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DCA - American Airlines passenger plane collides with Blackhawk over the Potomac River, all 67 on both dead, 29 Jan 2025
- Thread starter MassGuy
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This post by a former Blackhawk helicopter crew chief in the Army is helpful in understanding the nighttime environment a crew is experiencing in flight.
I think his two concluding comments are the most important:
"Tonight, my heart and mind is with the families of those involved in this tragic event.
I won't join the chorus of idiots making speculations.
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UPDATE: Multiple Potomac River crash victims are former Loudoun County students
Sixty-seven people are believed dead following Wednesday night’s crash between a commercial jet and an Army helicopter from Fort Belvoir.
Russian media reports the following skaters died in the crash: Gina Hahn, Franco Aparicio, Everly and Alydia Livingston, Sean Kay, Angela Young and Edward Zhou.
Good to have identified where those names came from
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"Transport Secretary Sean Duffy claims a horror mid-air plane crash over Washington DC was 'preventable',
while American Airlines appeared to blame the pilot of a military helicopter that strayed into its path.
The helicopter was flying a training sortie
and cut through the airspace from the opposite direction under cover of darkness,
with both aircraft seemingly unaware of the other's presence.
More than 300 first responders and rescue workers were deployed to the Potomac on inflatable boats
while others erected searchlights to illuminate the murky waters in a desperate hunt for survivors.
At least 28 bodies have been pulled from the water as rescuers worked through the night in the vain hope of finding survivors.
Officials now believe no one survived,
and the focus of the search is recovering the bodies and notifying families."
View attachment 561511
Investigators examine key evidence from doomed American Airlines trip
LIVE UPDATES: Sixty passengers, four crew, and three US Army personnel are believed to be dead after the collision 400ft over the Potomac River in Washington DC.www.dailymail.co.uk
Shocking and unprofessional, JMO, to hear that coming from a Secy of Transportation. It's ridiculous to assume he knows the cause of an accident like this when the investigation is just beginning. He has a lot to learn, hopefully he will.
I expect the leadership to support thorough and impartial investigations of this disaster.
It is shameful, and disrespectful to the deceased and their families to for anyone to be making claims at this point in time.
It is shameful, and disrespectful to the deceased and their families to for anyone to be making claims at this point in time.
I found the ATC hard to understand in this clip, he was speaking very fast and garbled. JMO
AirForceVet24
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This one is very sad for me, so I work at the Springfield Branson Airport and I fuel UH 60 Blackhawks daily. From watching videos and listening to ATC, it almost sounds like the Blackhawk crossed into the path of the PSA. The blackhawk was told to maintain visual separation, so I am not sure if they got disoriented somehow or what.
Ahhhhh - the CONTROL tower silly.
IMO
The space near and over airports is very cramped.
One plane starts and when it is in the ascent curve,
it makes a place for another to land.
Constant taking offs, constant landings.
Add a helicopter to all this and we have a tragedy.
JMO
The space near and over airports is very cramped.
One plane starts and when it is in the ascent curve,
it makes a place for another to land.
Constant taking offs, constant landings.
Add a helicopter to all this and we have a tragedy.
JMO
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This is what I’ve been thinking - we need to appreciate the FAA more. There are 45,000 flights a DAY crossing US airspace. The fact that there aren’t more crashes is very commendable.
The FAA has an almost 100% ‘success rate’. [Mod snip political]
The FAA has an almost 100% ‘success rate’. [Mod snip political]
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I always find ATC and aircraft communications hard to understand. The brevity of the speech, the use of specific abbreviations or terms, the background noises.
It is an art, in itself, and I have to give immense credit to the flight crews and ATC people who can work it in the often stress and pressure-filled time frames.
D.C. plane crash live updates: All 3 black boxes found, 67 dead after American Airlines jet collides with military helicopter
A commercial plane with 60 passengers and four crew members on board collided with a military helicopter with a crew of three near Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night.
"We anticipate that the investigation will quickly be able to determine whether the aircraft was in the corridor at the right altitude at the time of the incident," he said."
Rbm.
Both of these statements answered some questions I had, esp. the bolded.
Still leaning towards a tragic accident.
Pilot and first officer of the doomed American Eagle revealed
The pilot and first officer of the crashed American Airlines flight that was collided with by a military helicopter and split in two has been identified.
Some pics and information about the pilot and copilot.
Jonathan Campos
Samuel Lilley
(Captain and First Officer)
Danasia Elder
Ian Epstein
(Flight attendants)
May they rest in peace.
Omo.
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That was a tough read. We all know that the minute that plane crashed AA knew exactly who was on the plane, especially their staff. They should have been instantly been responsive to inquiring family members. Is there no dedicated communication channel for events like this? If not this needs to be changed and addressed."It was a fairly experienced crew," Hegseth said of the crew members on board the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. "It was doing a required annual night evaluation. They did have night vision goggles."
D.C. plane crash live updates: All 3 black boxes found, 67 dead after American Airlines jet collides with military helicopter
A commercial plane with 60 passengers and four crew members on board collided with a military helicopter with a crew of three near Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night.www.yahoo.com
"We anticipate that the investigation will quickly be able to determine whether the aircraft was in the corridor at the right altitude at the time of the incident," he said."
Rbm.
Both of these statements answered some questions I had, esp. the bolded.
Still leaning towards a tragic accident.
Pilot and first officer of the doomed American Eagle revealed
The pilot and first officer of the crashed American Airlines flight that was collided with by a military helicopter and split in two has been identified.
Some pics and information about the pilot and copilot.
Jonathan Campos
Samuel Lilley
(Captain and First Officer)
Danasia Elder
Ian Epstein
(Flight attendants)
May they rest in peace.
Omo.
Passengers who were on board AA flight that crashed with no survivors
More than 40 bodies have been recovered from a Washington DC aircraft collision, including a TikTok skating star, a famed athlete couple, and all four flight crew members.
Spencer (only 16
)Christine
Evgenia
Vadim
Jinna (do not know her age but appeared to be around 16 as well ?)
Jin
Shishkova
Asra
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Douglas Lane spoke to Rhode Island television station WPRI following the death of his son and wife. He called his son a "force of nature."
"In his home club in Boston, he was just loved by everyone from the adults running to club to the smallest skaters, to the people that are competing for a shot at the Olympics, they all just adored him," Douglas Lane told the news station.
Douglas and Christine Lane adopted Spencer and his brother Milo from South Korea.
[….]
According to her husband, Christine Lane was a creative person with a passion for graphic design and photography.
"For Christine, just the amount of people from the community in Rhode Island I've already heard from today that she's touched," he said. "Whether it was screening them to adopt the dog that they loved or helping them with a summer project or whatever, she was just one of those people that could just kind of plug in anywhere, connect with people and build a real bond."
www.cbsnews.com
"In his home club in Boston, he was just loved by everyone from the adults running to club to the smallest skaters, to the people that are competing for a shot at the Olympics, they all just adored him," Douglas Lane told the news station.
Douglas and Christine Lane adopted Spencer and his brother Milo from South Korea.
[….]
According to her husband, Christine Lane was a creative person with a passion for graphic design and photography.
"For Christine, just the amount of people from the community in Rhode Island I've already heard from today that she's touched," he said. "Whether it was screening them to adopt the dog that they loved or helping them with a summer project or whatever, she was just one of those people that could just kind of plug in anywhere, connect with people and build a real bond."
Figure skater's father mourns death of son and wife in D.C. plane crash: "He was just loved by everyone."
A Rhode Island man is mourning the death of his son, 16-year-old figure skater Spencer Lane, and wife, Christine Lane, after they were killed in a plane crash near Washington, D.C.
www.cbsnews.com
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"I am seeing the same things I believe you are, on television. It is an accident that seems to be preventable from what we can tell today," Driscoll told the senators.
"I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk, and it may not be near an airport like Reagan," Driscoll added.
By midday Thursday, the crews had pulled 27 bodies from the plane and one from the helicopter, officials said.
"They had one crew chief and not two. That could be a factor that needs to be accounted for in the investigation … but the visibility in the Black Hawk is good," Gaub said.
"It is very dense. It is high risk because of that," he said. "There are specific corridors and air space restrictions that are extremely effective as a result as well when they are followed."
www.cbsnews.com
"I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk, and it may not be near an airport like Reagan," Driscoll added.
By midday Thursday, the crews had pulled 27 bodies from the plane and one from the helicopter, officials said.
"They had one crew chief and not two. That could be a factor that needs to be accounted for in the investigation … but the visibility in the Black Hawk is good," Gaub said.
"It is very dense. It is high risk because of that," he said. "There are specific corridors and air space restrictions that are extremely effective as a result as well when they are followed."
Search for victims in D.C. plane crash continues in Potomac River
An American Airlines plane with 64 people on board collided with an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., and crashed into the Potomac River.
www.cbsnews.com
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I would prefer the FAA and NTSB provide the facts when they deem them appropriate.
They have experience in these complex investigation and issues.
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Media is demanding answers now.
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