Trump isn’t causing planes to “fall out of the sky.” (At least, not yet?)

I feel like we need an updated version of Knoll’s Law of Media Accuracy‡ for the Age of Memes. For the record, I’m not a fan of the Trump administration, or what they’re doing to the government. That said, I was recently sent this and wanted to clarify (from my limited, but somewhat greater than the average bear, knowledge of aviation): Trump didn’t cause these crashes.

Meme incorrectly linking Trump’s antics to recent aviation accidents.

• 1/20: Trump guts the FAA. I can’t find a source for this? I don’t see anything here, for instance.
  
  
• 1/22: Trump disbands the Aviation Security Advisory Committee [?], declares he has ended DEI [?] and restored “excellence and safety” in air travel [?]. Here’s a White House “fact sheet.” (I guess we’re back to “alternate facts.” (Example: The “[a]lmost unbelievably, as a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative, the Biden FAA specifically recruited and hired individuals with “severe intellectual” disabilities, psychiatric issues, and complete paralysis” bit is, as you might expect, a lot more nuanced than Trump conveys - or likely understands. “[C]andidates in this program will receive the same rigorous consideration in terms of aptitude, medical and security qualifications as those individuals considered for a standard public opening for air traffic controller jobs ...”)
  
  
• 1/23: Plane crashes in Columbia, California. True. It was a 1969 Cessna 172, the most common training and personal transportation airplane in the world. This is roughly equivalent to a news story about a Toyota Camry losing control on the interstate and crashing into a field, except, it involves airplanes, so it’s less familiar, more exotic, and makes national news. (There are, statistically, 120 fatalities in automobile crashes every day in the U.S., but you rarely hear about them because they’re so commonplace and travel by automobile is so common.) There is no indication the FAA, or the federal government, had any involvement in this crash. Just like driving a car from your garage to your nana’s house one county over, many small plane flights every day take off and travel to their destination with no flight plan, no clearance, and without ever talking to a government employee. There are 19,633 airports in the United States, and only 520 control towers. Unless you’re flying into a busy airport with an active control tower, you can go an entire flight without ever talking to anyone at all, let alone an FAA employee.
  
  
• 1/29: First commercial plane crash in 16 years over Washington, DC, 67 people die. True. And yes, it’s true that one controller was handling both the local and helicopter frequencies. That’s not uncommon, due to persistent control tower staffing issues. While the full NTSB analysis won’t be out for a long while, I feel comfortable asserting that none of Trump’s recently implemented policies had any impact on this tragedy. (I’m also equally confident “DEI” had nothing to do with it, despite Mr. Trump’s “strong opinion.”)
  
  
• 1/31: Plane crashes in Philadelphia. True. This was a 1982 LearJet 55 (a model out of production since 1987), registered and presumably mostly maintained in Mexico, operated by a Mexican air crew. It crashed for unknown reasons (mechanical? pilot error?) shortly after take-off. I’m having a hard time seeing how the FAA or the U.S. government had any part to play in this tragedy.
   
• 2/1: Plane crashes near Ennis, Texas.  True. This was a small two seat aircraft, often used for training or personal transportation, that crashed into a field. There is no indication there was any FAA or U.S. government involvement. (The FAA is, again, not involved in the day to day operation or maintenance of personal aircraft. They might “ramp check” planes at a local airport to ensure paperwork is in order, from time to time, and the FAA sets standards for certifying, and issues certificates for, aircraft pilots, mechanics, and inspectors, but nothing Trump did in his first 12 days in office would have had any impact on a plane like this, on a normal general aviation flight.)
  
  
• 2/5: Japan Airlines plane strikes Delta flight on runway in Seattle. Partially true. The planes were not on a runway; one was parked, the other was lining up to be de-iced, and “they were not in an area that is under air traffic control.” This happens. It’s pilot error. This is roughly the equivalent of pulling out of a “compact” parking space and scraping the side of your SUV on the corner bumper of the SUV squeezed in next to you. Things like this happen all the time; multiple planes hit light poles during the Biden administration, for instance.
  
  
• 2/5: Plane crashes in Arkansas. True. Can’t find much information on this one, but given the only person on the plane was a single pilot (who was not seriously injured), I’m betting this was a run of the mill general aviation accident, and there was no FAA or U.S. Government involvement (except for the FAA calling local first responders to report an overdue aircraft).
  
  
• 2/6: Bering Air flight disappears over Alaska with 10 people on board, later found dead. True. As sad as it is, this sort of thing happens, especially in Alaska, which is a notoriously difficult environment for flight operations. «Unalakleet's City Administrator, Kelsi Ivanoff, stated that the city is "No stranger to losing community members to plane wrecks"» A popular sight-seeing operation crashed in Alaska during Biden’s term, killing 6. The husband of a member of the United States House of Representatives was killed in the crash of a small plane overloaded with moose meat. The FAA and the federal government had no involvement in any of these. (It’s possible the Cessna Caravan operated by Bering Air picked up structural ice while circling, waiting for a runway to be cleared so it could land. Even if that’s the case, that doesn’t likely implicate the federal government; ground operations like that are controlled by the operator of the airport; in the case of Nome Airport, that’s the State of Alaska’s Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, Northern Region.
  
  
• 2/10: Plane crashes in Scottsdale, AZ. True. Upon landing, a 1989 LearJet 35A had a landing gear failure, which caused it to veer off the runway and crash into a parked Gulfstream G200. Maintenance issue? Unforeseeable mechanical failure? We won’t know more for a long while, but again, I don’t see the work Donald J. Trump anywhere in this sad circumstance.
  
  
• 2/12: Military fighter jet crashes into San Diego Bay. True. Happens more than you’d think; another Growler was lost about 6 months ago on a training flight. The much newer F-35 (also used by the Navy) had 7 hull loss events in U.S. service during the Biden administration alone. This crash involved a Growler (F/A-18) operating in low visibility and it had just performed a “go around” (aborted landing). Again, I don’t see this event plugging neatly into whatever tapestry the meme is trying to weave.
  
  
• 2/15: Trump fires hundreds of FAA employees. True. This will likely impact operations and potentially safety, but I’m extremely skeptical it has had any impact on the following events.
  
  
• 2/15: Plane crashes in Flagler County, Florida. True. A single engine 2012 Cessna 208, used for sky diving flights, was being empty aside from its 75 year pilot when it crashed. There is no indication the FAA had any involvement. This plane was apparently being flown for maintenance ahead of a busy holiday season. We won’t know anything about the cause for months.
  
  
• 2/15: Plane crashes in Covington, GA. True. A single engine 1975 Rockwell Commander 112A crashed shortly after take-off. The pilot was reportedly a student pilot without a pilot certificate, and flying at night (which is not allowed for solo flight, even when a student might have a solo flight endorsement). This could have been mechanical failure or simple pilot error (and I’m betting it’s the latter), but again, no connection to the FAA, the federal government, or any of Trump’s antics.
  
  
• 2/16: Two planes crash in Texas. I cannot find a source for this one? I did find a World War II era warbird (1943 construction) Douglas A-20G Havoc that made an emergency landing during an air show and caught fire. That’s an 82 year old airplane ... Again, I’m not seeing any connection to the latest developments in Washington and this event. I also saw this accident, involving the ubiquitous Cessna 172, near Houston that day. Pilot came in too fast for landing, decided to “go around” to try again, apparently lost engine power, and ended up in the trees. No federal involvement; pilot error and/or mechanical failure. (Engine power loss is a common enough scenario, the FAA has “partial or complete power loss” as one of the test scenarios for a pilot’s certificate practical exam (see IX(A)-(B)).
  
  
• 2/17: Plane departing from Minnesota crashes in Toronto. True. This appears, again, to be equipment failure and/or pilot error. These things happen under non-Trump Presidents, too. Like the Alaska 737 that punched its landing gear through a wing on landing, in 2023.
  
  
• 2/19: Plane crashes in Marana, Arizona. True. This was a mid-air collision at an uncontrolled (no control tower) airport. Apparently, a contract tower is planned for the airport, with construction to (maybe?) start in 2027. But until such time as that tower is in operation, pilots are expected to “see and avoid” other traffic, and airplanes with radios are expected to make position reports on a common radio frequency. Neither the FAA, nor the federal government, are involved in this process, just as no one from D.C. stands at the foot of your driveway to make sure you’re not about to pull out directly in front of a speeding F-250.

I’m seeing this meme gain traction; e.g., a couple of days ago, Occupy Democrats posted a long rant about Trump’s newspeak assault on the Associated Press for not changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico (and commenting - distressingly - “if they want to use certain phrases like that — and I guess some are okay but many aren't”), ending it with: “While he's ranting about the 'Gulf of America,' egg prices are hitting record highs and planes are falling out of the sky.” No, they’re not, at least, not in a way he has any control over, and not in numbers more than what you’d normally expect to see, if your perception isn’t warped by recent events.

 QED.

Update (2/21/2025): Fired FAA employees speak out, raise safety concerns. (The “groupthink” is ridiculous. How does an entire body of legislators, individually elected to represent their constituencies, all move in lockstep with this aberration of an administration? [C]oncern in Congress has split mostly along party lines...”)

 

‡ “Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true, except for the rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge.”