Trump blames military helicopter crew for Washington DC plane crash

Yahoo

31-01-2025

The Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet was to blame for the crash near Washington DC, Donald Trump has said.
Washington's Ronald Reagan airport banned helicopters from flying parts of two routes within its radius after the crash and the US president said the military aircraft was 'flying too high' at the time of the collision.
The Black Hawk helicopter was conducting a training flight for a female pilot who has not yet been identified.
She was being overseen by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, who had more than 1,000 hours of flying experience and would have been expected to take over the controls in an emergency.
The crew chief of the Black Hawk was identified as Ryan O'Hara, a father of one, who would have sat in the back of the aircraft as it flew through the congested airspace above Washington DC.
All three soldiers were killed in the crash above Ronald Reagan National Airport, as well as the 64 passengers and crew on American Airlines flight 5342.
Credit: Earthcam
Jonathan Koziol, the chief of staff of the army's aviation directorate, dismissed questions on the ability of female pilots in remarks to reporters on Thursday.
'As for women in the military, flying a helicopter is like driving a car,' he said. 'You just got to learn how to do it and anyone can do it with the proper training.
'Both pilots had flown this specific route before at night – this wasn't something new to either one of them. These are our top pilots doing this national capital region,' he added.
In a post on his own social media platform, Trump Social, Mr Trump wrote: 'The Black Hawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit.
'That's not really too complicated to understand, is it???'
The crew had night vision goggles at the time of the flight, Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, said.
He added that the army was investigating whether there was an 'elevation issue' after it was reported the helicopter had been flying outside the normal Black Hawk route.
On Friday it emerged an air traffic controller was allowed to leave their post early on the night of the crash.
At the time of the collision, there was one controller managing traffic for both helicopters and planes, a job normally handled by two people from 10am until 9.30pm, according to The New York Times.
Bradley Bowman, a former Black Hawk pilot who had flown the same path as the doomed craft, told CBS News that it was crucial for pilots to keep the helicopter below 200ft.
'You literally have aircraft coming in and out, and you have to stay at that altitude ... to make sure there isn't a collision. For some reason that failed last night.'
Mr Trump has blamed diversity hiring for the crash, without providing evidence, and accused the Black Hawk of taking an 'unbelievably bad' route ahead of the crash.
The Black Hawk crew were part of Bravo Company of the 12 Aviation Battalion based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
Rescuers have pulled around 40 bodies out of the freezing waters of the Potomac River, with the search continuing into Friday morning.
The Marine Corps junior reserve officers' training corp at Parkview High in Gwinnett County posted a condolence message on Facebook confirming O'Hara was one of its former students.
'It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of one of our own. Class of 2014, former cadet Ryan O'Hara was the crew chief on the Black Hawk involved in last night's crash in DC.'
The post, which has since been deleted, added that O'Hara was 'fondly remembered as a guy who would fix things around the ROTC gym as well as a vital member of the rifle team'.
Gary, O'Hara's father, was watching television when news of the crash broke.
'I just had a gut feeling when I saw the story breaking,' he told The Washington Post. Two army officials delivered the news that his son was among the casualties on Thursday morning.
'As a parent, how do you take the news like this and not be totally broken?' asked Mr O'Hara.
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