Summary
Days before the fatal mid-air collision near Washington, D.C., Donald Trump eliminated the membership of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, a key aviation safety panel.
The committee, established after the 1988 PanAm Flight 103 bombing, had advised on air travel security but was left without members following Trump’s move.
The crash, involving an American Eagle jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, left no survivors.
Critics question whether Trump’s decision weakened aviation oversight and potentially contributed to the tragedy.
I mean it is poetic that it happened immediately after he did that, and it’s definitely a stupid decision, but this almost certainly didn’t have anything to do with that decision. That’s an action whose consequences won’t start to materialize till much later on.
Nuance left the room in 2016