President Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to report some good news concerning the commercial aviation industry. Namely, that there wasn't a single commercial aviation-related death in 2017.
Trump's announcement, however, has come under scrutiny from the media and Twitter users alike — but not because it makes a dubious claim. Rather, he's being criticized by those who felt he took credit for the statistic.
Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018
The report to which Trump was likely referring was conducted by the Aviation Safety Network (ASN), a Dutch affiliate of the non-profit Flight Safety Foundation, The Wall Street Journal said. According to their statistics, not only were there no airline passenger fatalities recorded among U.S.-based carriers, but anywhere in the world. As a result, the ASN ultimately declared 2017 "the safest year in aviation history."
[...] Despite the good news, the ASN did report on 10 fatal airline accidents that occurred in 2017, but the Wall Street Journal explained that half of those involved cargo planes and the other half propeller-powered aircraft.
Trump's tweet, then, is factually accurate, though critics argue that it isn't due to any of his "strict" policies. The Atlantic, for example, argued that the statistic detailed in the report refers to the global fatalities, and that the U.S. hasn't seen a commercial aviation fatality since 2009, or long before he took office.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 06 2018, @07:45AM
This is why TRump Voters always run over motorcycle riders, especially the alt-right of the post WWII type motorcycle ryders, with their bitches on the back, cause Trump voters are just assholes, not real conservatives, and especially not alt-transportation conservatives, like th Bikers that Charlie Manson and Dick Ryan planned on winning the Race war after social security and Medicare are defunded. Congressman Ryan, Paul, Ron, or Rand, (ayn rand, Rooskie) Paul, enemies of America, and motorcycle runner-overers. I am voting Green from now on. Or at least Democrat. Libertarians have soiled themselves with tack cuts for the rich and running over motorcycle riders.