Trump says helicopter in crash was flying too high

President Trump on Friday asserted the military helicopter involved in Wednesday night's deadly midair collision near Washington, D.C., was "flying too high."

"The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???" Trump posted on Truth Social.

More than 60 people died after a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight that was on its final approach to Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the helicopter was supposed to be flying lower to the ground at the time of the crash, citing four people briefed on the issue. The Times reported that the helicopter had asked permission to use a route that would have allowed it to fly no higher than 200 feet.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Pentagon are investigating the cause of the crash.

In the days since the crash, Trump has vacillated between arguing the helicopter may have been at fault in the incident and claiming diversity efforts in hiring air traffic controllers may have played a role.

"The people in the helicopter should have seen where they were going," Trump told reporters Thursday at the White House. "What was the helicopter doing in that track? Very sad. But visually, somebody should have been able to see and taken that helicopter out of play, and they should have been at a different height."

But Trump has also repeatedly suggested without evidence that efforts to hire diverse individuals, including those with disabilities, had weakened federal aviation safety.

“We want the most competent people, no matter what race they are. … If they don’t have a great brain, a great power of the brain, they’re not going to be very good at what they do," he said.

The president also signed a memo Thursday to end diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the aviation sector and to assess airline safety, as well as an executive order to appoint a new head of the Federal Aviation Administration, in the wake of the incident.

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