67 People Dead As Passenger Jet Collides With Helicopter

On Wednesday, 29th January evening, a military helicopter and an American Airlines aircraft carrying 60 passengers and four crew members crashed close to Washington, D.C., and the jet plunged into the Potomac River.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the crash happened just before 9 p.m. when the commercial aircraft from Wichita, Kansas, was approaching Reagan National Airport.

John Donnelly, the chief of fire and emergency medical services in Washington, reported Thursday morning that 28 bodies had been found at the scene, 27 from the jet and one from the helicopter.

As of Thursday night, CNN and CBS News reported, citing law enforcement sources, that the number had increased to at least 40 bodies recovered from the Potomac River.

The Defense Department claims that the Black Hawk helicopter, which had a three-person crew and was based in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, was engaged in a training mission.

On Thursday night, CNN was informed by the office of Washington Senator Maria Cantwell that one of the two black boxes on board the American flight had been found.

Officials said that the skies were clear, the pilots were in communication with air traffic control, and American Eagle Flight 5342 was on a standard descent to the runway in the busy airspace above the nation’s capital.

However, in the first significant deadly commercial airline crash in 16 years, the passenger jet and an Army helicopter collided in midair, exploding in flames and crashing into the Potomac River.

According to aviation experts, a variety of technological and human-driven factors, such as the proper operation of multiple systems intended to prevent collisions, may have contributed to the fatal accident.

The Crash Investigation and Trump’s Remarks

As the only agency authorized to provide an official cause for the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation, which will also involve the Army and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The investigation will involve a rigorous process that includes gathering evidence from the scene, reviewing radio traffic and data on aircraft flight paths, speaking with air traffic controllers, and conducting interviews with them. The investigation can take a year or more to complete.

Speaking to reporters in the White House Briefing Room, Trump hinted that the fatal jet crash was caused in part by the FAA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion rules, which he ordered to be discontinued last week.

“A group within the FAA determined that the workforce was too white, then they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately,” he said.

In response to reporters’ questions about how he could conclude that diversity was a factor in the crash at this early stage of the investigation, he said, “Because I have common sense.”

The NAACP, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and a former FAA and National Transportation Safety Board investigator swiftly denounced Trump’s remarks.

According to NTSB directors, their inquiry would be conducted with a “careful approach” and will “look at all the humans that were involved in this accident.”

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said, “Clearly, this was a confluence of errors,” while some Democrats in Congress said the disaster demonstrates their worries that the air traffic in Washington’s sky is too crowded.