Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday in the Oval Office related to the horrible aviation tragedy that took place near the Ronald Reagan National Airport this week, where a commercial airline collided with a military Black Hawk, resulting in a mass casualty event over the Potomac River.
The president invited the press into his office to watch him sign the orders, which were directly related to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The first order, according to White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf, appointed acting FAA Commissioner Christopher Rocheleau as the deputy administrator of the agency, less than 24 hours after the incident near Washington.
Scharf described him as “highly regarded in the industry.”
The second order of business signed by President Trump was a memorandum on the immediate assessment of aviation safety. It is aimed at reviewing Biden-era “DEI” and “woke” policies that potentially pose a threat to efficiency and competency within the FAA.
It will ensure that only the most outstanding and capable people are working as pilots, air traffic controllers, and so forth, per Scharf’s explanation.
“In other words, competence,” Trump remarked.
The president was asked if he believed the tragedy was preventable. “I do, yeah,” he said. “…We’re not going to let it happen again.”
He emphasized the need for the “smartest people” to work in important positions in national aviation. “We are going to have the most competent people in our control towers,” he stated.
Earlier in the afternoon during a press briefing at the White House, President Trump confirmed there were no survivors of the American Airlines and Black Hawk collision. More than 60 people tragically have perished.
President Trump affirmed his administration’s commitment to carry out a systematic investigation to discover how such a terrible accident occurred. Trump also strongly hinted that the incident may have been due to bad hiring policies within the FAA implemented by the Biden administration.
Following this line of thought, the president’s actions on Thursday to implement a rigorous review of such hiring policies and protocols within the FAA are timely.