Posted on 01/30/2025 4:31:57 AM PST by texas booster
An American Airlines jet with 60 passengers and four crew members aboard collided Wednesday with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.
There was no immediate word on casualties or the cause of the collision, but takeoffs and landings from the airport near Washington were halted as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors.
The plane departed from Wichita, Kansas.
Here's the latest:
Kremlin confirms former champion Russian skaters were onboard
The Kremlin has confirmed that Russian figure skaters, as well as other Russian nationals, were on the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River near Washington, DC.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to reporters Thursday that Russian figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships and competed at the Winter Olympics twice, were aboard the plane.
“Unfortunately, we see that this sad information is being confirmed. There were other fellow citizens there. Bad news today from Washington. We are sorry and send condolences to the families and friends who lost those of our fellow citizens who died in the plane crash,” he said.
He did not give details on how many fatalities there were.
Shishkova and Naumov are listed as professional pairs coaches on the website of the Skating Club of Boston. Their son, Maxim Naumov, is a competitive figure skater for the U.S. Rescuers search in near freezing river water for survivors
Hundreds of rescuers were searching the frigid waters of the Potomac River for any survivors of the plane crash.
Images showed boats around a partly submerged wing and what appeared to be the mangled wreckage of the plane’s fuselage.
(Excerpt) Read more at kake.com ...
The water temperature was just above freezing.
...
Group of figure skaters and coaches were on the jet
Passengers on the jet included a group of figure skaters, their coaches and family members who were returning from a development camp held after the national U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement.
The organization confirmed that “several members of the skating community” were on the flight. It did not provide more details.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” the organization said. “We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”
Speaking in St Petersburg, Ludmila Velikova, who trained Shishkova and Naumov when they were children and who was pivotal to their success, told Reuters that a group of 14 skaters and trainers had been on board the plane.
She said she was devastated by the loss of Shishkova and Naumov, but relieved that their son Maxim, who had competed in Kansas, had not been on the same plane.
Who cares about figure skaters or whoever was doing whatever hobby. These are souls lost. We don’t care about this sad story crap for certain people on the plane and helicopter. They are all dead and there are families and friends of everyone that died who are in pain right now.
Have some damned respect.
It’s part of the story. Get a grip on your anger.
Oh no. So sad. Prayers for their families.
Drama Queen much?
Nobody said or attributed disrespect for non figure skaters on the plane.
They just said that part of the team was on the plane.
Cut the drama will ya?
putin to make it political in 3...2...1...
I’m livid at the stupidity of conducint ‘training’ flights at night right next to an airport. ABSOLUTE STUPIDITY!!!! WTF???!!!
I feel for those poor people. The didn’t deserve that!
Lemme guess....DEI training.
Man I’m pissed!
Agreed. The glide paths for planes to and from this airport are easily known, why any other aircraft would be allowed to just motor on through within a distance from the airport to put them IN THE GLIDE PATH of these planes is CRIMINAL.
Helicopter pilot will share blame as will anyone who allowed this supposedly routine collision course they seem to say is "normal".
Trump was not happy about it neither. Lots of questions, yes, in the end, it might have been a tragic accident, but it was certainly preventable.
There’s already enough to be upset about in this wirld. Why invent scenarios just to rage about them?
wow. FR should be above that level.
Souls are eternal.
Uh… relax tiger.
Because the helicopters take off and land from a place near by?
Question: was the Blackhawk piloted by a Muslim officer?
I tend to doubt that. First, they should never allow these collision courses. 2nd, the helicopter pilot did not yield to the plane.
Running aur routes through arrival and departure routes used by commercial aircraft at a very busy airport is weird. I do not understand how that would even be condoned as far as safety and planning are concerned.
I distinctly recall how quiet DC was on 9/12, with the restrictions placed in the aircraft grounded it was a beautiful to behold. I also recall that there have been not a few attempts to close down DC National Airport AKA Reagan National.
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