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jackjjackson President Ronald Reagan's statement the day after Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the Potomac River in 1982:I'm going to digress for a moment from what I intended to say right here. A terrible tragedy took place in the Capital City yesterday -- the full extent of that tragedy still not yet known. But I only mention it because there are cynics who don't somehow believe in humanity anymore and in projects such as the one that you're engaged in and the ones that I've been talking about, doubt whether people can carry them out.
But what better example? Yesterday we saw a partnership, yes. The agencies and departments of government responsible in times of emergency were there. The heroism of the firemen in the icy waters is well known to all of us. But then there was just a bystander who saw a woman lose her grip on the line the helicopter was using to bring her to shore and without hesitation, he dived into the water. Lenny Skutnik. Nothing had picked him out particularly to be a hero, but without hesitation, there he was and he saved her life.
There's another man whose name we don't know, but the helicopter pilot tells of him. He was one of the group that were clinging to the wreckage out there in the icy waters. And time after time, the line from the helicopter with the ring, the life ring came to him, and each time he picked out someone else and worked to get the ring around them. And four people are alive today because he did this. We don't know who he is because he gave his life in doing that and sank beneath the waves before it could come back again -- the helicopter -- for him. Greater glory hath no man . . . .
[Sep]
President Donald Trump's statement the day after American Eagle Flight No. 5342 collided with a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter and fell into the Potomac River:We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we'll probably state those opinions now, because over the years, I've watched as things like this happen, and they say, 'Well, we're always investigating, and then the investigation … three years later, they announce it.'
We think we have some pretty good ideas, but we'll find out how this disaster occurred, and will 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 … our new Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, his second day on the job. When that happens. It's a rough one. We'll be working tirelessly.
He's a great gentleman. Whole group is. These are great people, and they are working tirelessly to figure out exactly what happened. We will state certain opinions.
However, I'm also immediately appointing an Acting Commissioner to the FAA, Christopher Rocheleau, a 22-year veteran of the agency, highly respected. Christopher, thank you very much. Appreciate it. We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system.
I changed the Obama standards. But from very mediocre at best to extraordinary. You remember that only the highest aptitude they have to be the highest intellect and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers. That was not so prior to getting there.
When I arrived in 2016, I made that change very early on, because I always felt this was a job … that and other jobs too, but this was a job that had to be superior intelligence, and we didn't really have that, and we had it. And then when I left office and Biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before.
I put safety first … Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody has ever seen, because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse.
So as you know, last week, long before the crash, I signed an executive order restoring our highest standards for air traffic controllers and other important jobs throughout the country. So it was very interesting. About a week ago, almost upon entering office, I signed something last week that was an executive order very powerful in restoring the highest standards of air traffic controllers and others … by the way, then my administration will set the highest possible bar for Aviation Safety.
We have to have our smartest people. It doesn't matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. It matters intellect, talent, the word talent. They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses.
You can't have regular people doing that job. They won't be able to do it. But we'll restore faith in American air travel. I'll have more to say about that.
I do want to point out that various articles that appeared prior to my entering office, and here's one, the FAA diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities … that is amazing. And then it says … FAA says … people with severe disabilities are the most underrepresented segment of the workforce, and they want them in, and they want them they can be air traffic controllers. I don't think so. This was in January 14. So that was a week before I entered office. They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA program. Then another article … the Federal Aviation Administration. This was before I got to office.
Recently, second term, 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.
Can you imagine, these are people that are, I mean, actually their lives are shortened because of the stress that they have?
Brilliant people have to be in those positions, and their lives are actually shortened, very substantially shortened because of the stress where you have … many, many planes coming into one target, and you need a very special talent and a very special genius to be able to do it.
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 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 of airplanes pouring into our country … pouring into a little spot, a little on the map, little runway.
The initiative is part of the FAA diversity and inclusion hiring plan. Think of that. The initiative is part of the FAA's diversity and inclusion hiring plan, which says diversity is integral to achieving FAA's mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel.
I don't think so. I don't think so. I think it's just the opposite.
The FAA website shows that the agency's guidance on diversity hiring were last updated on March 23 of 2024. They wanted to make it even more so. And then I came in and I assume maybe.
This is the reason the FAA, which is overseen by Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a real winner. That's the guy's a real winner. Do you know how badly everything's run since he's run the Department of Transportation? He's a disaster. He was a disaster as a mayor. He ran his city into the ground, and he's a disaster. Now he's just got a good line of bulls—t, the Department of Transportation. His government agency is charged with regulating civil aviation. Well, he runs it … 45,000 people, and he's run it right into the ground with his diversity. So I had to say that it's terrible.
Then it's a group within the FAA … another story determined that the workforce was too white, that they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately. This was in the Obama administration just prior to my getting there, and we took care of African Americans, Hispanic Americans … we took care of everybody at levels that nobody has ever seen before. It's one of the reasons I won. But they actually came out with a directive too white, and we want the people that are competent, but now we mourn and we pray. And would like to ask all Americans to join me in a moment of silence as we ask God to watch over those who have lost their lives and bring comfort to the loved ones.
And I just want to say, God bless everyone in this room. This has been a terrible, very short period of time, we'll get to the bottom of it.
So we all saw the same thing. We've seen it many times. I've had the honor of hearing tapes. Tapes are scary, very scary tapes.
You had an airliner coming in … American Airlines. He was doing everything right. He was on track. He was on the same track as everybody else that came in. It's probably the same track as they've had for 25 years or more. He's coming in the path. And for some reason, he had a helicopter that was at the same height, obviously, when they hit, but pretty much the same height and going at an angle.
That was unbelievably bad.
When the air traffic controller said, ‘Do you see what he was talking about, do you see him?’ But there was very little time left when that was stated. And then he also said, ‘Follow him in.’ And then almost immediately after that, seconds after that, there was the crash that took place. Well, you follow him in. That means, like, everything's fine. Follow him in. You had a pilot problem, from the standpoint of the helicopter. I mean, because it was visual, it was very clear night.
It was cold, but clear and clear as you could be.
The American Airlines plane had lights blazing. They had all their landing lights on. I could see it from the Kennedy Center tape. We had a tape up on the Kennedy Center that seems to be the primary thus far. I'm sure we'll see other tapes, because it's such an area where the lot of cameras, a lot of cameras looking up into the air, into space.
So we'll probably see many other shots of it before too much time goes by. But we had a situation where 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 … that would have been the difference, because the timing was so tight. It was so … it was so little, there was so little time to think. But what you did have is … you had vision … the helicopter had vision of the plane, because you had vision of it all the way, perfect vision of it all the way from at Kennedy Center, where the tape was taken. And for some reason, there weren't adjustments made.
You could have slowed down the helicopter substantially. You could have stopped the helicopter.
You could have gone up, you could have gone down. You could have gone straight up, straight down. You could have turned, you could have done a million different maneuvers. For some reason, it just kept going, and then made a slight turn at the very end. And it was by that time, it was too late.
They shouldn't have been at the same height, because if it wasn't the same. Height, you could have gone under it or over it, and nobody realized, or they didn't say that it's at the same height. At the same height … would … it would still wouldn't have been great, but you would have missed it by quite a bit. Could have been 1000 feet higher. It could have been 200 feet lower, but it was exactly at the same height, and somebody should have been able to point that out.
So all of this is going to be studied, but it just seems to me from a couple of words that I like to use … the words common sense, some really bad things happened, and some things happened that shouldn't have happened. So you had a helicopter going in the identical direction. You had a helicopter that was at the exact same height as somebody going in essentially the opposite direction. You had a plane that was following a track, which is a track that every other plane followed. And I don't imagine, I know, I've heard today that they might have been following the preceding plane, which was pretty close, but not that close … the preceding plane, but you wouldn't have even been able to see that because of the direction that the helicopter was coming in at.
So you had a confluence of bad decisions that were made, and you have people that lost their lives, violently lost their lives.
We're going to take a few questions. I'd like to ask our new Secretary of Transportation to say a few words. Sean Duffy, great gentleman, just started.
It's not your fault, and I know you agree with me very strongly on intellect and even psychological well being of the air traffic control. It's such an important position, and I think I can't emphasize stronger. I changed it when I first ran in 2016. I changed it. We had the highest standard that you could have. And then they changed it back, that was Biden … to a standard … you just … I read it to you that was from one of your papers. One of the people in this room actually wrote that, and then I changed it back a few days ago. And unfortunately, that was - we'll see.
We don't know that necessarily. If it's even the controller's fault. But one thing we do know, there was a lot of vision, and people should have been able to see that.
You know, at what point do you stop? At what point do you say, ‘Wow, that plane is getting a little bit close.' So this is a tragedy that should not have happened."
