Update on the “buyout”
The investigation into the collision over the Potomac had not really even begun, but, hey, Trump wasted no time in blaming the military pilot. (The link goes to Irish Star.)
President Donald Trump has claimed that the midair collision between an American Airlines plane and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night could have been avoided, with Vice President JD Vance also posting about the incident on social media.
On Truth Social, Trump, collision between an American Airlines plane and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter , wrote: “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time.”
He continued: “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.”
Trump concluded with strong words: “This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
There is more at the link.
Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if Trump or Hegseth orders the Army to not disburse survivor’s benefits to the helicopter crew’s family. After all, according to Trump, they caused the crash.
Here’s an idea, one which is rapidly approaching the same census numbers as unicorns: let’s do an investigation by competent professionals and determine the cause or causes of the collision based on actual evidence.
I don’t know how I will endure these predictable insipid proclamations everytime there is a disaster.
Isn’t it obvious, the Black Hawk helicopter was a DEI hire?
And did you notice none of our helicopters are White? They’re all Indians, and not the good ones either.
Was the Secretary of Defense immediately up on the situation or was he on a bender?
This kind of thing didn’t happen when Biden was president.
They literally had to come and throw the Inspector General for the USDA out of her office.
Well, not so dramatic – they “escorted” her out, after she refused to leave, saying that her firing had been handled illegally. Which it was. Good for her
You joke, but I just checked on Breitbart and there are lots of people asking that question, non-ironically.
You’ve just made Ellecram’s plan more attractive.
Mrs Magill wondered aloud this morning whether the air traffic controllers had been shit-canned.
Well, they would have been, but for the fact that the people that would have fired them have already been sacked.
Holy Grail, Batman!
As a pilot, and therefore an amateur crash investigator, my initial guess is that the Black Hawk pilot was in the wrong. ISTM that the airline pilot was on short final, probably a bit nose-high for landing. I heard yesterday that the Black Hawk pilot was instructed to pass behind the jet. The rules say that less maneuverable aircraft have the right-of-way over less maneuverable ones. So it was on the helicopter pilot to see and avoid the less-maneuverable jet that was 400 feet AGL and on short final.
Trumps press conference regarding the crash is such an abomination…just unbelievable rambling bullshit about blame and himself and planes and air controllers. And of course blaming dei hiring…(and a few words about the victims).
My wife didn’t want to listen to him. Did he say something about Russia?
Weltschmerz
"the depression that comes when one compares the way the world should be… to the way the world is."
This is all I can manage to describe my mood today.
I was watching last night when it happened, and, sadly, my first thought was “a-hole is gonna say this is somehow Crooked Joe’s fault”. So fucking sick of this one trick pony.
I just got modded (appropriately) in the MPSIMS thread about the crash for commenting on this shitshow of a press conference.
This fucking piece of garbage is an embarrassment to our country. If I had a loved one on that plane, I would be absolutely livid.
This is literally true, and I certainly hope the media repeats this fact over and over again: this is the worst domestic air incident since 2009. This never happened when Biden was president.
I got five bucks that says he orders his Transportation Secretary to blame ATC and its DEI policies.
I was impressed that the anchor on CNN (Dana Bash I think) stated that Trump was president now and this was his problem to deal with. Don’t count on that happening often. I’ll be saying “This never happened when Biden was president” a lot over the next few years.
Maybe the controllers decided to take the 9 months of pay offer and stayed home yesterday.