In one of the deadliest plane crashes since the turn of the century, American Airlines flight 5342 collided with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington D.C. last night. 64 passengers were aboard the airline and 3 soldiers were in the helicopter. 40 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage strewn river after stopping the recovery effort for the night at 6:05 , but President Donald Trump has announced that there are no survivors.
Although the head of the air traffic controllers union said it was too early to even speculate the cause of the crash, President Trump pointed the finger at liberal diversity policies in the Federal Aviation Administration during a White House briefing.
“The FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing. And then it says FAA says people with severe disabilities are most underrepresented segment of the workforce… Brilliant people have to be in those positions.” – President Donald Trump
Trump appointed Chris Rocheleau, former chief operating officer of the National Business Aviation Association, to be the acting FAA Commissioner. The previous commissioner Mike Whitaker resigned ahead of the new administration.
Among the deceased are Russian world champion ice skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, as well as other U.S. ice skaters. The skaters were returning from a development camp held in Wichita, where the U.S. Figure Skating Championships took place and where the flight took off from. The number of skaters on the flight is unreleased.
Georgians Sam Lilley and Ryan O’Hara were on the jet and helicopter, respectively. Lilley, a copilot on the American Airlines flight, was raised in Savannah and graduated from Georgia Southern in 2018. He left behind a fiancee and both parents. His father, an Army vet, actually operated Black Hawks during his time in service and flew in the same area his son went down in. He was candid about his first reaction with FOX 5 Atlanta.
“This is undoubtedly the worst day of my life.” – Tim Lilley, father of Sam Lilley
On the other side of the collision was Ryan O’Hara, a Gwinnett County native and a Parkview High School alum. He graduated high school in 2014 and was the crew chief of the team flying the Black Hawk. He left behind a wife and a one-year-old son. He was remembered as a handyman around the ROTC gym.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp in an X post sent his condolences to the families and friends of the two Georgians that passed away, saying, “Both of these young Georgians shared a passion for flight and serving others, and this terrible tragedy is that much more difficult knowing their lives were cut so unexpectedly short.”