WASHINGTON DC: Fifteen US and Russian figure ice skaters were among those 67 people who got killed in the mid-air Helicopter-Plane collision near Reagan National Airport here on Thursday (30th Jan 2025).

Moscow also confirmed the presence of Russians in the plane including 1994 world skating champion pair Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the American Eagle CRJ700 (manufactured by the Canadian firm Bombardier), that was flying from Kansas to Washington.

WASHINGTON: Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot and crew: Captain Rebecca Lobach; Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves; Staff. Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara.

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Sikorsky Aircraft’s product Black Hawk UH 60, that took off from Fort Belvoir in Virginia on a training flight, was manned by three soldiers. Since the aircraft plunged into freezing Potomac River, there is no possibility of the survival of anyone.

President Donald Trump informing that he had been fully briefed on the accident, thanked the first responders for their work: “I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise”. While talking to journalists at a Presser, Trump insinuated that employment standards had been lowered in Federal Aviation Administration to accommodate people from different backgrounds.

“The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn…Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!” Trump stated.

“The people in the helicopter should have seen where they were going…I can’t imagine people with 20/20 vision not seeing what’s happening up there.”

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