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A Fatal on Wednesday night between a American Airlines The aircraft with 60 passengers and four crew members and a UH-60 Army’s Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers remains in investigation in the midst of questions about how the accident occurred.
Authorities said on Thursday morning that they I don’t think there is survivors From the fall, they added that they removed at least 28 bodies from the Potomac river.
American Eagle Flight 5342, a jet of passengers from Wichita, Kan, collided with the helicopter when the plane returned to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, before 9pm on Wednesday.
The passengers of the ray included Skaters of North -American and Russian figuresThe coaches and their relatives return from the United States Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.
It is not known much why the helicopter crashed against the plane but the online shared images showed a burning explosion As the two collided Medium during the night sky.
The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, shared a statement by saying that the helicopter was from the army Bravo company, the 12th Aviation Battalion, outside the field of Davison Army Airport. Belvoir, in Virginia.
Hegseth wrote on the social platform x that the army and the pentagon were Researching the fall along with local authorities. Federal authorities, including the National Transportation Security Board, also investigate.
The head of defense added in a video That the Black Hawk -affiliated army battalion crashed would be based on a 48 -hour operational pause in the middle of military investigations, which he hopes to quickly conclude if the helicopter was flying at altitude and right corridor.
Hegseth said that this was an annual competency training flight, and while no names were launched, the individuals involved know. Later on Thursday, he named the ranks of the soldiers who had died: a captain, staff sergeant, and an office officer.
“It was a very experienced crew,” he said. “It’s a tragedy, a horrible loss of life.”
President Trump seemed to blame Black Hawk For the fall in a real social place, writing that “the plane was in a perfect and routine approach line at the airport” on a clear night with its lit lights and “the helicopter went directly to the ‘aircraft for a prolonged period of time’ and did not maneuver out of the way.
Trump during an informative session said that the cause of the fall was unknown, but he blamed Biden’s administration in the tragedy to implement – Diversity, equity and inclusion Programs in the Federal Aviation Administration.
But he also blamed the military helicopter, saying he had a view of the passenger aircraft and that he “did the opposite of what was said”, although Trump also said that there was little time to maneuver.
“For some reason there were no adjustments. You could have substantially slowed the helicopter,” said Trump. “You could stop the helicopter. You could have climbed, you could have dropped.”
“You could have gone straight, down, you could have turned,” added the president. “You could have done a million different maneuvers. For some reason, it only went ahead and then made a slight turn at the end (which) was too late at that time.”
Trump also stated that Black Hawk could have been using Night Vision, which could be a “reason why you would not really see as well as on a clear night, you can see sometimes better without him.”
Hegseth told the informative session that “the military do dangerous things”.
“Tragically, last night, an error was made. I think the President is right. There was some kind of elevation that we have begun immediately to investigate at the level (Department of Defense) and at the army level” , he said.
Black Hawks are the main middle and air assault helicopter for the army. They are made by Sikorsky and debuted in 1979. There are about 4,000 Hawks Black deployed worldwide.
About 60 people have died in accidents related to Black Hawk in the last decade and two of the helicopters they crashed each other in 2023. However, the helicopter has a relatively low mishap rate compared to other similar aircraft.
The military frequently perform training flights throughout the country’s capital, and it would not have been unusual for Black Hawk to be a routine training mission at the time.
But Daniel Driscoll, Trump candidate for the army secretaryHe told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that he would consider the most scrutiny about where training flights are held.
“Maybe we will have to look at where it is a right time to take the risk of training and maybe it will not be near an airport like Reagan,” said Driscoll.
