UPDATE: Fox News reports (unconfirmed) that survivors are being pulled out of the water.
UPDATE 2: President Trump briefed.
🚨 BREAKING: President Donald Trump briefed on Potomac air crash
WHITE HOUSE Press Sec. Leavitt confirms: "A military helicopter collided with a regional jet at DCA airport." pic.twitter.com/jJKEkAFHSw
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 30, 2025
UPDATE 3: Live ATC recordings unearthed.
Pulled the ATC audio around the time of the reported incident at DCA.
You can hear the audible gasps in the tower. Controller then sent other traffic around.
Via @liveatc pic.twitter.com/aHbp5czPb9
— Ryan Ewing (@FlyingHighRyan) January 30, 2025
A horror-show is unfolding in DC, as early reports are coming in of an American Airlines plane colliding with what Fox News is reporting is a Sikorsky military helicopter.
Developing reports: American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas inbound to DCA collided midair with a D.C. Police Helicopter on approach.
— Ben Goldey (@BenGoldey) January 30, 2025
Residents reported hearing a loud “boom,” and all flights are reportedly cancelled.
I live close to DCA and recently heard a massive “Boom.” Now, it’s reported that all flights are canceled. I think something awful has happened. I hope I am wrong. I will be heading out soon to investigate. Stay tuned, and pray. pic.twitter.com/w440sXavlZ
— Charles R Downs (@TheCharlesDowns) January 30, 2025
Webcam video has now been made public portending to be of the crash.
Webcam at the Kennedy Center caught an explosion mid-air across the Potomac. https://t.co/v75sxitpH6 pic.twitter.com/HInYdhBYs5
— Alejandro Alvarez (@aletweetsnews) January 30, 2025
It looks like it could be bad, as it is being reported that the plane actually crashed into the icy Potomac.
BREAKING: There is a significant response from fire, EMS, and police for an aircraft reported down in the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport. Initial reports of a possible midair collision. Victims have been found by one of the rescue boats. @ARLnowDOTcom
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) January 30, 2025
Here is video of the first responders.
#Breaking DC Fire and EMS confirms a small aircraft is down in the Potomac River in the vicinity of Reagan National Airport. Fireboats on scene. All takeoffs and landings have been halted at DCA. Emergency personnel are responding to an aircraft incident on the airfield. The… pic.twitter.com/aGisrUj6ug
— Allison Papson (@AllisonPapson) January 30, 2025
Time will tell if there are any survivors.
I am right outside DCA, and boats are being released into the Potomac River. This is very sad, and it looks like something awful has happened. I have lived in D.C. for six years and have never seen anything like this. pic.twitter.com/xVcuGdv7f8
— Charles R Downs (@TheCharlesDowns) January 30, 2025
We are hoping and praying for the best in what could be a very difficult situation. Here’s what the flight tracker showed:
According to FlightAware, AA5342 stopped tracking on approach over the Potomac River. At the same location, the @DCPoliceDept’s helicopter stopped tracking.
Praying for everyone involved🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/OKCl8pozOo
— Ben Goldey (@BenGoldey) January 30, 2025
Reports are coming in fast.
This is the flight that crashed at DCA, from listening to DCA Tower pic.twitter.com/sCqjXFqKDl
— Jan (@janj757) January 30, 2025
An X user reported hearing first responders in action.
I can hear first-responders rolling
— YuriActual 🏴☠️GOLDCORP Logistics 🏴☠️ (@Yuri6Actual) January 30, 2025
DC Fire and EMS confirmed that a small plane did indeed crash.
BREAKING:
🚨 A small aircraft has crashed near Reagan National Airport. Residents in the vicinity said they heard a very loud EXPLOSION.
All flights at the airport have been canceled! https://t.co/YU4fMDUn1a
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) January 30, 2025
A reported for Laura Loomer is headed to the scene.
Almost there! https://t.co/or0t0dxbka
— Charles R Downs (@TheCharlesDowns) January 30, 2025
Reporter Nick Sortor claimed that fatalities have been reported and a search and rescue operation is underway over the Potomac.
🚨 #BREAKING: A plane has crashed into a helicopter while landing at Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC
Fatalities have been reported, a MASSIVE search & rescue operation is happening in the Potomac River
Witnesses reported seeing a “massive crash” and hearing a loud… pic.twitter.com/GtSiWjUWn0
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 30, 2025
Fox News has live coverage here.
We hate to say that this is not actually unexpected thanks to an Obama-era move to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Air Traffic Control and the FAA.
The case of Damian Campbell and the near-collision incident in Austin, together with numerous other such incidents, raise troubling questions that deserve a deeper dive. Revolver News conducted an investigation into the matter in considerable depth. We spoke with several air traffic and FAA personnel, most of whom insisted on staying anonymous and off the record.
While the disturbing decline in aviation safety is complex and multifaceted, we identified two major contributing factors that have received scant media attention. The first such factor is the likely contribution of disastrous COVID-era policies to the staffing shortage of many air traffic control rooms. The second factor is that aggressive affirmative action policies implemented during the Obama administration have resulted in a catastrophic collapse in the quality of controllers. In short, COVID policies have gutted the quantity of air traffic controllers, and diversity policies have gutted the quality of air traffic controllers, creating unprecedented danger for the aviation industry.
We have called what’s happening in aviation a “crisis of competency” where airlines are putting progressive policies above safety.
The aggressive substitution of merit in favor of diversity has led to a so-called competency crisis, jeopardizing not only our ability to generate innovative technology but, in a more dire sense, our ability to simply maintain the proper functioning of various complex systems vital to our existence as a first-world civilization. Despite the superficiality of “diversity” as a matter of rhetoric, the reality of diversity as an ideological, cultural, and legal imperative is not merely cosmetic—far from it.
While a full treatment of this topic would run far outside the scope of this article, we have discussed elsewhere the manner and extent to which the affirmative action regime is embedded deeply into the law, economy, and every major institution in the country.
Sadly, there’s so much more to the story about our faltering airlines. We encourage you to read the entire Revolver piece and get informed.
One of the scariest pieces we've ever published
Crash Landing: The Inside Scoop About How Covid and Affirmative Action Policy Gutted Aviation Safetyhttps://t.co/or75aIz3zg
— Darren J. Beattie 🌐 (@DarrenJBeattie) January 9, 2024
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