There were no survivors aboard the American Airlines flight. 67 people are now presumed dead. 😞🙏

There were no survivors aboard the American Airlines flight. 67 people are now presumed dead. 😞🙏
I believe it is a tragedy that could’ve been prevented and should never had happened. Air traffic controllers apparently changed the long runway to the shorter runway not knowing the Black Hawk Helicopter was close by. The approaching Black Hawk was coming toward the river as the American Airlines Flight with 60+ passengers was making an approach toward the runway to make a successful landing. Air traffic talked to the helicopter 30 seconds before the crash asking if they saw the airplane, also to make a maneuver out of the way…. Then the crash happened leading to an explosion and tragically ended up in the river. It is my understanding that there were high winds and that the American troops flying the Black Hawk were well trained with thousands of hours on their belt.
I’ve read they’ll begin the investigation in 30 days though will take nearly a year for the full report. My thoughts & prayers are with the families, friends, loved ones affected by this unfortunate incident. I’ve seen conspiracy theories, misleading statements, and commentary that is questionable & misguided which I condemn. I’ll be looking forward to reading the full report once it is made public since as an American citizen I would like to know what we can do to prevent an incident like this one from happening in the future.
It's a sad incident. It's important that we don't speculate what happened or who/what was at fault, Let the NTSB investigation team do its job, a thorough investigation to determine what happened, why it happened, and make any recommendations to prevent a similar occurrence from happening in the future.
All we know now, one day after the crash, is that a PSA RJ aircraft (flying for American Airlines) with 2 pilots, 2 flight attendants and 60 passengers onboard collided with an Army helicopter with 3 military personnel on board as the RJ was on final approach to Washington Reagan National Airport around 9pm EST on 29-Jan-2025, with both craft falling into the Potomac River.. No survivors have been reported.
It's important to note that this is the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States in 15 years. It would be premature to consider this, and other incidents in the world, to mean that flying is not safe. Flying is still the safest form of transportation. There are more deaths in auto accidents in the United States in one day than there are deaths in commercial aircraft in the world n one year.
@AviatorTom Thanks for the reassurance, it's appreciated. What a tragedy. :(
Agreed. Aviation is safer than ever before. Also, all the facts will come out.
@NimbleOcelot The FAA does not report on aircraft incidents, the NTSB does, and they have barely started their investigation. What you refer to is most likely the information the FAA gave to the NTSB, mostly about the DCA Tower and ATC operations before, during and after the collision.
I agree with @AviatorTom. Speculation isn't helpful at this time, and I can imagine that the families suffer every time someone tries to milk this tragedy for political reasons. :(
I don't know anything about flying, but I do have some questions about how they could have even hit. Obviously they did, but I think about the math involved to have the the helicopter flying at exactly the correct rate of speed, altitude and direction to hit an object (landing plane) mid-air. It seems like a one-in-a million type of scenario, which I suppose is an indicator of how extremely rare an accident like that would be and should probably convince us even more of how safe flying is.
My heart goes out to the families, and the immense tragedy and public attention they are facing right now. No one should have to face that kind of public pressure after a sudden loss like that; what a nightmare.
Oh my. 🥺💔 I'm so sorry for all the victims. This is so sad. Prayers from PH. 🙏
Opinion
35Opinion
Let's wait for the black boxes to get read.
From what I have heard, the regional was on final approach. The heli was told to stay behind the regional jet. (I would wonder about that given possible jet wash, possible even with a small jet, but that is another issue. ). One dispatcher was handing inbound and outbound, common at this slower time of night. Maybe it shouldn't be for optimum focus, but it was and that's yet ANOTHER point. Scattered reports put the heli at a "high" altitude of 300 feet, since the helicopter pilots should have been restricted to 200 feet altitude. in my opinion, training missions should be elsewhere, not at an area A. already cramped, B next to capital no-fly zones, at an airport with C. three intersecting runways D. next to a river. That is simply an accident waiting to happen.
There’s a lot of unknowns.
Was the helicopter on the same channel as all the air traffic controllers located at the airport nearby?
If so why was there no response to what was being said?
Did the helicopter not notice a massive 747 airplane coming towards them? (‘Ve been in military grade helicopters, they are very loud. But you would have greater visibility of your surroundings when in a helicopter vs. in a massive airliner. Not to mention greater maneuverability)
It's a horrible tragedy and I feel bad for everyone who has been affected. It's almost unimaginable that it happened.
It's hard to watch the video and not think it was a failure on the part of air traffic control. Not necessarily the specific air traffic controller, but the system. We've essentially know this was coming for a while. It was predictable and preventable given the right system, the right staffing, the right training, the right funding, and most of all, the right priorities. It's exactly what we've seen play out in California over the last decade, which all came to a head in the last few weeks.
Our government need to change its priorities and stop spending so much money on bullshit and start prioritizing the truly important things.
A sad tragedy that unfortunately happens in life. That hopefully will not happen again. Accidents happen all the time and sadly it will never end because no one is perfect and nothing is perfect. All we can do is pray for the families and friends that lost their loved ones and pray something like this doesn’t happen again
I think someone screwed up. It happens. I think we can't control every risk even with all our technology. I think life is fragile but we don't want to think about that reality. I think it was a random sequence of events not some grand plan. I think it was a tragedy.
The helicopter had no business being directly below the final approach path. Also, the CRJ-700 has an excellent "TCAS" (traffic collision avoidance system) which should have given the crew an "RA", or Resolution Advisory. The Blackhawk normally has a TCAS as well. I am wondering if the Blackhawk had its transponder "off". However you slice it, the CRJ700 owned the final approach path and the helicopter busted it.
By design, TCAS doesn't issue RAs when the plane is below 1000 feet AGL, which the RJ was, on final and only seconds from touchdown.
@AviatorTom TCAS will issue alerts and display other traffic. Years ago I had a helicopter something similar in Atlanta and was given a "Traffic, Traffic" warning.
However, if the helicopter didn't have its transponder on OR in the unlikely event the RJ had a TCAS failure enroute, this would explain it.
FYI, I have over 1,100 hours in the CRJ700, which I flew for Sky West many years ago.
I agree TCAS may have given a vidual traffic alert on the display, but not an RA, and no audible alert. It's likely the pilots never saw it since they would be intently looking out the window, making sure their visual approach was correct. If the FO was flying, he would be intent on looking straight ahead and wouldn't see the copter approach from his right, and the captain, monitoring, would be blocked by the FO and the plane from seeing anything on the plane's right.
@AviatorTom I agree that neither would see the Helo, and neither should have expected to see traffic on final approach on an instrument flight plan. The RJ owned the approach.
@AviatorTom You are right about the altitudes, when I had my traffic alert I had just intercepted the glideslope and was well above the altitude that the DCA crash occured.
People need to keep in perspective that the last major crash was what, 2009? The Colgan Q400 I think?
@KrakenAttackin Where was your traffic and what did you do in response to the alert?
@msc545 The traffic was sneaking below the glideslope, we were still at about 2500 feet, so the alerting system gave a warning. It was a seriously shitty day with strong winds, rain, and low visibility. I was exhausted and trying to let the autohomie do most of the work, but I had to click it off and go around per the "resolution advisory".
@AviatorTom So sounds like... weather was not a factor? but - Wasn't it raining then?
@KrakenAttackin Also above it I believe.
There’s a new video out with a different angle showing that was no accident; that video showed there was plenty of time for the helicopter to avoid the plane and the plane was clearly visible for the helicopter with the type of training they have. It’s sad and hurts all those people lost their lives and just last night a plane in Philadelphia crashed into a neighborhood and more people died. 2025 is starting out very sad and hurtful. Praying for all the families affected by these
It was a horrible accident and air traffic control was not aware of the helicopter in the path of the landing plane it seems but there was only one guy in the tower at the time and probably not aware of the helicopter in the pathway, it’s also strange they were doing night vision maneuvers in the landing flight path of the plane
Nope.
Control knew and tried to warn.
@strateguy632 I heard that too but they just continued to go up even after acknowledging it
Is this the crash with the helicopter? I think it was deliberate. There’s no way a helicopter didn’t see that plane. A helicopter can move quicker than a plane can. If you watch the footage, it was heading straight for that plane.
Well , I think its reasonable to say that it certainly never should have occurred , who knows what happened , but lets observe the report , certainly looked rather strange to me , but I'm hardly an expert.
Normal passenger plane in landing trajectory hit by military helicopter travelling at same height and somehow didn't see the plane in front of it.
Apparently helicopter may have been using night goggles, and probably should have been at a different height.
Not good optics to marry this tragedy with their campaign to kill of dei. Feels like politicization which is never nice.
@likes2drive Air traffic control was aware of the helicopter and gave instructions for it to go behind the plane.
"PAT25 (helicopter call sign), pass behind the CRJ' (type of plane)."
Now this is just my conspiracy theory with no supporting evidence at all, but I think it may have been sabotage by an Islamist. There have been a lot of attacks in recent years by Muslim soldiers
It was Trump's fault, according to the report.
newrepublic.com/.../faa-report-dc-plane-crash-staffing-indictment-trump
@NimbleOcelot Yeah, because it happened under HIS watch and under the watch of the new transportation guy he assigned
And because he gutted the FAA, and they were running outside of normality
Scary. I have seen the video.
Luckily it seems to have ended quickly. A couple of seconds. Assuming they weren't alive and conscious under water.
Sad.
I think autonomous Black Hawk helicopters exist and it's an easy way to make an assassination look like a plane crash.
Or maybe it's just because they were understaffed, as proven by the FAA report...
@NimbleOcelot Nope. I've listened to the tower communications and watches the flight trackers. The Black Hawk took responsibility for visually sighting the plane. They claimed to have eyes on multiple times even when warned multiple times by the concerned air traffic controller. Despite multiple warnings, the Black Hawk rammed into the plane and then the tower gasped in disbelief.
@NimbleOcelot You could claim they thought they saw the plane while spotting another plan that was in light at the airport, but the tower saw what was going on and repeatedly voiced concern, but the pilot of the Black Hawk claimed responsibility multiple times and stated he had eyes on.
I think the MAGAs are purposely driving out experience & expertise of "the Deep State" (whatever the fuck THAT is) in favor of Trump bootlickers and that will really destroy law & order govt from the inside out.
I’m just extremely sorry snd hope they find the cause quickly.
There have been a lot of plane crashes lately and this can't be a coincidence. I wonder if someone is trying to kill us.
Me too. This is starting to look like deliberate sabotage
Horrific, and the millionth example of criminally overworked ATCs attempting to perform understaffed.(The ATC was doing the job of two controllers).
I blame the democrats because their decisions n management, in 2024, have not yet worn off.
All I can say is sad. I know for sure they will be missed.
It's best to know understand more details from air traffic control.
Very obvious occult ritual with huge significance.
I think Trump's words on it are mistimed and lacking any foundation of facts.
It's a horrible thing not something you expect in a developed nation
Very sad but also went down the rabbit hole of us having a repeat of the 60s where the plain crashed with all the ice skaters and what was going on politically
Democrat plot to make trump look bad, just like J6
Someone fucked up massively. Investigation will tell who's to blame
Two min windows for chain landings and pushing helicopters through. It was poor sorting and riding a razors edge. Surprised more hasn't happened.
Someone is to blame. And I’m getting sick and tired of trump using political propaganda as a scapegoat. It’s unhelpful
It's helpful for him, since he's the one at fault, though.
@NimbleOcelot ! Remember anything that happens, it’s never his fault. What a coward
Diversity Caused It!
Im joking. Its sad and shouldn't be blamed on diversity, but we do need to make sure people are qualified
The issue here isn't about them being unqualified, but rather that they were understaffed.
It reminds me that tragedies like this are a reminder to me that all forms of travel are risky
Just so sad as it could and should have been avoided.
Pretty wild, most likely more good people that were planning to make a difference
Bad way to suddenly go.
That Blackhawk pilot for whatever reason wasn't paying attention to what he was doing.
Terrible. One of my relatives knew a couple of the skaters on the flight.
Question is why did helicopter enter airport air space.
all helicopters are forbidden to enter that air space! 🤔
Here is the map that shows who was flying in wrong direction.
abcnews.go.com/.../story?id=118246693
It's just sad but that crash doesn't make sense to me
It’s very scary since I air travel a lot. I hope their families are ok.
One 9f many. How trump is blaming everyone except the piolets
Awful disaster.
It's horrible..🙏🇨🇦🇱🇷
I'm gonna blame trump he crashed the plane.
The FAA blames Trump too. newrepublic.com/.../faa-report-dc-plane-crash-staffing-indictment-trump
@NimbleOcelot The proof is in the media
https://ibb.co/4wdBzyKC
Tragic. Caused by human error.
Trump's error, to be exact. newrepublic.com/.../faa-report-dc-plane-crash-staffing-indictment-trump
@NimbleOcelot He's been on the job for 6 days.
That’s horrible very sad
A horrible tragedy
Makes me scared to board a plane
Horrible accident that could have been prevented.
Where was this?
DCA.
Sorry, Reagan National Airport.
@KrakenAttackin It is sad.
Shit happens
Sad and scary