Plane crashes in D.C.'s Potomac River with 64 on board after midair collision with Army helicopter — live updates

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What to know about the Washington, D.C., plane crash​

  • Search efforts continue in the Potomac River after a plane with 60 passengers and 4 crew on board collided in midair with an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
  • At least 19 bodies had been recovered by 2:50 a.m. ET, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CBS News.
  • The plane, American Eagle flight 5342, had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, and was approaching for landing when the collision occurred.
  • The helicopter was on a training flight with a crew of three, based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
More:

www.cbsnews.com

Plane crashes in D.C.'s Potomac River with 64 on board after midair collision with Army helicopter — live updates

Search efforts continue after a plane from Wichita, with 64 people on board, collided with an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., and crashed into the Potomac River.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com
 
Not sure how this is possible with modern air traffic control systems. Somebody somewhere dropped the ball.
 
It's possible, I suppose. EXTREMELY unlikely.

My guide in cases like this, is Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation, with the fewest moving parts, is the most-likely. Incompetence in the ATC system is glaringly obvious; and promotion for reasons other than accomplishment, is part of the modern Woke military.
 
say wut? (devolution anyone?)



Pete Hegseth says the Military Chopper was on a “Continuity of Government Mission”

Those are some very specific words… let’s break it down.

• Continuity of Government involves procedures and plans to ensure that government functions can continue in the event of a major disaster, attack, or other significant disruptions.
—— This includes maintaining command and control structures, protecting key government officials, and ensuring that essential government services can persist.
—— A COG mission would involve specific protocols or training scenarios to simulate or prepare for such scenarios.

🔴 Relation to the Aircraft Crash:

• The military chopper involved in the crash was participating in a training exercise focused on maintaining COG capabilities.
—— This means the flight was not just about night flying skills but was also oriented towards ensuring that, in a crisis, the government could operate through alternative means, like having helicopters ready to transport key officials to secure locations.

 
pmbug said:
Not sure how this is possible with modern air traffic control systems. Somebody somewhere dropped the ball.
Click to expand...
It has been only twelve months since headlines on the FAA’s diversity hire push. Mike Whitaker announced his resignation in December.

FAA’s list to hire included these under-represented qualifications:
  • Hearing (total deafness in both ears)
  • Vision (Blind)
  • Missing Extremities
  • Partial Paralysis
  • Complete Paralysis, Epilepsy
  • Severe intellectual disability
  • Psychiatric disability
  • Dwarfism
 
Who'da thunk DEI in the tower would cause a problem...?

LIVE: Trump delivers remarks on plane crash at Ronald Reagan Airport​

 
"White flares." That's when I tuned it out - he's looking for attention.

I saw the vids, from several angles. There were running lights; and then a collision. No ray guns involved.

I also heard the tower operator, struggling with Ray Cyst English. And it's coming out, how a thousand top-scoring air-traffic applicants were rejected - for their skin hue.

It's obvious what happened here. What I've been expecting. What anyone sane, who has some facts, has been expecting.
 


Look I have no idea what happened last night in DC. Like virtually EVERYBODY on X posing about this! They weren’t there either. It’s fine to have construct conversation based on what information we have. But anything else is horrible. It’s a tragedy. We should be worrying about the families that got woken up and told their loved ones won’t be coming home.

The left as the left does and sickly blames it on Trump. Well it takes 2-3 years to train a new Air Traffic Controller. They get more training than pilots and they should. That a high stress can’t make a mistake job.

The tin foil hat crew say it’s weird.

So let me tell you my thoughts as an actual UH-60 pilot that flew them for almost all of my 30 years serving this country.

The official report was the Blackhawk was on a training flight. The 12th AVN BN operates in that airspace daily. They have routine training flight all the time. I have personally flown that exact route doing training flights and the rare flight there picking up and dropping passengers off…in a UH-60. It’s totally normal. It’s totally legal. It’s totally what is done. The flight could have been what’s called a LAO local area orientation flight. Kind of like a familiarization of the local flying area. Could have been a check ride where one pilot if giving another pilot a test that is done annually as part of their training requirements. It could have been just a normal old training flight. Pilots have to fly and Army pilots have flight hour minimums they have to meet each year. No mission? Need hours. Training flight. So those saying why were they or that they can’t do that. Yes they can.

This BS I’m seeing from the tin foil hat crew….

I hear “OMG they left Langley it’s a CIA false flag”. Or some variation. Not likely but could be who knows. But for the crew of the Blackhawk and the passengers on the plane they didn’t have anything other a horrible chain of events that ended tragically.

So I’m seeing…

“Omg it was on purpose”. I’ve actually seen this being posted. Who knows could have happened but I would bet my paycheck it was not the case. But it doesn’t help anyone to be saying that and think of the family’s who see that BS. IF YOU THINK THAT SHAME ON YOU.

Let’s break it down for the conspiracy theorist that have no aviation experience in the military or anywhere else.

So you have Langley AFB, Ft Eustis and all the Navy bases there. But yes the CIA is there too oh my! Again totally normal for a training flight to go to these places. Not so much the CIA but operational mission could go there.

Take the tin foil off your head and think about the families who lost their loved ones.

What I’ve seen looking at this.

The Helicopter low level corridor the Black hawk was on has a max altitude of 200 feet. Reader showed them both at 300 feet at the time of impact. ATC was talking to them both. Asked the Blackhawk if they saw them. They said yes and were pretty much told to avoid the plane. This is normal and ATC did what they were required from what I saw. The altitude of 300 for the helicopter is an issue but the investigation will look at and verify it.

Let me tell you though, a 100 foot altitude change in a Blackhawk can take place in a few seconds. And at night even with night vision goggles it’s easier than you think to miss an aircraft in the city lights at that altitude. Imagine it happening flying at 100+ miles an hour at night while flying, navigating and talking on the radios in that order.

Again do I know what the pilots were thinking, saying or doing. No, and no one else does either.

Left you are demonic for saying Trump had anything to do with this. Conspiracy theorist just keep it to yourself until more info comes out from the investigation.

And all of you think about the family’s who are going through the worst day of their life right now. Have a freaking heart and keep the BS off this platform.

So sad all of it.
 
It wasn't mechanical failure for sure. It was communications error. The chopper should have never been allowed into the air space at that time period.
 
Casey Jones said:
"White flares." That's when I tuned it out - he's looking for attention.

I saw the vids, from several angles. There were running lights; and then a collision. No ray guns involved.

I also heard the tower operator, struggling with Ray Cyst English. And it's coming out, how a thousand top-scoring air-traffic applicants were rejected - for their skin hue.

It's obvious what happened here. What I've been expecting. What anyone sane, who has some facts, has been expecting.
Click to expand...
A whiter shade of pale I'm guessing?
 
Not much on the NTSB web site or from the military. Shame for all involved.
 

Analyzing the Mid-Air Collision Over the Potomac: A Detailed Examination of ATC Communications​

On January 29, 2025, a devastating mid-air collision occurred near Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan National Airport, involving an American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. Tragically, all 64 passengers and crew aboard the jet, as well as the three military personnel on the helicopter, lost their lives.
CNN.COM

In this video, Captain Steeeve provides a somber and educational analysis of the events leading up to this tragedy. We delve into the available air traffic control (ATC) communications to understand the sequence of events and explore potential factors that may have contributed to the accident. Our aim is to honor the memory of those lost by learning from this incident and highlighting the critical importance of aviation safety protocols.

Special thanks to VASAviation for putting the ATC audio and video together. Go subscribe for more ATC content. / @vasaviation

 
this is the PAT25 call sign a 'Gold Top' helo which carries important people such as senators etc. assumed involved in the crash.

Screenshot 2025-01-30 at 10.05.19 PM.png
 
The crash is a result of a bunch of people from top to bottom not knowing what they are doing or having discipline.
 
If John Q public had the slightest idea how bad the ATC system (perfect example of the US government) has been compromised, they would be screaming bloody murder. Prior to the current aviation error reporting requirements ALL errors were reported. Any error involving a loss of separation between aircraft or adjacent airspace would involve decertification and remedial training. If the individual failed the it they no longer worked traffic. In the new and improved error reporting requirements, touted as "a just culture" the only thing a controller involved in an error needs to do is run to a computer, and report the error in the air traffic safety action program, or ATSAP. Once the ATSAP report is completed management can not take any action against the substandard controller. The reported errors can have no affect on the persons yearly rating. The controllers call it the "get out of jail free card". Add this system to a generation that has no clue about responsibility and you get an idea of the mindset of the new workforce. The new system automatically throws out any error that involve 80 percent or more of the required separation. The number of system errors you are seeing touted by the media is a skewed number, since it throws out a great majority of the errors that would have cost you your headset 20 years ago.

I retired from a 40 year career with the FAA in 2016 mainly because I didn't want to be on the news or witness stand after one of the wanna be controllers runs 2 together. Back in the early 2000's Obama and his cronies made it a requirement to be black to pass the application proccess. A controller in New York sent the correct answers to make the grade to get hired to all black applicants and got promoted for his efforts. One of the questions on the test was "what is your favorite sport"! At the same time all personal interviews were deemed to be discriminatory which resulted in people showing up at the academy in OKC who couldn't see, hear, read, write, walk etc.

When I talk to people about the national airspace system they usually reply, "well, I guess I just won't fly". My response to that is "being on the ground doesn't make you safe from the falling wreckage!

To say I am proud of the career I was so blessed to be a part of is an understatement.

What's happening to ATC and our country is a travesty.
 


The media doesn’t know what it’s getting into picking a fight with Trump over DEI in air travel.

Here’s the facts: The Obama Administration threw out ALL the results of a merit-based air traffic controller hiring test, wrecking the career plans of people who’d spent thousands of dollars pursuing that career.

Then, the Obama Administration created a new test where they INTENTIONALLY selected for less capable people merely on the hope that they’d be less white. All of this has been proven in the filings of an extensive class-action lawsuit against the FAA.

Let me repeat that: Democrats didn’t simply create a quota system, or discriminate based on race. They deliberately worked to make new air traffic controllers dumber, hoping that diversity would be the side effect. That’s how obsessed the left is with DEI, and how little they care about protecting the lives of fliers.

Conservatives should welcome this fight. Nothing better represents how evil DEI is and how antithetical it is to human life and American success.
 
Decided to play around on Grok. Here's my question and answer:

When Obama was president did he make it mandatory you had to be black to pass the FAA ATC application process?

No, President Barack Obama did not make it mandatory to be black to pass the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Air Traffic Controller (ATC) application process. The selection and hiring process for air traffic controllers is based on a variety of criteria including education, work experience, passing the Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA) test, medical standards, and other qualifications relevant to the job. Race or ethnicity is not a requirement for eligibility in this process.

The hiring practices of federal agencies, including the FAA, are governed by laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information, as outlined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Any suggestion that racial criteria were imposed under Obama's administration would be inaccurate and misleading.
 
searcher said:
Decided to play around on Grok. Here's my question and answer:

When Obama was president did he make it mandatory you had to be black to pass the FAA ATC application process?

No, President Barack Obama did not make it mandatory to be black to pass the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Air Traffic Controller (ATC) application process. The selection and hiring process for air traffic controllers is based on a variety of criteria including education, work experience, passing the Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA) test, medical standards, and other qualifications relevant to the job. Race or ethnicity is not a requirement for eligibility in this process.

The hiring practices of federal agencies, including the FAA, are governed by laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information, as outlined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Any suggestion that racial criteria were imposed under Obama's administration would be inaccurate and misleading.
Click to expand...


Apparently Grok has never heard of DEI.
 
CiscoKid said:
Apparently Grok has never heard of DEI.
Click to expand...

Decided to ask.........................

What can you tell me about DEI and could it have had a role in the recent plane crash between the military helicopter and an airplane?


Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) refers to policies and practices aimed at promoting the representation and participation of diverse groups, particularly those that have been historically underrepresented or marginalized, in various sectors, including employment. In the context of the U.S. federal government, this includes initiatives to ensure that the workforce reflects a broader demographic representation in terms of race, gender, disability, and other identity factors.

Regarding the recent plane crash involving a military helicopter and an airplane:


In summary, while DEI policies in the FAA and broader government sectors are designed to promote inclusivity, there is no evidential link established between these policies and the specific plane crash in question. The investigation into the crash continues, with the emphasis on understanding the sequence of events that led to the tragedy.
 

NTSB Media Briefing 2 - PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 & Sikorsky H-60 military helicopter collision​

Scheduled for Jan 31, 2025

January 30, 2025: NTSB briefs the media on the investigation of the January 29 mid-air collision involving a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 airplane and a Sikorsky H-60 military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Supposed to go live at 5:30

 
searcher said:
Decided to play around on Grok. Here's my question and answer:

When Obama was president did he make it mandatory you had to be black to pass the FAA ATC application process?

No, President Barack Obama did not make it mandatory to be black to pass the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Air Traffic Controller (ATC) application process. The selection and hiring process for air traffic controllers is based on a variety of criteria including education, work experience, passing the Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA) test, medical standards, and other qualifications relevant to the job. Race or ethnicity is not a requirement for eligibility in this process.

The hiring practices of federal agencies, including the FAA, are governed by laws that prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information, as outlined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Any suggestion that racial criteria were imposed under Obama's administration would be inaccurate and misleading.
Click to expand...
From outside the agency I can see how this might be easy to believe. Completely different story from the inside. Mr Snow, not sure of his first name, is the New York ARTCC employee that sent the answers they used to identify the minorities they wished to hire. They completely eliminated the interview process complaining it was racist. This caused multiple individuals showing up at the academy in OKC with issues that would have been disqualifying and caught during the interview process. People showed up to class that were legally blind, unable to read or write, unable to walk, severe speech impediments, mental issues etc. You should spend some quality time training one of these individuals during live traffic. If they mess up, it's your job on the line, if they kill people, it's on you. On the other hand, If they don't certify you get accused of discrimination. As a controller I could care less what your skin color is, what your sexual preference is, where you go to worship, or what your primary language is. What's important to me is that can you separate the airplanes, and can I expect you to do your job. So many links in the chain have been compromised, it's only a matter of time till the incompetence shows itself.

If not for TCAS there would be burning wreckage in a lot of cities and neighborhoods, believe me, I processed the incident reports.
 
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