“It was a very experienced group,” said Jonathan Koziol, a retired Army chief warrant officer with more than 30 years' experience in flying Army helicopters. Koziol has been attached to the Unified Command Post created at Reagan National Airport to coordinate efforts following the deadly collision.
This crew member has surfaced on a vid I saw, claims not being on board,not being unalived, and that the chopper was a unmanned
I heard the family was who requested the name not be released.
Methinks lots of confusion from mortuary affairs on scene. Army manifest says 1 female and 2 males....but they count 3 peckers.
Well, 500 flying hours is not much flying experience by military standards. Because the army is not releasing the name of individual who was at the controls at the time of the crash, reasonable minds aren’t satisfied that this person was a biological female.
They say he's a real GOAT.
Regards,
No ID. “Family” is requesting the identity be withheld.
But we’re being told the “Jo Ellis - “trans” - Blackhawk pilot” isn’t the pilot of the Blackhawk PAT25 that impacted the AA CRJ flight on Wednesday night.
Traditionally, ID is withheld pending notification of kin. But the family knows already.
I can’t imagine how/why the “body hasn’t been recovered” unless the airframe was SO compressed/damaged upon impact (7 feet of water there, how hard is the bottom?) extricating the body could’ve been done in minutes with common “jaws of life” tools available to at least ONE of the crash/rescue/fire trucks available on scene - hell, they did an all-call and got fire/rescue from HOWARD county MD, 40 miles away.
WTAF is happening here?
Maybe President Trump will tell us at his next briefing; he already TOLD us the helicopter was flying much too high which media lambasted him for but was factually true.
He already TOLD us DEI was responsible (US Tax $$$$$ sent overseas for LGBTQP, DEI and condoms for Gaza while FAA couldn’t afford a second - required - ATC for DCA or hire one because they weren’t the right color) which was TRUE.
Just venting. There is SO much wrong here.
JD Vance, PRESIDENT of the Senate, should walk into the Capitol RFN (not RFQ, which is slower), declare the Senate ADJOURNED/RECESSED, so POTUS Trump can appoint ALL of his Cabinet members and they can get some sh!t done.
It’s perfectly within their Constitutionally-derived authority.
Sounds like BS.
I am thinking that Hegseth and Trump have ordered the FBI to dig very, very deep into the background of the female crew member. The dig would include all of her past associations.
I know Koziole. He’s a company man who will say whatever to stay in the good graces of the Army head-shed.
Regardless, that flight hour total of that crew wasn’t “highly” experienced. They were experienced enough to not have this accident occur.
For reference, I’m a retired Army AH-64D/E Aviator with 2800 flight hours.
I had 1000 flight hours after my first aviation deployment and I still wasn’t a pilot-in-command. Five-hundred hours is really just getting started.
The Biden regime caused Army Aviation to be in a bad way concerning experience Aviators getting out. The Army has refused to acknowledge this and we’re pumping out lower quality Aviators from Fort Rucker...erm...Novosel than we ever have.
I now teach and supervise AH-64 simulations so I don’t fly anymore, but I see the quality downgrade from my desk.
Hopefully, this changes with the new administration.
Something’s fishy Pete.
No problemo.
PAGING PETE HEGSETH!, no GOOD REASON NOT TO REPORTTHE NAME AND PICTURE!
WHY IS SHE SO SPECIAL? Hmmmmmmmm
My understanding is that if the family requests some anonymity, the military will grant 72 hours, and then release the name. I would expect full disclosure some time this weekend. If the name is still withheld after that, then something is seriously funky.
Let me guess.
She was the co-pilot who was responsible for maintaining an altitude under 200ft (helicopter was at 350 ft according to available displays), and responsible for peripheral vision.
Because the pilot was training night-vision goggles in-flight.
Sean Dietrich
Yesterday at 6:00 AM ·
To the three servicemen who died in a midair collision on Wednesday in Washington DC. I’m sorry.
I’m sorry for everything. Not just the tragedy itself. I’m sorry for all the crap that came after. All the fussing and fighting. The postulating. For all the disrespect to your memory.
I’m sorry for the suits on TV, pointing fingers and placing blame. I’m sorry for the uneducated keyboard warriors, sitting behind laptops, violating your memory by offering excremental opinions on what you “should have done,” or “why this happened.”
In fact, I’m sorry for the millions of people online who participated in disgusting trajectory. Who leave comments on social-media posts about this catastrophe, about your alleged roles in it, and who offer up their own political rants.
As if politics has anything to do with the precious life you lived.
These people are talking out of their rearmost orifices.
And so, to the Army pilot who remains unnamed. To the other pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 2, Andrew Eaves, from Brooksville, Mississippi. And to crew chief and Georgia native, Ryan O’Hara. We all owe you an apology.
Because we have all accidentally partaken in watching your memory get smeared by a bunch of buttheads with microphones and Twitter/X accounts.
Following the disaster, Officer Eaves’s wife wrote:
“We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve.”
Peace while she grieves. That’s what she wanted. That’s what we should have given her. But we Americans didn’t.
We Americans are taking to social media like droves of technological drunks, gorging ourselves on “insights” and “expert opinions.” And the noise we are creating fosters anything but peace.
So, to Sam Lilley, a pilot on American Airlines flight 5432. To the 64 souls aboard the civilian airliner. To the rescue workers, first responders, and emergency crews who have tirelessly plunged into the icy Potomac, who have recovered more than 40 bodies so far—as I write this.
To all involved. Both living and dead. Please forgive the idiocy of your countrymen. Please forgive the misguided hatred which is within your fellow Americans right now.
I’m sorry for our irreverence and insensitivity. May your collective memory be honored. May we cherish the beautiful life you lived.
And above all, may you forgive us. For we know not what we do.
I hate to say it, but the it seems the pilot was doing the evaluation, and so the co-pilot was doing a qualification and flying.
That said, I’d hate to see it was a member of a minority group, because that would blow Washington sky-high. People make mistakes, but this would be the wrong person to make a mistake.
I’m sure those at the top know, and many top Democrats would know as well.
I don't blame the family here. Losing a child is incredibly difficult, but the public debasement that will follow public disclosure of the name is unfathomable.
Leaked by Monday
Not everyone shares the view of an experienced crew.