standard,” the order reads. “Yesterday’s devastating accident tragically underscores the need to elevate safety and competence as the priority of the FAA.”
Trump stressed to reporters on Thursday that though it is unclear what role DEI measures played in the tragic plane crash, it is extremely important to his administration that employees be chosen on merit and competency.
“We want the most competent people,” he said. “We don’t care what race they are. We want the most competent people, especially in those positions. You’re talking about extremely complex things, and if they don’t have a great brain, a great power of the brain, they’re not going to be very good at what they do and bad things will happen.”
“All I’m talking about is competence,” he continued. “And we want, in that particular position, we have to have the most competent people in our country, because we’re talking about lives. Now, it may or may not have to do, but I don’t like that the helicopter was at the exact same level as the airplane. The helicopter should’ve been 1,000 feet or 500 feet above it, or something below it. The plane was at 300-400 feet.”
Trump described the fatal crash as “tragic” but preventable, asking: “Do you blame it on the air traffic controller too in addition to the pilots? They should’ve seen it. I would’ve thought they should’ve seen it.”
He also shared that he will be meeting with some of the families of the deceased.
