The vice president and transportation secretary claimed that diversity hiring efforts had affected staffing levels among air traffic controllers, but there is no evidence that such efforts played a role in the crash.

The transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, said the Federal Aviation Administration had used a backup system while it addressed the problem.

Commercial planes have technology that helps prevent crashes — but it has limitations, which was highlighted by the accident in Washington.

The Learjet, carrying a pediatric patient and five others, crashed on Friday, killing all on board. On the ground, one person was killed and at least 19 others were injured, officials said.

There is no evidence that diversity efforts played a role in the crash, and his statements disregarded his own administration’s hiring policies.

In a briefing that recalled his most extreme first term remarks, President Trump said without any evidence that diversity initiatives caused the midair collision.

President Trump’s remarks, suggesting without evidence that diversity in hiring and other Biden administration policies somehow caused the disaster, reflected his instinct to immediately frame major events through his political or ideological lens.

The plane had been cleared to land on Reagan National Airport’s main runway. But in the final moments of the flight, air traffic control asked the pilot to land on a separate, intersecting runway.

The last survivor of the American team that competed in Hitler’s 1936 Games in Berlin, she went on to become a wartime pilot and an aeronautics instructor.

In 1990, Avianca Flight 52 crashed in suburban Long Island and a 17-year-old girl was pulled from the wreckage. Survival has been its own ordeal.

The agency launched an investigation into the “space vehicle mishap” on Thursday night that forced commercial flights to divert and caused debris to rain toward Caribbean islands.

Airlines have been increasingly outsourcing repair and upkeep work to other countries, but experts and consumer groups disagree about its impact on safety.

Sean Duffy, a former Fox Business host and Wisconsin congressman, would oversee a sprawling Transportation Department that oversees aviation, rail and transit.

It is not uncommon for planes to strike wildlife, but most episodes don’t result in deaths or serious injuries.

More than 9,000 flights were delayed on Saturday amid threats of rain, snow and tornadoes across the country.

Extreme turbulence, a blown-out door, an engine on fire: For passengers and crew members who have experienced in-air emergencies, the pain endures.

© Clayton Cotterell for The New York Times