Trump asks why army helicopter didn't avoid passenger jet as military faces uncomfortable questions

Yahoo

30-01-2025

Donald Trump has raised questions over why a military helicopter did not avoid a passenger plane as a probe was opened into the armed force's involvement in a deadly collision between the two aircraft.
The commercial jet carrying 64 passengers plunged into the Potomac River near Washington DC's Reagan National Airport after colliding mid-air with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.
The US president speculated that the military aircraft could have been to blame for the incident, even as the authorities were still looking into the cause of the tragic crash.
'The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time,' Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
'It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn't the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane.
'This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!'
Credit: Earthcam
Mr Trump had earlier said that he had been 'fully briefed' on the incident.
Pete Hegseth, his controversial defence secretary, wrote on social media that the army and Pentagon would investigate the crash.
He shared an email from Heather Chairez, a military spokeswoman, which said the helicopter had been on a 'training flight' out of Davison Army Airfield, less than 20 miles south of Reagan National Airport.
The crash is the first disaster faced by Mr Trump and his new administration weeks after entering office in the White House for the second time.
Rescue workers have been battling murky, cold and windy conditions while searching for survivors in the Potomac River.
There are believed to be 'no survivors' from the American Airlines plane and military helicopter, the local fire chief said.
Mr Trump's comments raise an uncomfortable question over the military's potential involvement in the crash.
Both in and out of office, the US president has accused an element of the 'deep state', including within the military, of attempting to undermine him politically.
Before his election, he blamed the Secret Service for failing to stop an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Mr Trump is seen as rooting out officials in on officials from the intelligence agencies to the military and law enforcement to crack down on his perceived opponents.
Research published recently appears to show an increasing link between extremism cases in the US and the country's military.
A report from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism published in December found that from 1990 to 2023, 730 individuals with US military backgrounds had committed criminal acts that were motivated by their political, economic, social or religious goals, Axios reported.
The data shows that there has been an increase in incidents.
Between 1990-2010, an average of 7.1 people per year with US military backgrounds committed extremist crimes.
Since 2011, that number has grown to 44.6 per year.
Some 84 per cent were no longer serving in the military when they committed extremist crimes, the report said.
Most recently, a man who died inside of a Tesla Cyber truck that exploded outside of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Jan 1 was a serving member of the US Army.
The FBI said the suspect in a deadly vehicle attack, which killed at least 10 people, in New Orleans on New Year's Day was also a veteran.
Mr Hegseth during his confirmation hearing said the accusations of extremism within the military was 'fake', adding the Pentagon had overreacted by 'peddling the lie of racism in the military'.
Audio recordings of air traffic control communications captured the moment the helicopter pilots were asked if the commercial jet, operated by American Airlines, was in sight.
An air traffic controller asked: 'PAT 2-5 do you have the CRJ in sight?'
'PAT 2-5 pass behind the CRJ,' the controller added.
In further audio captured before the crash, the helicopter pilot can be heard saying: 'PAT 2-5 has aircraft in sight, request visual separation.'
Near-misses at Reagan National Airport are not uncommon in what experts describe as a complicated airspace situation.
There were at least eight near-midair collisions around the airport in 2024, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
'You can't get into the DCA airspace unless you are totally under air traffic control,' Mary Schiavo, a US Transportation Department official, told CNN.
'Anybody operating in that had to coordinate with air traffic control. And we know that happened because air traffic control talked to the helicopter.'
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