Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the American individuals following the lethal collision involving an American Airways airplane and an Military helicopter outdoors Reagan Nationwide Airport. Hegseth says the crash occurred whereas the Black Hawk was on an annual proficiency coaching flight.
“We do know on our facet who was concerned. It was a reasonably skilled crew, and that was doing a required annual evening analysis,” Hegseth mentioned in a video assertion obtained completely by Fox Information. “We anticipate that the investigation will rapidly have the ability to decide whether or not the plane was within the quarter on the proper altitude on the time of the incident.”
“It is a tragedy, a horrible lack of life for these 64 souls on that civilian airliner. And naturally, the three troopers in that Black Hawk. They’re in our prayers, their households and their communities as persons are notified,” Hegseth added.
Search and rescue efforts are seen round a wreckage website within the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport, early Thursday morning on Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Picture)
On Wednesday, round 9:00 PM native time, the FAA issued a floor cease at Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport after a army helicopter with three troopers collided with a civilian airplane carrying 60 passengers and 4 crew members.
In a press convention on Thursday morning, DC Hearth and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly introduced almost 30 our bodies had been recovered from the scene of the collision to this point. Right now, authorities don’t imagine there are any survivors, Donnelly added.
“We’ve got recovered 27 individuals from the airplane and one from the helicopter,” he added. “Regardless of all these efforts, we at the moment are at a degree the place we’re switching from a rescue operation to a restoration operation.”
A part of the wreckage is seen as rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River after a airplane on strategy to Reagan Nationwide Airport crashed into the river close to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
AMERICAN AIRLINES CEO EXPRESSES ‘DEEP SORROW’ AFTER MIDAIR COLLISION
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser thanked first responders for working in a “very frigid” river by the evening in what began as a search and rescue mission, which is now a restoration mission.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was sworn-in hours earlier than the collision, vowed to get solutions on behalf of the collision victims’ households and the American individuals. Duffy famous that the collision occurred on a transparent evening and that each the airplane and helicopter have been in “normal” patterns.
“Security is our expectation. Everybody who flies in American skies expects that we fly safely, that once you depart an airport, you get to your vacation spot. That didn’t occur final evening,” Duffy mentioned. Duffy believes that the proof to this point signifies that the collision might have “completely” been prevented.
The American Airways flight from Wichita, Kansas collided in midair with a army helicopter whereas approaching Ronald Reagan Nationwide Airport. In accordance with stories, there have been no survivors among the many 67 individuals on board each plane. Â (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Photos)
AMERICAN FIGURE SKATER SAYS HE WAS BARRED FROM FLIGHT THAT COLLIDED WITH ARMY HELICOPTER
In a blunt Fact Social publish, President Donald Trump referred to as the crash “a foul state of affairs that appears prefer it ought to have been prevented.”
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Shortly after the collision, Vice President JD Vance urged individuals to “say a prayer for everybody concerned.”
