Summary
Donald Trump changed his stance on the cause of the fatal D.C. plane crash, first blaming FAA diversity policies before accusing the U.S. Army helicopter of flying too high.
His shift followed a New York Times report stating the Black Hawk helicopter may have exceeded its approved altitude.
The crash, which killed all 67 onboard, remains under investigation.
Officials emphasize D.C. airspace is highly regulated, and the Pentagon is reviewing flight data, including recovered black boxes, to determine the cause.
Being from an air crew background, there is a lot more to the investigation than simply saying that the aircraft was too high. If it was caused by human error, the investigation will go in excruciating details over what could have contributed to it. What was the person’s state of mind at that time. Were they tired, stressed, pressured, inexperienced, overworked, complacent, etc? Were there external factors that contributed to the error like for example the design of the altimeter makes it difficult to read under certain circumstances? Flight investigations are a non-punitive, scientific approach meant to understand exactly the chain of events that lead to the error so we know how to avoid repeating it.
Meanwhile, Trump just wants to blame someone.
The NTSB will not be allowed to release a report inconsistent with trump’s ramblings.