American Airlines Rull in the Potomac
A crew picks up wreck of the flight 5342 from the American Airlines, which was involved in a collision with a Black Hawk helicopter in the US. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
President Donald Trump On Thursday, two executive orders signed that appointed a new deputy manager of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and order an immediate assessment of aviation safety.
The orders came after one American Airlines plane With 64 people and an army Black Hawk -Helikopter with three soldiers, on Wednesday at around 9 p.m.
The plane fell in the ice -cold Potomac River near Reagan National Airport, making 67 people supposed to be dead.
In the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump signed an order that Chris Rocheleau acting manager of the appointed Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Victims identified in DC plane crash involving American Airlines Jet and military helicopter
Search and rescue efforts on a wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport early Thursday morning, January 30, 2025, in Arlington, VA. (Carolyn throws/AP photo)
Rocheleau was recently CEO of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and held several leadership roles at the FAA during his term of office of more than 20 years, including director of the Office of Emergency Operations and Investigations.
Care providers assess the wreck of the plane in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport January 30, 2025, in Arlington, VA. (Andrew Harnik/Getty images)
The NBAA wrote in a statement that it “welcomed” the announcement.
“Chris is an excellent leader who will be good for the FAA, good for aviation and good for the country, especially at this challenging time,” said Nbaa President and CEO Ed Bolen. “He has demonstrated excellence at every level in the government, the military and aviation industry.”
DC -airplane crash timeline: Midair collision includes 67 passengers, crew members, soldiers
Trump called Rocheleau a “very capable guy” while signing the order.
A second executive order ordered an immediate assessment of aviation safety and an increase in “competence” over Diversity, fairness and inclusion (dei).
A crew picks up wreck from the flight 5342 of the American Airlines in the Potomac River in Washington, DC, January 30, 2025. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
While signing the order, he said that former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama’s policy were “just crazy”.
The Memorandum says that the Obama administration has introduced a biographical questionnaire in the FAA to shift the recruitment focus on objective construction, and the Biden administration later encouraged the recruitment of people with “serious intellectual handicaps”.
“During my first term, my administration standards increased to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence,” Trump wrote in the memo. “The BIDEN-Administration rejected the merit on the basis of merit, where all executive departments and agencies were needed to implement dangerous ‘diversity and inclusion’ tactics, and specifically recruiting people with ‘serious intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA.”
A plane flies near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after a collision by American Eagle Flight 5342 and a black Havik in Arlington, from January 30, 2025. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
While Trump ordered an immediate return to earnings -based recruitment, recruitment and promotion on his second day, he noted that the recent aircraft crash “underlines the need to increase safety and competence as the priority of the FAA.”
Click here to get the Fox News app
Trump said on Thursday that the collision was a “confluence of bad decisions that were made, and you have lost their lives violently.”
When demanding the roles that people with “serious intellectual disabilities” were hired to fill, the FAA FOX News Digital told you that it would not comment.
Louis Casiano from Fox News Digital has contributed to this story.
