Donald Trump mocked after taking credit for 2017 air safety record: 'Unlike Obama, Trump won't let any planes crash'

It only took until the second day of 2018 for the internet to explode in response to a Donald Trump tweet - with social media users mocking the president for appearing to take credit for a lack of deaths on commercial jet planes last year,

“I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation,” the president tweeted, without going into detail.

“It was just reported there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record”! Mr Trump added.

Bewildered and mocking responses soon poured forth. Many of them took the form of wondering how, exactly, Mr Trump could claim credit for safer air travel.

The President appeared to be referencing a report from the Aviation Safety Network that dubbed 2017 the “safest year ever for commercial aviation”.

But as a number of Twitter users noted, no one has died on a commercial American carrier’s flight since 2009, when a plane crashed near Buffalo, New York.

Others wondered if Mr Trump would take credit for protecting Americans from various hazards.

The Aviation Safety Network report found that 44 people died in 2017, with airlines recording 10 accidents — an “extremely low” figure. A report from aviation consultancy To70 reached a similar conclusion, finding not a single passenger service jet crash.

On the final day of 2017, 10 US citizens were killed when their plane crashed in Costa Rica - but the incident was not included in the Aviation Safety Network publication since the aircraft weighed under 5,700kg - the threshold for the report.