Donald Trump gave surprising answer when asked why so many planes seem to be crashing at the moment

Following yet another plane crash in the United States at the weekend, President Donald Trump has spoken out as he was quizzed on the incident.

Five people were rushed to hospital after a single-engine plane crashed in the car park of a retirement community on Sunday (9 March) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

No details have been released regarding their condition.

Last month, a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Toronto flipped as it landed and burst into flames, although miraculously nobody was killed. Plane passenger Peter Carlson explained what it was like to be on board the flight and then make his way out of the scene of the crash.

Meanwhile, sadly, there were no survivors when an American Airlines flight and a US Army helicopter collided in mid-air over Washington DC at the end of January.

When quizzed about the most recent incident and the role of Chris Rocheleau as head of the Federal Aviation Administration, by Fox News President Trump provided an interesting reply.

He said: "That has nothing to do with the department. That was a small plane, it would have happened if you had a big department or a small department as you understand. They have spates like this.

A Delta Air Lines plane crashed last month (Katherine KY Cheng/Getty Images)

"They have times when things happen a little bit more often than normal and then it goes back and then you go many years without having a problem."

Rocheleau was appointed by Trump as the new head of the FAA back in January, taking over from Mike Whittaker who resigned a day before Trump arrived in office.

The president then went on to praise the role of the pilot who narrowly avoided a collision with a private plane on the runway at Chicago Midway Airport late last month, taking off again immediately after landing to avoid the jet which suddenly appeared in its path.

There were no survivors when an AA plane crashed into a helicopter mid-air in January (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

He added: "I think the Southwest pilot did a fantastic job last week when he lifted that plane off the air because if he'd put the brakes on that wouldn't have been good. I think the license for the pilot that got in his way should maybe be revoked.

"The way he immediately stepped on the gas and lifted it up as opposed to thinking for about three seconds, it would have been too late.

"The pilot or pilots did a great job."