Alec Luhn
Investigators are scrambling to figure out why a military helicopter and a passenger airplane collided and plunged into the Potomac River in Washington, DC, late Wednesday, the first major US air crash in 16 years.
From the little that’s known, human error likely played a role, raising questions about a chronic shortage of air traffic controllers and pilots. During a press conference Thursday morning, President Donald Trump at times appeared to blame diversity programs within the Federal Aviation Administration and the helicopter’s pilots for the crash, though he admitted there were no known links between FAA hiring policies and the crash beyond “common sense.” Authorities may also be looking at coordination between military and civilian aviation.
US officials say an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers plowed into the tail of a Bombardier CRJ-700 jet out of Wichita, Kansas, as the airliner was less than a mile from landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport. Video of the incident appeared to show the flaming remains of both aircraft tumble a few hundred feet into the shallow, icy river.
The passenger jet, which was operated by regional carrier PSA Airlines on behalf of American Airlines, had 64 people on board, and police boats have already recovered 27 bodies. Officials said Thursday morning they expect there to be no survivors. The last aircraft tragedy this deadly in the United States was the Colgan Air crash in New York state in 2009.
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