American Airlines fuselage in the Potomac
A crew retrieves wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342, which was involved in a collision with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed two executive orders appointing a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) deputy administrator and ordering an immediate assessment of aviation safety.
The orders came after an American Airlines plane carrying 64 people and an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers crashed in midair at about 9 p.m. Wednesday.
The aircraft plummeted into the frigid Potomac River near Reagan National Airport, leaving 67 people presumed dead.
In the Oval Office Thursday, Trump signed an order appointing Chris Rocheleau acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
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Search and rescue efforts at a wreckage site in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport early Thursday morning, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)
Rocheleau most recently served as National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) CEO and held multiple leadership roles at the FAA during his more than 20-year tenure, including director of the office of emergency operations and investigations.
Emergency responders assess airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The NBAA wrote in a statement it “welcomed” the announcement.
“Chris is an outstanding 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, military and aviation industry.”
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Trump called Rocheleau a “very capable guy” while signing the order.
A second executive order ordered an immediate assessment of aviation safety and an elevation of “competence” over diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
A crew retrieves wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342 in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., Jan. 30, 2025. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
While signing the order, he said former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama’s DEI policies were “just crazy.”
The memorandum says the Obama administration introduced a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude, and the Biden administration later encouraged the recruitment of people with “severe intellectual disabilities.”
“During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence,” Trump wrote in the memo. “The Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous ‘diversity equity and inclusion’ tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA.”
A plane flies near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after a collision of American Eagle Flight 5342 and a Black Hawk in Arlington, Va., Jan. 30, 2025. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
While Trump ordered an immediate return to merit-based recruitment, hiring and promotion on his second day in office, he noted the recent plane crash “underscores the need to elevate safety and competence as the priority of the FAA.”
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Trump said Thursday the collision was a “confluence of bad decisions that were made, and you have people that lost their lives, violently lost their lives.”
When asked about the roles those with “severe intellectual disabilities” were hired to fill, the FAA told Fox News Digital it would not comment.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano contributed to this story.
