Real World Boston star says “it’s not standard to have aircraft collide”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy: "Obviously, it is not standard to have aircraft collide. I want to be clear on that." pic.twitter.com/MtVrku3GAL
- Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 30, 2025
- Last night, a Black Hawk flown by US Army pilots on a training flight hit an American Airlines flight approaching National Airport. Both aircraft fell into the Potomac. All 60 passengers and four crewmembers on the plane are presumed dead; they have recovered 28 so far. Some of the passengers were affiliated with US figure skating and had been at the US Figure Skating Championships and subsequent camp.
- It isn’t yet clear why it happened, but the small jet was going to land on runway 33, and it’s possible the helicopter pilot wasn’t familiar with that approach. Politicians have pushed to increase flights out of National so they don’t have to drive all the way to Dulles, with resistance from local politicians citing safety concerns over increasing flight volume and plane size.
- There will be an investigation, but the FAA director resigned on 1/20 after facing pressure from Elon Musk because the FAA threatened SpaceX with fines for safety lapses, and Trump gutted the Aviation Security Advisory Committee to eliminate “the misuse of resources.” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy turned around and walked away from his press conference this morning when a reporter asked if there was an acting head of the FAA. Trump has posted "This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!" Secretary of Defense Hegseth, who was railing against DEI on Fox around the time of the crash, tweeted that there will be an investigation, but was not at this morning’s press conference. The NTSB has not commented.
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