Social Media Post References Several Recent Aircraft Crash Fatalities

California Representative Eric Swalwell is once again making headlines—this time for blaming President Donald Trump for a fatal small aircraft crash in Covington, Georgia, over the weekend. While aviation investigators are working to determine the actual cause, Swalwell took a more straightforward approach: Trump did it.

In a social media post, Swalwell asserted that President Trump has had “more planes crash” in his first month of service than any other. His evidence for this claim was even less subtle: “Trump is President. President Trump is in charge of air safety. All crashes are Trump’s fault.”

Critics were quick to respond, with White House communications director Steven Cheung firing back that “Swalwell must be taking his orders from Fang Fang or suffering from a severe debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome because there is no other reason anyone with a functioning brain would make that that type of false and disgusting claim.”

As easy as it would be to blame years of stress on the national airspace on one guy in a suit, Swalwell’s assertion appears to be incorrect. According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s CAROL database, there have been five fatal aviation incidents since Trump returned to office compared to ten under others.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, investigators are piecing together the actual cause of the fatal February 15 accident. The Covington Police Department reported that the single-engine aircraft took off from Covington Municipal Airport (CVC) at 11:00 pm before losing communication roughly 20 minutes later. Officers discovered the wreckage near the runway, confirming the deaths of both occupants.

The crash follows a string of recent aviation incidents, including a mid-air collision between a helicopter and a commercial jet over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people. Experts have pointed out countless theories, like avionics errors, miscommunication with controllers, and an understaffed control tower. As one might expect, President Trump was not on the list.

That’s not to say President Trump hasn’t made some controversial calls that could potentially impact aviation safety. But for now, it’s best to leave the investigation to the professionals and stick to the facts instead of dangerous speculations.

FMI: https://swalwell.house.gov