Air traffic controller 'left work early' before passenger jet and military helicopter collided in DC plane crash
'If you're flying a visual flight plan and you're flying in a crowded airspace like this, you really should have two crew chiefs to clear each side, as the pilots only have visibility straight ahead,' she told CNN.
'You only have visibility of the front 180 degrees, your crew chiefs clear the back. If you only have one crew chief, how much can you clear?
'I think that was a major issue, as well as the altitude.'
The helicopter was only supposed to be flying at 200ft, which would avoid the planes taking off and landing at DCA, but was as high was 400ft.
The area was a cluttered airspace with a lot of lights that reflected on the river 'so it's easy to get disoriented as far as the height'.
Air traffic control should also have been more specific when it asked if the helicopter pilots had the plane in their sights, as there were two planes visible at the time.
McCormick said they should have said exactly where it was so the crew could look for it. The helicopter is agile enough to dodge a plane in time if pilots see it.
'The Blackhawk 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???' Trump posted.
The New York Times reported that the helicopter flew a half mile outside of its approved flight path, and was at about 300 feet during impact when it should have been below 200 feet.
The wreckage of the Washington air collision seen in the Potomac river near Ronald Reagan National Airport. That river historically is freezing cold in winter.
President Trump said it shouldn't be 'too complicated' to understand that the Black Hawk helicopter that crashed with a passenger jet Wednesday was flying beyond its proscribed altitude. 'The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot,' Trump posted
US President Donald Trump said the helicopter was flying higher than it was allowed and had strayed half a mile from its approved route. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules ban helicopters from flying above 200 ft in the busy Potomac River corridor, but the collision occurred at around 300 ft.
Mr Trump wrote on social media site Truth Social: 'The Black Hawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot.'
Trump tore into Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during his remarks
He suggested that a misguided focus on diversity may have led to under-qualified individuals working in the control tower.
Joe Biden watered down standards, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had 'a good line of bulls***.'
Mr Trump said the hiring guidance for the FAA's diversity and inclusion programme expressed a preference for people with disabilities involving 'hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism'.
Mr Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: 'People should not be hired based on their disabilities, based on their skin colour, their gender, their race.
'None of that matters. The president is focused on ensuring that the most competent individuals, the best and the brightest in this country are in positions in the federal government.'
In the UK, it was announced in 2023 that it was seeking to improve diversity in a new controller recruitment drive.
This targeted the organisation's 'gender imbalance', with bosses explaining that they wanted to ensure half of the new intake were women.
Sources also claimed that the job of monitoring planes and helicopters at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is usually done by two people until at least 9.30pm.
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth said diversity, equity and inclusion targets would be scrapped at the FAA and in the military.
Hegseth backed Trump’s efforts to root out DEI programs out of the federal government, especially among air traffic controllers.
He said: 'We will get to the bottom of what happened here. It's completely unacceptable in our nation's capital or anywhere. Something like this can never happen again.'
Hegseth also promised to root out DEI programs out of the Defense Department, blaming former President Joe Biden for implementing the practice throughout government.
‘We are ending all of that, it’s been made very clear across all of our services and commands, it is merit only and this means we will get the best of the best.’
Two of the Black Hawk Crew - Ryan O'Hara, 28, and Andrew Eaves - were identified. A third and final crew member's body was also recovered, but the Army did not release her name per the family's request.
The third person onboard, a female co-pilot, has remained anonymous as the Army has refused to identify her at the request of the family.
'At the request of the family, the name of the third soldier will not be released at this time,' the US Army said.
Relatives are entitled to do this, but it is extremely unusual, with the New York Times branding the decision to withhold the name an 'extraordinary step'.
Why the co-pilot's family requested her name be withheld, and why the US Army acquiesced, is unclear.
The unidentified female copilot was being evaluated during the flight.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14348391/Air-traffic-controller-left-work-early-passenger-jet-military-helicopter-crash.html
An air traffic controller was reportedly allowed to leave their post early just before American Airlines Flight 5342 collided in midair with a military helicopter over Washington DC.
That night, an air traffic controller was left to handle both helicopter traffic and manage planes - which should have been a divided duty - according to The New York Times.
Those tasks are usually handled between two people from 10am until 9:30pm, according to the report.
After 9:30pm the duties are typically combined and left to one person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.
A supervisor reportedly decided to combine those duties before the scheduled cutoff time however, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.
The FAA report said that staffing configuration 'was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic'.
It remains unclear why the supervisor allowed the worker to clock off early on Wednesday night, just before the midair collision.
That left their colleague with a much larger workload.
A damning FAA report revealed an air traffic control supervisor reportedly decided to allow one air traffic controller to leave work early
Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport also captured the moment the two collided in midair
It has also emerged that the Army helicopter, which was carrying three soldiers, involved in the collision deviated from its approved flight path.
Insiders said the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter was not on its approved route and flying higher than it should have been.
Approval had been given for the helicopter to fly no higher than 200 feet along the east side of the Potomac River, where it would have avoided the passenger jet.
Sources said the pilot did not stick to the path however and was a half-mile off course as well as being at an altitude above 300 feet.
Five current and former controllers also said that the lone controller in the tower should have been more proactive in directing the plane and helicopter away from each other.
The two aircraft had collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways near the airport before it plunged into the river
The Army helicopter, which was carrying three soldiers involved in the collision, deviated from its approved flight path
The darkness could have played a part in what made it so difficult for both pilots to actually gauge their distance apart, they added.
Reagan National has been understaffed for years, with just 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023 - well below the target of 30
In order to fill the gaps, controllers are frequently asked to work 10-hour days, six days a week.
Crash Victim Kiah Duggins had been visiting her mom in her hometown of Wichita but was returning to Washington DC, where she worked as a Civil Rights Attorney for the Civil Rights Corps
A Civil Rights Attorney, she had earned a degree from Harvard Law School and served as a White House intern under former First Lady Michelle Obama's Let Girls Learn initiative
Vanderbilt University and Penn Law graduate Sarah Lee Best (left) was tragically killed on the flight, returning home after conducting a deposition with her colleague, Elizabeth Keys (right)
Keys was tragically celebrating her birthday on the day of her death
Spencer Lane and other figure skaters had been returning home from the National Development Camp, which is held in conjunction with the national championships
Jinna Han (pictured front row in red) and her mother Jin were confirmed dead
'Our sport and this Club have suffered a horrible loss with this tragedy,' Doug Zeghibe, CEO and Executive Director of the club, said in a statement. 'Everyone is like family... We are devastated and completely at a loss for words'
Asra Hussain messaged husband Hamaad Raza , 25, to say 'We are landing in 20 minutes' as American Eagle Flight 5342 approached Reagan National Airport jut before 8pm ET Wednesday night
Two Chinese nationals were among the victims of the crash, the Chinese Embassy in the US said in a statement, without providing further details.
Danasia Elder was revealed to be one of the flight attendants on board the commercial plane
Danasia Elder, a flight attendant on the doomed American Airlines plane
President Trump blamed DEI hiring practices on the air crash as he spoke with reporters.
At another point, Trump said: 'Incompetence might have played a role.'
Inna Volyanskaya, of Virginia, was a skating coach and her death was confirmed
Alexandr Kirsanov attended the Kansas event with his skaters, Sean Kay and Angela Yang
Sean Kay and his skating partner Angela Yang died on the American Airlines flight with their coach Alexandr Kirsanov (pictured L-R: Angela, Alexandr, Sean)
Angela Yang, whose skating partner was Sean Kay, (pictured together). Her mother Lily Yang also died
These sisters, 14 and 11, were members of the Washington Figure Skating Club and frequently shared images of their routines on their social media page
The sisters, Alydia and Everly, were members of the Washington Figure Skating Club
The sisters were on board the American Airlines flight with their parents, Peter and Donna Livingston
Sisters Everly, 14, and Alydia, 11, and 'just loved skating so much,' a family friend said. 'When they weren't skating, they were roller skating'
'They were loving parents,' a family friend said of Peter and Donna Livingston. 'They were doing anything for their children'
Everly Livingston, 14, and her younger sister Alydia, 11, were seen in haunting final images aboard the doomed American Airlines flight to Washington, DC, smiling for their parents
Rescue teams search the wreckage of the commercial airplane that collided with a military helicopter in Washington. Historically that river is freezing cold this time of Winter.
Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger has also since weighed in on the crash, saying he believes that flying at night over water could have been factors in it.
This 'might have made it a little bit harder to see'.
The 74-year-old added: 'Nighttime always makes things different about seeing other aircraft — basically all you can do is see the lights on them.
'You have to try to figure out: Are they above you or below you? Or how far away? Or which direction are they headed? Everything is harder at night.'
Sully, who famously landed a passenger plane on the Hudson River in 2009 , told The New York Times the two factors could have made avoiding the chopper harder
DailyMail.com has also spoken with an air traffic control veteran who said the audio from the incident with instructions to the helicopter were 'very ambiguous'.
He noted that air traffic controllers have a massive responsibility to give accurate and detailed information to pilots.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14345293/catastrophic-mistakes-Washington-DC-plane-crash.html
Figure skater, Spencer Lane, 16, (middle back) alongside Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova, (middle front) 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, (right) have been confirmed dead
Melissa Nicandri, of New York City, had spent the weekend with her mother in New York before heading to Kansas on a business trip
Franco Aparicio and his father Luciano were confirmed dead by Franco's sister Isabella Aparicio (pictured with Franco)
Eddie's father, Edward, confirmed his son was on the flight to DC (pictured: Eddie in the middle)
Olivia Eve Ter, of Maryland, and her mother Olesya were among the many skaters that tragically lost their lives
Olivia belonged to the Tucker Road Ice Rink in Prince George's County
Pergentino N. Malabed was a colonel for the Philippine National Police (PNP), who confirmed his death on Friday. He was the chief of the supply management division
He leaves behind a wife and daughter.
Vikesh Patel was an MRO Transformation Leader at GE Aerospace
Cory Haynos has been remembered as 'an amazing skater with a very bright future with the US Skating Team'
Shishkova and Vadim Naumov won the World Figure Skating Championship in pairs in 1994
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14342387/passengers-victims-american-airlines-flight-crash-washington-dc.html
A tragedy like the deadly crash of a passenger plane and Army chopper this week was bound to happen given the increase in near-collisions at US airports in recent years, an aviation expert told the Welcome to MAGAland podcast, from the DailyMail.com.
Former U.S. Air Force navigator Jim Brauchle who has represented many victims of airline disasters in lawsuits, added that experts had feared a tragedy like the one on Wednesday was imminent, because of the increasing number of close encounters between aircraft.
'I've gone on record saying that that we're having a lot of close calls, and that I was hopeful that it wouldn't happen, but I think a lot of people in the aviation world suspected that eventually something was going to happen,' Brauchle added.
'With all those close calls, something ultimately was going to happen.'
Rescue boats search the ice cold waters of the Potomac River for survivors after the deadly plane crash
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14347885/aviation-expert-sickening-admission-dc-plane-crash-reagan-airport.html
Aviation chiefs 'were recruiting people with targeted disabilities including intellectual problems and hearing/vision issues until last year' - as Trump vows to tackle 'diversity' in wake of crash disaster
Diversity initiatives ramped up at the FAA under the Obama Administration, were largely swept away during Trump's first term and then reinstated under Biden.
These DEI efforts saw the agency hire 'more minorities' and 'people with disabilities' in 'key positions, including air traffic control', The Washington Times reports.
The Obama Administration introduced a 'biographical assessment' test at the FAA in 2013, which was designed to increase the hiring of 'preferred minority' groups at air traffic control (ATC) centers.
The assessment, designed to help qualified candidates without aviation experience secure jobs in ATC, asked seemingly irrelevant questions such as applicants' involvement in school sports or the age at which they held their first job.
Candidates with more experience and greater qualifications were disqualified by the assessment, the report states.
Many of the rejected applicants were allegedly Air Traffic Collegiate Training graduates, held a pilot's license, or had other 'critical experience' relevant to ATC.
The FAA was hit then with a class-action lawsuit involving more than 3,000 rejected applicants who alleged discrimination.
The agency dropped the biographical assessment in 2018 - during Trump's first term - after Congress banned its use.
ATC applicants were instead required to take the Air Traffic Skills Assessment, which aimed to assess the majority of skills and attributes necessary to be a successful air traffic controller.
But after Trump left office, Biden implemented broader DEI practices in an effort to create more employment opportunities for underrepresented groups.
The Biden-era FAA's website's promotion of diversity hiring and states: 'Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring.'
'They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.'
'The FAA website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism all qualified for the position of a controller of air planes pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot. A little dot on the map. A runway.'
The FAA in 2022 under Biden pledged to 'diversify its workforce by rethinking its hiring practices' and administration officials were assigned long-term goals aimed at amplifying 'diversity, accessibility and LGBTQ issues'.
The agency was also required to 'host a national symposium with internal and external stakeholders to socialize efforts on the use of gender-neutral language at FAA'.
In 2023, the FAA declared a 'Year of Inclusion' which saw it host a three-day symposium training employees on the impacts of DEI and accessibility. It also aimed to help staff combat 'unconscious bias.'
That same year, there was a rise in 'dangerous mistakes'. Countless near misses at American airports.
The FAA recorded 503 air traffic control lapses that were categorized as 'significant' in 2023, The New York Times reported.
Virtually all of America's ATC sites were understaffed and many controllers were forced to work six-day weeks and 10-hour shifts.
Under Biden, the Federal Aviation Administration turned away more than 1,000 well-qualified air traffic controller applicants due to its DEI policies, despite the staff shortage.
President Donald Trump blamed DEI hiring practices for the tragic air crash in Washington, D.C.
Trump tore into Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during his remarks
Trump has signed an order citing 'problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration.'
'We need the smartest people. We need both psychologically smart and just brilliant period,' Trump said while signing the order and blaming DEI for the crash that left 67 dead in the Potomac River on Wednesday.
The Army Black Hawk that collided with an American Airlines plane was hundreds of feet outside air traffic control's predesignated, approved route ahead of the deadly crash over the Potomac River.
The Black Hawk was supposed to be following 'Route 4' - a known path at Reagan National that allows helicopters to fly at low altitudes below 200 feet to avoid commercial jets arriving at the Virginia airport - sources told The New York Times.
However, the military aircraft - which was marked as a PAT-25 - was flying above 300 feet and was at least a half-mile off course when it collided with American Airlines Flight 5342 on Wednesday evening, killing 67 people.
Five current and former controllers told The Times the controller should have instructed both aircrafts to fly away from each other rather than just asking one to move from the other.
