Posted on 01/30/2025 9:02:37 AM PST by SeekAndFind
There are a lot of questions regarding the tragic incident involving a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and a civilian airliner in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night at approximately 8:48 p.m. While it may take some time to get all the answers, we have some updates from the Trump administration.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth provided a detailed update regarding the accident. In a video address shared to X, Hegseth reported that the helicopter was part of “Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir,” which was conducting an “annual proficiency training flight.” The crew involved was experienced and equipped with night vision goggles for the evaluation.
In response to the incident, Hegseth confirmed that the Army unit has been granted “a 48-hour operational pause on contingency missions,” allowing time for a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding the crash. A senior-level investigative team from the Aviation Safety Center has already been deployed to Washington, D.C., to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the situation.
Hegseth emphasized the urgency of the investigation, stating, “We anticipate that the investigation will quickly be able to determine whether the aircraft was in the corridor and at the right altitude at the time of the incident.” As notifications to the next of kin are still ongoing, he expressed heartfelt condolences, acknowledging, “It’s a tragedy, a horrible loss of life for those 64 souls on that civilian airliner.”
With the focus shifting from rescue operations to recovery efforts, Hegseth stated, “I can’t imagine… it’s gone from a rescue mission to a recovery mission.” He assured that the Defense Department is committed to uncovering the truth, saying, “We are actively investigating to find out what happened and why.”
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
I’ll wait.. speculation runs amok as usual. At least the Trump Administration is in full view,
Trump just pre-empted them.
I am not an aviation expert and have been out of the Army for many years, but a mid-air collision on an annual proficiency training flight must be hard on the performance review.
/snark
It’s really not fun to speculate this time and to do so may be playing a fool’s game.
It’s hard to not have that deep sinking feeling.
How on earth could the heli pilot not see the aircraft? It’s beyond comprehension imho.
It looks like it is the Copter pilot at fault and looks like Affirmative Action hiring may have been an issue.
do they have dual axis autopilot on those helicopters?
That would explain a lot as the helo did not vary their altitude or direction.
Too busy a corridor for helicopter training.
Trump was briefed by those who already have a damn good idea of what happened or know exactly what occurred. This didn’t happen over the middle of the Atlantic ocean. It’s happened over a big city, with multiple cameras covering the event. Trump has way more information than you. Trust me here.
“How on earth could the heli pilot not see the aircraft? “
May have seen another plane, looks to have been at least 2 possibles.
As startling as it may seem this may be a case of both helicopter pilots not looking up because they where distracted looking at the instrument panel doing stuff.
The radar seems to show that the heli changed direction directly into the plane...then held course.
From an initial listen to ATC audio, it sounds like the controller may have been asleep at the wheel. The call to the helo to confirm the plane was in sight came at the exact moment of the collision.
ATC and the tower kept asking the chopper driver whether he had the AL, which was on final, and in sight and the chopper called back that they did. Considering all the traffic flying around at night it seems he missed seeing the right RJ ... now reading the weird leftists conspiracy stories.
I wonder if anyone knows if military aircraft have the same black boxes as do civilian aircraft? One would assume that they do.
“ but a mid-air collision on an annual proficiency training flight must be hard on the performance review.”
It will be hard on the commanding officer who decided that the instructor pilot was qualified to do the review.
I expect heads to roll up to the commanding general level.
Did they have some distraction? Unlikely a bird strike, but maybe a drone? Or maybe one or more warning lights that took their attention away from “flying the airplane” just long enough to climb out of their space, but still be unaware of this mistake when the collision occurred?
It could be intentional murder suicide by pilot. Or, extremely unlikely but much like someone remotely taking control and crashing a ship into a bridge, perhaps they were on autopilot and someone else had a remote link or some other way of taking over control long enough to command or direct the Blackhawk into the landing CJ.
You’re right and it makes sense since Trump was flying both aircraft and was also in the control tower directing the collision. It’s an open shut case as far as the left is concerned.
They have been since the crash last night. X is a sewer of vitriol. My block/mute functions are overheating. I have no time nor patience for people who “never let a crisis where 67 souls lost their lives..” to GET TRuMP.
They are all putrid protoplasm.
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