Featured Image Credit: Geoff Robins / AFP) (Photo by GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images - plane crash
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Travel
Gregory Robinson
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Travel
Donald Trump has shared his unusual thoughts regarding the number of plane crashes in the US in recent months.
On 29 January, a plane crash in Washington D.C. occurred when a commercial jet, preparing to land at at Reagan Airport with 60 passengers and four crew, collided with a US Military Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers on board. There were no survivors.
Just two days later, a medical jet crashed in Philadelphia while heading to Mexico. All six people on board were killed and one person on the ground also lost their life.
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Then a small plane with 10 people on board crashed in Alaska, on 6 February, killing everyone on board.
Two people died in February when two planes collided in the air at Arizona’s Marana Airport.
Also in February, a Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Toronto flipped as it landed and burst into flames, however, everyone made it out alive.
A small plane crashed in Pennsylvania on 9 March, landing on a row of parked cars before bursting into flames. The five people on board were taken to hospitals and their conditions are unknown.
Questions have been raised by officials and the general public about the apparent frequency of plane crashes in the US this year, and President Trump has now shared his own theory.
When asked about the most recent incident and the role of Chris Rocheleau as head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Trump told Fox News: “That has nothing to do with the department. That was a small plane, it would have happened if you had a big department or a small department as you understand. They have spates like this.
"They have times when things happen a little bit more often than normal and then it goes back and then you go many years without having a problem."
When Trump returned to the White House, Rocheleau was appointed as the new head of the FAA by the President. Rocheleau took over from Mike Whittaker, who decided to resign the previous day when Joe Biden's tenure as president ended.
Trump praised the pilot who closely avoided crashing into a private jet on the runway at Chicago Midway Airport last month, as the aircraft took off again moments after landing to avoid the jet that had appeared in its path.
Trump explained: "I think the Southwest pilot did a fantastic job last week when he lifted that plane off the air because if he'd put the brakes on that wouldn't have been good. I think the license for the pilot that got in his way should maybe be revoked.
"The way he immediately stepped on the gas and lifted it up as opposed to thinking for about three seconds, it would have been too late. The pilot or pilots did a great job."