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The midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a US Army Blackhawk helicopter in Washington has puzzled experts, given the perfect flying conditions and strict controls in one of the world’s busiest air corridors.It “shouldn’t have happened,” Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said.”That was as routine a (commercial) flight as it gets,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic.”I’ve been on it many times. Many people in Washington who go to Kansas have been on it,” he told AFP.President Donald Trump echoed this, commenting on Truth Social, that the flight, arriving at Reagan National Airport from Wichita, Kansas, “was on a perfect and routine line of approach.”The collision occurred in congested but tightly controlled airspace over a city that has not seen a major aviation tragedy since the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attack. The previous accident was in 1982.According to Flightradar24’s Ian Petchenik, the collision occurred at approximately 300 feet (90 meters), mere seconds before landing. “The runway threshold is at the river’s edge. The Kansas flight was ready to touch down,” he told WUSA-TV in DC.The airspace around Reagan Airport regularly accommodates dense helicopter traffic, including military flights between the Pentagon and nearby bases, Coast Guard patrols, and Marine Corps helicopters serving the White House.Commercial aircraft like the one involved are equipped with TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System), designed to alert pilots to nearby aircraft and provide last-minute collision avoidance instructions.Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and FAA air crash investigator and head of Guzzetti Aviation, noted that Washington’s busy airspace allows civilian and military aircraft to “mix it up.” Despite clear conditions, he said investigators would examine “human ability to perceive objects at night,” considering factors like night vision goggles and streetlight interference.- ‘Whatever can happen’ -Retired British Army Air Corps Major George Bacon, who has flown military helicopters in US air space, said night vision goggles could have been a factor in the crash.”Although extremely good because it makes it almost look like daylight, they have a sort of ‘tunnel effect'” or can suffer interference from street lights, he said.Captain Sully Sullenberger, known for safely landing his commercial plane in the Hudson River, told CBS that Reagan National was “considered a special airport that requires a bit more study to operate there safely, because of the short runways because of the proximity of other airports.”While mid-air collisions “occur annually or biennially,” commercial aircraft involvement is rare, according to Syracuse University professor and aviation safety expert Kivanc Avrenli. The last fatal commercial mid-air collision in the US occurred on April 9, 1990, when Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2254 collided with a Cessna in Alabama.If confirmed as an accident, Wednesday’s crash will be Washington’s most serious since the 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 disaster, when a Boeing 737 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge during severe winter weather, killing 74 people. That tragedy sparked significant changes in aviation safety regulations, particularly regarding de-icing procedures.Sullenberger cautioned that catastrophic events can still occur when “all the dominoes line up in the wrong way.” “Given enough time, given enough flights, given enough flight hours, eventually whatever can happen will happen unless we work very hard to prevent every incident from turning into an accident.”

US President Donald Trump said he expected to decide Thursday whether to include crude oil imports in tariffs on Canada and Mexico that are due to take effect within days.”We’re going to make that determination probably tonight,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the possibility of levies on oil from the two US neighbors.He added that the decision “depends on what the price is — if the oil is properly priced, if they treated us properly.”Trump confirmed he was going ahead with his previously announced plan to begin imposing a 25 percent levy on all Canadian and Mexican imports from Saturday.It had not previously been clear whether oil would be included or not.Canada and Mexico supplied more than 71 percent of US crude oil imports in 2023, with nearly 60 percent coming from Canada alone, a congressional report said.Trump has accused the two key trading partners of failing to tackle illegal immigration and drug trafficking.He has also ramped up tensions with Ottawa in particular, repeatedly floating the unlikely idea of Canada becoming the 51st US state.Trump’s January 20 inauguration has sparked fears of a return to the global trade wars that marked his first term in office from 2017 to 2021.The Republican has also been wielding tariffs to back up other policy threats.He threatened Colombia last week with huge levies for turning back two US military planes carrying undocumented migrants. Bogota then backed down.China is another possible target, although Trump’s tone has varied on whether he will hit America’s biggest economic rival with tariffs too.”With China, I’m also thinking about something, because they’re sending fentanyl into our country,” he said Thursday, referring to the synthetic opioid drug.On the campaign trail he promised tariffs as high as 60 percent, but then said on taking office on January 20 that he was considering a level of 10 percent.Then last week he said he would “rather not,” if possible.

He has been pilloried for his vaccine skepticism, but Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to reduce America’s reliance on processed foods and pharmaceuticals has also struck a chord.As RFK Jr. faced hostile questions from Senate Democrats during his confirmation hearing, the corridors were filled with supporters eager to catch a glimpse of their hero — now bidding to become President Donald Trump’s health secretary.”He was a huge factor in my vote for Trump,” said Chana Walker, a 37-year-old hairstylist and former Democratic voter, as she waited outside an overflow room with fellow fans of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.For these “Moms for RFK,” concerns about food additives, water pollution and rising autism rates — issues that resonate with scientists and elements of the political left — intertwine with a mistrust of the medical system and skepticism toward vaccine safety that can drift from established facts.Sporting matching purple shirts, they came from varied political backgrounds, defying easy categorization.”If you look over in Europe, you can probably name and recognize most of the ingredients,” said Emily Stack, the 30-year-old political director of Moms for America.”But here, you look at the same product and can’t even pronounce half of them.”Priscilla Lyons, a 35-year-old who works in sales, said she opposes Ozempic-like drugs as a quick fix for America’s obesity epidemic.She’s inspired by Kennedy’s emphasis on organic foods and exercise to address root causes rather than enriching pharmaceutical companies.When the subject turns to how the US health care system manages depression, the group sighs in agreement.”It’s always, ‘take pills,'” said Rachel Truhlar, a 52-year-old military spouse.- Growing movement – Kennedy, 71, was once a celebrated environmental lawyer who accused climate change deniers of treason.By the mid-2000s, he began shifting his focus toward public health, taking on obesity and criticizing harmful practices by Big Agriculture.However, he also took a hard turn toward conspiracy theories, chairing Children’s Health Defense — a nonprofit widely regarded as a source of vaccine misinformation. In a recent book, he went so far as to question whether germs truly cause disease and cast doubt on whether HIV causes AIDS, positions thoroughly at odds with scientific consensus.Epidemiologist Syra Madad, a fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center, believes Kennedy has succeeded in exploiting a void left by successive governments’ failure to address persistent public health problems.”They’re highlighting statistics that are true — like the obesity crisis — and as a mom of three, that resonates with me,” she told AFP.”I’m very conscious about what my children eat and what they put into their bodies.”Yet she faults Kennedy for “bumper sticker” slogans that lack deeper substance, coupled with his harmful anti-science positions. “That’s where the rubber meets the road: when you look at RFK — his experience, his line of thinking, and who he surrounds himself with — it’s concerning because he doesn’t support science-based evidence.”Madad also found it troubling that Kennedy, during his hearing, seriously downplayed his history of hostility toward vaccines — from falsely linking the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) shot to autism, to calling Covid-19 vaccines the “deadliest ever made.”On the question of vaccines, the Moms for RFK generally take a dim view. Walker noted that while her son received his early-childhood shots, she eventually sought a religious exemption so he would not need any further ones.Another member, 49-year-old business owner Shari Nielsen, blamed Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine for her husband’s heart problems.

Global figure skating’s tight-knit community was in mourning on Thursday after a passenger jet crash in Washington killed two former world champion coaches and stars from the next generation of top US talent.Former Russian world pairs champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov and at least two other elite skating coaches, and as many as 14 American skaters, were lost when a plane collided midair with a US Army helicopter on Wednesday night.American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, crashed into the Potomac River, with President Donald Trump announcing Thursday there were no survivors.Among those grief-stricken was Nancy Kerrigan, a former US women’s champion and two-time Olympic and world medalist based in Boston, where the World Figure Skating Championships will be held in March.”Not sure how to process it,” she said, breaking down in tears. “When you find out you know some of the people on the plane, it’s an even bigger blow.”Added reigning world and US men’s champion Ilia Malinin: “I’m heartbroken by the tragic loss of my fellow skaters in this devastating accident. This loss is beyond words.”Doug Zeghibe, chief executive of The Skating Club of Boston, confirmed six club members were on the plane, including 1994 world pairs champions Shishkova and Naumov.”To the best of our knowledge, 14 skaters returning home… were lost in the plane crash,” said Zeghibe, who declared the disaster would have “long-reaching impacts” for the sport.Zeghibe said the passengers were returning from US Figure Skating’s national development camp, conducted in Wichita following last week’s US championships there.”This camp is for young competitive stars of tomorrow with the most promise to be a champion of tomorrow,” Zeghibe said.US Figure Skating, in a statement, confirmed only that “several members of our skating community” were on the plane.”We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts.”The Skating Club of Boston said skaters Jinna Han, 13, and Spencer Lane, 16, their mothers and Naumov and Shishkova were aboard the plane that crashed into the icy Potomac.”I’ve never seen anyone love skating as much as these two and that’s why I think it hurts so much,” Kerrigan said of Han and Lane.”The kids care. They work really hard to be here. Their parents work hard… it’s just such a tragic event.”It also could mean a lost generation of champion talent.”Our sport and this club have suffered a horrible loss with this tragedy,” Zeghibe said. “We’re devastated.”US Olympic and Paralympic Committee chief executive Sarah Hirshland said, “These Olympic hopefuls represented the bright future of Team USA,” and “were remarkable young people and talents,” who will “forever hold a cherished place in the Team USA family.”- ‘Sadness beyond words’ -Congressman Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia posted on social media that among those killed was Russian skating coach Inna Volyanskaya of the Washington Figure Skating Club.Alexandr Kirsanov, another Russian coach, was on the plane, according to his wife Natalya Gudin, who told ABC News she has “lost everything.”The Philadelphia Skating Club said only that “beloved members” died in the crash.The accident revived memories of a February 1961 tragedy involving the US figure skating squad, half of which were Boston club members according to Zeghibe.The entire 18-member team bound for the world championships in Prague was killed when their plane crashed as it prepared to land in Brussels.Naumov and Shishkova, who coached in Boston since 2017, will be missed, Kerrigan said.”To walk in here and not see (them) would be very strange for everybody,” she said. “And it’s going to be hard.”Naumov and Shishkova have a 23-year-old son, Maxim Naumov, who won the 2020 US junior men’s title and placed fourth at last week’s US nationals. Zeghibe said Maxim Naumov was not aboard the plane.International Skating Union president Kim Jae-youl said “the world of figure skating is heartbroken,” adding: “To lose so many members of our community in this way brings sadness beyond words.”A moment of silence was observed Thursday at the European Figure Skating Championships in Estonia.

A US commercial airliner with 64 people aboard and a military helicopter collided over Washington on Wednesday before crashing into the Potomac River.A rescue mission had turned into a recovery operation by Thursday, with no survivors expected.Here’s what we know so far:- What happened? -Just before 9:00 pm (0200 GMT Thursday) a Bombardier jet operated by American Airlines subsidiary PSA was approaching Reagan National Airport when it collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.American Eagle Flight 5342 was flying to the US capital from Wichita, Kansas — typically a journey time of just under three hours.Air traffic controllers asked the jet to switch its landing route from one runway to another shortly before the crash, according to The New York Times, which added this was a routine request for regional flights.Ahead of the crash, controllers warned the helicopter it was on course to collide with the passenger jet.Footage from the nearby Kennedy Center captured a small aircraft heading towards a well-lit descending plane before a fireball can be seen.Both plunged into the Potomac River, with the plane fuselage splitting into three separate pieces.- No survivors -Authorities say they do not expect any survivors from the crash, and were on Thursday working to recover 67 bodies from the river.American Airlines reported 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the flight, while three US Army personnel were on the helicopter, according to a military official.The plane was carrying athletes and coaches from the elite figure skating world, including former Russian world pairs champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.US Figure Skating said “several” members of its community were aboard the flight.The plane pilot was identified by US media as Sam Lilley, a 28-year-old with six years experience at American Airlines, and who was engaged to be married.- Complex recovery operation -Washington fire chief John Donnelly said a large-scale and “highly complex” recovery operation was launched Wednesday night. Boats were still on the water Thursday looking for victims and wreckage.Water conditions were cold enough for hypothermia to set in within 30 minutes, according to experts, and some debris had spread downriver into Maryland.None of the so-called black box flight recorders had been located as of Thursday afternoon, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said, adding they were believed to be underwater.- Was it avoidable? -Both aircraft were on standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility, albeit in an airspace that is extremely busy with military and commercial craft.US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said those aboard the helicopter — a captain, staff sergeant and chief warrant officer — were a “fairly experienced crew.”Authorities said the weather Wednesday night was clear, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy adding that the crash was “absolutely” preventable.President Donald Trump told a news conference that the American Airlines plane was “doing everything right” before the collision.”You had a pilot problem from the standpoint of the helicopter,” Trump said. “You could have done a million different maneuvers. For some reason, it just kept going.”- Investigation underway -The New York Times reported that staffing in Reagan National’s air traffic control tower was “not normal,” citing an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report.A controller was monitoring both planes and helicopters — jobs that “typically are assigned to two controllers, rather than one,” the newspaper reported.The NTSB, the federal agency that probes civilian transportation accidents, said it will leave “no stone unturned” in its investigation into the incident.After the crash Trump blamed so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies under presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for poor safety standards, building on the Republican’s wider attacks on DEI practices since he took office last week.Asked about the president’s claims, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters: “As part of any investigation, we look at the human, the machine and the environment.”

Traditionally, when US secretaries of state make their international debuts, they travel to major US allies and offer bromides about working together.Marco Rubio’s first trip will be different. He will travel to five small Latin American nations to aggressively push President Donald Trump’s doctrine of US self-interest, starting with the Panama Canal.Rubio will start his trip Saturday in Panama, after Trump charged that China has unfair influence over the canal and vowed that the United States would be “taking it back.”Rubio will then head to El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic to hammer leaders for cooperation on one of Trump’s priorities — deporting millions of people, mostly Latin Americans, living illegally in the United States.Days before Rubio’s trip, Trump showed the punishment he can dole out for resistance.When Colombia’s leftist president, Gustavo Petro, refused US military aircraft of detained citizens and pleaded for more humane treatment, Trump threatened massive tariffs on the longstanding US ally and Rubio suspended visa services. Petro quickly backed down.- Raw self-interest -Rubio, in an interview with SiriusXM radio ahead of the trip, said he sought “stronger” partnerships in the Western Hemisphere and that Central American nations had their own incentive to decrease instability.”I think we’re going to have a Western Hemisphere that’s more secure” and “our interest in the Panama Canal will be more secure,” he said.Rubio, a former senator and presidential contender, is the first Hispanic and first fluent Spanish speaker to serve as the top US diplomat. But Trump’s style also marks a return to an earlier time — the “big stick diplomacy” of the early 20th century when the United States brandished force to get its way, including in building the Panama Canal.Trump in his inaugural address evoked that era as he said the United States still had a “manifest destiny” to expand.”Trump’s comment about somehow needing to take back the canal really brings up old ghosts, the ghosts of US imperialism,” said Leland Lazarus, an expert at Florida International University and the Atlantic Council.He noted that Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has said his country, which took full control of the canal in 1999, would “jealously preserve and protect its sovereignty.”But Lazarus also pointed to “silent movement” by Panama to review China’s clout including through an audit of Hutchison Holdings, the Hong Kong company that operates ports on both sides of the canal.- Championing the right -Maureen Meyer, vice president for programs at the Washington Office on Latin America, which promotes human rights, expected many in the region to be concerned about a relationship built not on “mutual cooperation and respect, as much as by bullying and sometimes a transactional relationship.”  But she said that all wanted to avoid tariffs by their giant neighbor to the north.”Each of these countries has their own interest in developing a good relationship with the Trump administration,” she said.Rubio, a Cuban-American vociferously opposed to the island’s communist government, is also expected to promote Latin American conservatives in the region’s ideological tug-of-war.Chief among them is El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who has earned hero status within Trump’s Republican Party for his no-holds-barred crackdown on crime in which tens thousands of people have been rounded up.Human rights groups have criticized Bukele over detentions of innocent people. But once prevalent homicides have dropped sharply and he was re-elected last year with 80 percent of the vote, with Donald Trump Jr. attending his inauguration.Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader for his part has championed a Trump-style hard line on chronically unstable and impoverished Haiti, starting work on a wall and ramping up deportations.Rubio will find a different dynamic in Guatemala whose president, Bernardo Arevalo, is an anti-corruption advocate who faced down threats by the conservative elite to take power after his upset 2023 election victory.Arevalo — whose country is a major source of migrants — has been quick to cooperate with Trump, including by accepting deportees.”Arevalo is looking for support from the Trump administration, because he knows his own government has been threatened by internal forces that oftentimes have had strong relationships with members of the Republican Party,” Meyer said.

Faced with the first big test of his new administration, Donald Trump wanted to show he was in control. Not just as America’s consoler-in-chief, but as its chief prosecutor and air accident investigator-in-chief too.Trump started his White House briefing on a midair collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter in Washington with a traditional presidential tone and a moment of silence in what he called an “hour of anguish for a nation.”But he quickly pivoted to blame — and culture war politics.He blamed the helicopter pilots for the crash that killed 67 people. He blamed night-vision goggles. He talked about landing tracks and altitudes.”We have some very strong opinions,” Trump announced.Above all, the 78-year-old Republican blamed the crash on diversity hires, in an astonishing attack on his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”Because I have common sense, OK? ” Trump replied when asked how he had reached the conclusion that programs to counter racism and sexism had played a role.But the underlying message as Trump took the podium, flanked by a parade of tribute-paying officials, was that he had the situation under control — and the crash wasn’t his administration’s fault.The deadliest US plane crash for a decade came as questions swirl about Trump’s plans for a radical right-wing reshaping of the federal government — including its aviation agency.- ‘Not your fault’ -Trump’s briefing had echoes of his appearances during the Covid pandemic in his first term when the abiding theme was: only I can fix this.On one famous occasion Trump mused about injecting disinfectant as a “cleaning” for the disease. Like then, Trump’s first instinct on Thursday was to put himself at the center of the story, and to launch political attacks on his opponents.And, like then, Trump rolled out people to praise him. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Secretary of Defense chief Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance were all called up to the famed lectern.”It’s not your fault,” Trump said as he summoned a stunned-looking Duffy, who was sworn in less than six hours before the crash.Duffy duly said the “president’s leadership has been remarkable.”Hegseth took his turn, thanking Trump for his “leadership and courage” in what he calls a war on “woke” politics in the military, including a ban on transgender service members. It was far from the first time Trump had used the traditional presidential role as consoler of the nation in times of tragedy to attack his opponents.Last week he visited victims in fire-scorched California and hurricane-hit North Carolina — launching broadsides at Democrats and threatening to shut down the federal disaster agency.- ‘Madness’ -But Trump’s preemptive assault on diversity on Thursday allowed him to deflect wider questions about whether his purge of the federal government will strain the agencies he will need to probe the air crash — and future crises like it.It came just a day after the White House was forced into a major climbdown, rescinding an order freezing funds for federal aid that caused chaos across the country.The Federal Aviation Adminstration had no full-time leader at the time of the crash because its leader stepped down on inauguration day after Trump’s cost-cutting chief Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, demanded that he quit.Trump announced a replacement during the briefing on Thursday.The FAA was also one of the first targets for Trump’s slew of executive orders after his inauguration, with one targeting diversity “madness” at the agency.The spotlight also remains on Hegseth, a former Fox TV contributor and military veteran, who is also in his first week in the job.His campaign against “woke” in the US military was criticized by his predecessor Lloyd Austin, who said that rejecting “qualified patriots” would make the armed forces “weaker.”Hegseth is also under pressure to deliver after squeaking through his confirmation process due to allegations of alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct and concerns over inexperience.

US President Donald Trump — speaking as the bodies of 67 people were pulled from Washington’s Potomac River — launched an extraordinary political attack Thursday blaming diversity hires for the midair collision between an airliner and a military helicopter.The Republican confirmed the deaths of all those aboard both aircraft, and also cited pilot error on the helicopter in the nighttime crash.But he chiefly used a press conference to open fire at what he said were left-wing diversity practices under his Democratic predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama that he claimed kept out good employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.”I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first,” Trump said.”They actually came out with a directive: ‘too white.’ And we want the people that are competent.”As Trump spoke in the White House, police divers searched for more bodies in the water.Wreckage of the Bombardier jet operated by an American Airlines subsidiary protruded from the river surface, surrounded by emergency vessels and diving teams. It had been carrying 64 people.The army Blackhawk helicopter, which had three soldiers aboard, was also in the river.”We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said. Twenty eight bodies had already been found.The collision — the first major crash in the United States since 2009 when 49 people were killed near Buffalo, New York — occurred late evening on Wednesday as the airliner came into land at Reagan National Airport after a routine flight from Wichita, Kansas.Reagan National is a major airport located a short distance from downtown Washington, the White House and the Pentagon. The airspace is extremely busy, with civilian and military aircraft a constant presence.Dramatic audio from air traffic controllers showed them repeatedly asking the helicopter if it had the passenger jet “in sight,” and then just before the crash telling it to “pass behind” the plane.- Trump politicizes crash -Trump opened his press conference by speaking of the nation’s “anguish” and said that the investigation would take time.However, he then launched into an extended broadside against so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies.Trump — who began his presidency a week ago with an onslaught against decades-old measures aimed at preventing sexism and racism in the United States — singled out Biden’s openly gay transport secretary Pete Buttigieg.”He’s run it right into the ground with his diversity,” Trump said.The message was hammered home as Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, and new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, took turns at the podium to repeat that diversity measures kept capable Americans out of responsible jobs.Asked again by reporters whether he was blaming workplace diversity for the crash, Trump answered: “It could have been.”Buttigieg responded on X, calling Trump “despicable.””As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying,” he said.- Skaters among victims -Hundreds of rescuers were rapidly at the scene, but found themselves battling darkness and floating ice through the night. Some of the debris was located a mile downriver.Among those on the airliner were several US skaters and coaches, US Figure Skating said. Officials in Moscow also confirmed the presence of Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the 1994 world pairs title.The violence of the collision soon made it clear that survivors were unlikely.”I just saw a fireball and it was gone,” one air traffic controller was heard telling a colleague after communication with the helicopter was cut.- What happened? -Transport officials said both aircraft were on standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility.Hegseth said the Black Hawk chopper had “a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation.””Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.Trump, in addition to blaming racial and other kinds of diversity policies, offered extended remarks on the flight paths.The helicopter was “going at an angle that was unbelievably bad,” Trump said.

It was a cold and clear night in Washington as a passenger plane descended towards a runway at the US capital’s airport, seemingly unaware that an army helicopter was flying into its path.American Airlines flight 5342, with 60 passengers and four crew, was in the final minutes of its journey from Wichita, Kansas — where some figure skaters onboard had taken part in a competition and training camp.Meanwhile, a Black Hawk helicopter with three military personnel was flying at the same altitude over the Potomac River during what was described as a routine nighttime training flight.The first warning of an impending collision came from air traffic controllers.”Pat 2-5 do you have the CRJ in sight?” a controller asked, using the call sign for the Black Hawk helicopter, asking if it could see the airplane.Gasps could then be heard moments later, with one voice asking “tower, did you see that?””I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river,” another air traffic controller said after the crash.A webcam at the nearby Kennedy Center captured the moment the helicopter flies into the well-lit plane, producing a bright flash followed by a plume of smoke, before the two aircraft fall from the sky.Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw the plane, saying it “looked normal” before looking back seconds later to see it “banked all the way to the right.””I could see the underside of it. It was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” he told CNN.The plane and helicopter plunged into the icy waters below, prompting a desperate rescue mission that began with at least 300 first responders.Working with spotlights in pitch darkness, they began scouring the river for survivors — a search that soon turned to a recovery operation of 67 bodies, with all those involved presumed dead.At Reagan National Airport, some were waiting to greet their loved ones from the flight when they learned of the crash. Hamaad Raza, whose wife was on the plane, told news outlet WUSA that she sent a message to say they were landing in 20 minutes.”The rest of my texts did not get delivered, that’s when I realized something might be up,” he said.

Donald Trump’s picks to lead the US intelligence community and top law enforcement agency were assailed over their lack of experience and past judgment calls Thursday as the Republican president’s most contentious cabinet nominees faced showstopping Senate confirmation hearings.Tulsi Gabbard, tapped for director of national intelligence, sat before the Senate Intelligence Committee for the most consequential confirmation hearing to date, while Kash Patel was questioned on his ambitions to head the FBI. Gabbard, a former Hawaiian congresswoman who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, is considered Trump’s most vulnerable cabinet-level nominee, and her grilling marked the biggest test of his sway over Senate Republicans since he took office.She is regarded with suspicion over her past support for NSA leaker Edward Snowden, seen on both sides of Congress as having imperiled national security.She also faced questions over her lack of national security experience, her 2017 meeting with now-deposed Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad and her peddling of Russian propaganda, particularly false conspiracy theories about the Ukraine war.Just one Republican “no” vote would stop Gabbard’s nomination from making it to the Senate floor with a favorable report, and the party’s leadership has indicated that she wouldn’t get a vote without committee support.Tom Cotton, the panel’s Republican chairman, said he was “dismayed” by attacks on Gabbard’s patriotism and loyalty, pointing to her two-decade military career and five FBI background checks that he said showed her to be “clean as a whistle.” But Mark Warner, the top Democrat, argued that foreign allies may not be able to trust Washington with their secrets if Gabbard is put in charge of the constellation of 18 intelligence agencies.- ‘Weaponization’ -In his opening statement he said the US intelligence mission “is all predicated on trust — trust that our allies will protect each other’s secrets.””It appears to me you have repeatedly excused our adversaries’ worst actions and instead often blame them on the United States and those very allies,” he added.But Gabbard hit back, arguing that her critics were upset that “I refuse to be their puppet” and saying that Trump won a clear mandate to end the “weaponization and politicization” of the intelligence community.She acknowledged that Snowden had broken the law by leaking highly classified information in 2013 but repeatedly refused under questioning from both sides to call him a traitor.”I’ll begin by leading by example, checking my own personal views at the door and committing to delivering intelligence that is collected, analyzed and reported without bias, prejudice or political influence,” she told the panel.On a day of drama on Capitol Hill, there were fiery exchanges between Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee and FBI director-designate Kash Patel, although he appears to be on a surer footing than Gabbard. Democrats argued that he is an unrepentant conspiracy theorist and brought up a list of 60 supposed “deep state” actors — all critics of Trump — he included in a 2022 book, whom he said should be investigated or “otherwise reviled.”Senator Dick Durbin, the panel’s top Democrat, said Patel had “neither the experience, the temperament nor the judgment to lead” the FBI.Patel has denied that he has an “enemies list,” and told the committee he was merely interested in bringing lawbreakers to book.In one unexpected exchange he distanced himself from at least some of Trump’s pardons of hundreds of criminals convicted of violence over the 2021 US Capitol insurrection.”I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement,” he said.At the same time Robert F Kennedy Jr was appearing for a second hearing on Capitol Hill, a day after coming under attack from Democrats over his promotion of vaccine misinformation, and his sudden embrace of anti-abortion policies.Thursday’s questioning turned to past allegations of sexual assault from a babysitter who received an apology from Kennedy after claiming he groped her in 1999.Kennedy denied sexual misconduct, saying the accusation had been “debunked,” and added that he texted the alleged victim an apology for “something else.”Trump has chosen Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.