Trump calls US air traffic control system 'obsolete' after Washington midair collision

US President Donald Trump on Thursday compared the Washington DC mid-air plane collision to a golf driving range and termed the incident “amazing.”

A Black Hawk military helicopter collided with an American Airlines plane in Washington DC, killing 67 people.

Trump emphasised that the crash exposed lapses in the country’s air traffic control technology. He blamed an “obsolete” computer system used by US air traffic controllers for the crash and said it would lead to improvements in the air traffic control system.

Trump on the DCA plane crash: "Did you ever see, you go to a driving range in golf and you're hitting balls, hundreds of balls, thousands of hours. I never see a ball hit another ball. Balls going up all over the place. You never see 'em hit, it was amazing that could happen." pic.twitter.com/g6fLXJXZJM

— FactPost (@factpostnews) February 6, 2025

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Trump said, “It’s amazing that the crash happened. We should have had proper control. We should have had better equipment. We don’t—we have obsolete equipment. They were understaffed for whatever reason. I guess the helicopter was high. And we’ll find out exactly what happened.”

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While speaking about the crash, Trump compared the incident to a golf course driving range.

“Did you ever see—you go to a driving range in golf, and you’re hitting balls, hundreds of balls, thousands of hours? I never see a ball hit another ball. Balls going up all over the place. You never see ’em hit. It was amazing that that could happen,” he said.

He was addressing the National Prayer Breakfast at the U.S. Capitol.

A mid-air collision occurred on January 29 over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., involving an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. All 67 individuals aboard both aircraft perished in the accident.

Initially, Trump said that diversity hiring programmes under the Biden and Obama administrations were responsible for the crash.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the helicopter’s Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system was turned off. The system provides real-time tracking data to air traffic controllers.

As per the report, the Black Hawk helicopter was flying above its authorised altitude limit of 200 feet, reaching approximately 300 feet at the time of the collision.