Latest news with #DistrictofColumbiaFireandEmergencyMedicalServices
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
American Airlines Tragedy Ends Longest Aviation Safety Streak in U.S. History
Wednesday night's catastrophic plane crash over the Potomac has ended the longest aviation safety streak in United States history. The crash occurred around 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 29 as an American Airlines jet was about to land at Ronal Reagan International Airport. The jet collided with a Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers on a training mission. On Thursday morning, District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly issued a grim update, telling reporters: "We don't believe there are any survivors.' The tragedy ended a record-long safety streak for the U.S. aviation industry. Wednesday night's airplane crash is the first deadly commercial airline crash on American soil since Feb. 12, 2009. In that incident, a Colgan aircraft operated by Continental crashed into a residential home in Clarence Center, New York, killing the 49 passengers and crew on board as well as one person in the home. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the crash was likely caused by the pilots not appropriately reacting to stall warnings. Stall warnings are a mechanism that prevents the aircraft's pilots from "issuing control commands which would force the aircraft to exceed its structural and aerodynamic operating limits."The crash resulted in some changes to laws governing safe operating procedures and pilots' working conditions after the victim's family lobbied Congress to enact stricter regulations. At a press conference on Thursday, Donnelly told reporters that they were pivoting from a rescue mission to a recovery operation. So far, 27 bodies have been recovered from the airplane and one has been recovered from the helicopter. Divers believe they found one of the aircraft's two data recorders, or 'black boxes,' which may shine light on the fateful moments before the crash.
CBS News
30-01-2025
- General
- CBS News
D.C. residents arriving in Miami express sadness over loss of life in aircraft crash
MIAMI - Residents of the Washington, D.C. area, who arrived at Miami International Airport late Thursday morning, expressed sadness for the loss of life in a midair crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night. One woman, who did want to be identified in this report, said she was up all night watching the news to see if she knew anyone involved in the crash. "I have two kids that I just found out from my daughter's high school that were on the flight. We have other friends who lost a family member, so it's extremely tragic and it was very, very hard to get on a plane this morning," she said. She said she feels for the families that lost loved ones. "Sadness and just empathy for these families that, out of nowhere, lost a loved one and the loss of hope really quickly, know how dark and cold and icy the water was. It was a long night for all of us," she said. She said it would take the Washington, D.C. area a long time to recover from this. District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly told reporters in a news briefing Thursday morning that 27 bodies had been recovered from the plane and one from the helicopter. "We don't believe there are any survivors," he said, adding that the efforts at the scene have switched from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. The aircraft crash near Washington, D.C. Wednesday evening, American Eagle Flight No. 5342, a regional jetliner carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, with three soldiers, collided midair and crashed into the Potomac River near the airport. The plane had taken off from Wichita, Kansas. The soldiers on the helicopter, out of Fort Belvoir in Virginia, were on a proficiency training flight, according to Joint Task Force-National Capitol Region media chief Heather Chairez. Reagan National closure After the crash, Reagan National Airport closed at 9 p.m. Flights into and out of it were canceled. During the closure, passengers were met with signs that read "Due to an emergency situation, all flights are being held on the airfield" and additional information would be available as it is received. The airport re-opened just before 11 a.m. on Thursday. The Air Florida Flight 90 incident In 1982, a U.S. commercial flight suffered a similar tragedy and plummeted into the icy Potomac waters on a January afternoon. Flight 90, operated by the now-defunct Air Florida, was headed to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport with 74 passengers on board and five crew members. Moments after takeoff, the Boeing 737 failed to maintain altitude and slammed into a bridge, hitting vehicles, before going into the river.
