On January 29, American Airlines flight 5342 tragically collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington D.C.
Sadly, all 64 people onboard the plane and three on the helicopter were declared dead.
As officials investigate what could have caused the fatal incident, Trump wasted no time in giving his verdict.
As reported by BBC News, President Donald Trump has implied that the hiring process of the Federal Aviation Administration could have led to the tragedy.
He has repeatedly lashed out at “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs in federal departments.
There is no evidence to support his claims.
When asked about Trump’s remarks during an interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, Sullenberger paused for several seconds before responding.
“Not surprised. Disgusted,” he said.
Sullenberger, who successfully landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River, saving all 155 passengers and crew aboard, has been an outspoken critic of the former president.
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Reflecting on the recent tragedy, Sullenberger told O’Donnell he was “immediately devastated” upon hearing the news of the D.C. crash.
“It hit me deeply, intensely. The loss of those lives, those precious lives,” he said.
Sullenberger acknowledged the anguish of the victims’ families, adding: “I can imagine the families of those who are lost and the grief they must feel, and they’re looking for some reason, some explanation that has yet, is not available to us, one day will be.”
He commended the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as the “gold standard” for accident investigations and emphasized the complexity of such probes.
“It’s a long process,” he said, noting that the final report on the 2009 Hudson River landing took 16 months to complete.
Sullenberger detailed the investigative procedures, which may involve analyzing cockpit voice recordings, flight data, and extensive detective work.
“But they will follow the truth, they will follow the facts wherever they lead,” he said.
He expressed confidence that the NTSB’s findings would be made public and that the aviation industry would take necessary steps to learn from the tragedy.
“And as we always do after such a tragedy, the entire industry will learn these terrible lessons that we learned at great cost,” he added.
In a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post, Sullenberger revealed that he had been a registered Republican for most of his life but emphasized that he had “always voted as an American.”
He later endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race and appeared in campaign ads condemning Trump’s leadership.
“Now it’s up to us to overcome his attacks on our very democracy, knowing nearly a quarter million Americans won’t have a voice, casualties of his lethal lies and incompetence,” Sullenberger said in a 2020 advertisement for VoteVets and The Lincoln Project.
Under the Biden administration, he served as the U.S. representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
