On Monday afternoon during an NBC News Special Report, NBC senior correspondent and longtime aviation reporter Tom Costello directly linked Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to the Delta Airlines crash in Toronto that, fortunately, all 76 passengers survived (as of this blog’s publication).
Costello had noted the flight took off from Minneapolis, Minnesota for what is a regular flight when he made this pivot to asserting without evidence the crash will “yet again, raise the concern about FAA staffing — air traffic control staffing.”
He even admitted this flight landed in Canada was thus under the purview of “a Canadian air traffic control tower and this is under Canadian authority once it crosses the border,” but he didn’t care and thus went about with the use of “and yet” to make his case to Tom Llamas.
“As know, there has been this talk about maybe staff cuts at the FAA as a part of President Trump’s effort to trim down the federal workforce. And yet, as you also know, the FAA has been complaining for years that they are understaffed in critical job positions, especially air traffic control,” he continued, asserting out of thin air (no pun intended) that DOGE reforms to federal aviation could lead to more of these crashes.
Add in the heavy implication of linking this incident to last month’s deadly mid-air collision over the Potomac River and one has quite the case of what could be referred to as fear porn.
Costello kept digging despite another admission this crash had nothing to do with DOGE and Trump: “I was having a conversation with somebody today about whether air traffic control in American’s being affected by the staff cuts. So far, not to their knowledge and yet other positions related to maintaining critical equipment appeared to have been cut.”
Being the Bethesda, Maryland and Washington-based correspondent that he is, Costello closed his brief political tangent by insisting without evidence this regional jet crash would “feed into all of these recent incidents and the safety of — of the total air traffic system is going to be very much a part of the conversation as we go forward, at least on the side of the country of the border, I should say.”
As if he hadn’t even gone political, Costello pivoted right back to basic facts:
Let me just underscore again, this is a Delta regional flight. And as a result, you’re talking about maybe 75 to 85 or so passengers on board, part of that normal routine. By the way, the RJ — the regional jet — this is a bump — a Bombardier, so it is made in Canada and these jets have a history of being very robust plane able to handle colder conditions.
To see the relevant NBC transcript from February 17, click “expand.”
NBC News Special
February 17, 2025
3:46 p.m. EasternTOM COSTELLO: This is Minneapolis into Toronto, you know, kind of a regular hourly flight, if you will, the goes back and forth into from the United States, right into Toronto on a regular basis. I did want to, you know, underscore — to pick up on the conversation you were just having, though, in terms of the recent string of aviation incidents, Tom, this is gonna yet again raise the concern about FAA staffing — air traffic control staffing. Now, this is a Canadian air traffic control tower and this is under Canadian authority once it crosses the border. And yet, as you know, there has been this talk about maybe staff cuts at the FAA as a part of President Trump’s effort to trim down the federal workforce. And yet, as you also know, the FAA has been complaining for years that they are understaffed in critical job positions, especially air traffic control. I was having a conversation with somebody today about whether air traffic control in American’s being affected by the staff cuts. So far, not to their knowledge and yet other positions related to maintaining critical equipment appeared to have been cut, so this is going to feed into all of these recent incidents and the safety of — of the total air traffic system is going to be very much a part of the conversation as we go forward, at least on the side of the country of the border, I should say. Let me just underscore again, this is a Delta regional flight. And as a result, you’re talking about maybe 75 to 85 or so passengers on board, part of that normal routine. By the way, the RJ — the regional jet — this is a bump — a Bombardier, so it is made in Canada and these jets have a history of being very robust plane able to handle —
TOM LLAMAS: Yeah.
COSTELLO: — colder conditions.
LLAMAS: The — the workhorse of those regional airlines and those air fleets.
