Black Hawk military helicopter collides into American Airlines flight landing at Reagan Airport in Washington, DC

After several conversations with my husband, as well as hearing from friends and acquaintances we both have made over the years, I’d like to share this heartfelt and very human insight into this horrific and tragic happening.

My husband(who has 40 years of aviation experience, the last 30 in commercial aviation, 10 years as a trained aviation “Crash site investigator” during the last 20 years of his unblemished career as Captain, on numerous aircraft, (the CRJ being just one) received this testimonial from someone he has worked with over the last 20 years.

Sharing it with the forum as it may give some insight for those unaware of the depth of impact this has had not only on “the general public”, but on an industry of dedicated and committed professionals with morals and commitment. @Charade, I see you, and my condolences.
Divine Cosmic Mind, have mercy.

Written by a senior Flight Attendant and former colleague of my husband:

“If you’re doing it right - every take off and every landing a flight attendant is in a state of preparation for the worst.
The details in your head become filled with actions / equipment/ commands/ so much so that you can readily blurt the first syllable of the word “EMERGENCY” without any hesitation.
Aside from the parodies you see on the internet - the general public has no idea of the state of readiness we are in - and over the years - the position has become pretty much a minimum wage entry job.

It takes a very special person to do this and commit to it - and then also perform (like an actor) to create a comfortable place and a restful journey for folks - flight after flight.

Pilots (I almost became one) are doing the same thing every flight and are trained to illicit that very same type of response to overcome a “shock startle reflex” and handle anything that is thrown at them.
We… (the flight attendant) are the in between - taking care of the needs of the folks in the seats - as we whisk them to meetings and vacations - reunions - events - one flight at a time.

Today - I have done this for 36 years. I have created relationships with friends in this industry and we have become family.

During my last silent review - as I sat in that state of readiness - with a little bit of knowledge of PSA 5342 - I had to overcome more that a shock startle reflect.
I had to fight a profound sadness.
There have been very few incidents involving the aircraft type I work on. The last one was a tragic “single person” event in Seattle when a Q-400 was lost.
In that incident I was astounded at the manoeuvres that aircraft went through and remained structurally sound.

In this instance - it was different.

I sat and heard (if you’re trained well you hear these things) - the radar altimeter call “1000”as I began thinking about “what I would do”. I focused on things like exits and words that would be needed. I briefly thought about how tired I was and the drive ahead of me.
The family - then cleared my head and back to the commands. “500”. Equipment locations “You hold people back”. “Lights -camera - action”. “100”.
“50-40-30-20-10”. Contact.
As we rolled out I thought “Pretty good Chris- but Jenna’s was better in San Diego”.
I picked up the PA.
I said “and I hope we’ll see you again soon…”
We said goodbye and thank you.
Many of the passengers didn’t know.
After a day of weather delays we even finished a 13 hour day on schedule.

Then I looked at the news.
400 feet.
That would have been about 10-15 seconds after “500”.
The flash.
The noise.
The water.
The “it won’t happen to me”.

36 years and I’m still going.
Still a professional - still care about what I do and still try to mentor those that are learning the ropes because I still am.
I won’t stop because I love it.
I will weep for this because it hurts and hits close.
We had an aircraft near the event and I believe it was in a line waiting to depart.
This one will take a while to stop thinking about.
But we will carry on managing the carry ons.
I’ll be saying “Welcome aboard” again a few hours.
I won’t be the only one.

We know what you were doing.
Thinking.
Preparing for.
We can’t believe what happened.
We are with you and you will always be with us.

January 30 1989. Today 36 years later it hits a bit different. “Clear for the door”.
 
After several conversations with my husband, as well as hearing from friends and acquaintances we both have made over the years, I’d like to share this heartfelt and very human insight into this horrific and tragic happening.

My husband(who has 40 years of aviation experience, the last 30 in commercial aviation, 10 years as a trained aviation “Crash site investigator” during the last 20 years of his unblemished career as Captain, on numerous aircraft, (the CRJ being just one) received this testimonial from someone he has worked with over the last 20 years.

Sharing it with the forum as it may give some insight for those unaware of the depth of impact this has had not only on “the general public”, but on an industry of dedicated and committed professionals with morals and commitment. @Charade, I see you, and my condolences.
Divine Cosmic Mind, have mercy.

Written by a senior Flight Attendant and former colleague of my husband:

“If you’re doing it right - every take off and every landing a flight attendant is in a state of preparation for the worst.
The details in your head become filled with actions / equipment/ commands/ so much so that you can readily blurt the first syllable of the word “EMERGENCY” without any hesitation.
Aside from the parodies you see on the internet - the general public has no idea of the state of readiness we are in - and over the years - the position has become pretty much a minimum wage entry job.

It takes a very special person to do this and commit to it - and then also perform (like an actor) to create a comfortable place and a restful journey for folks - flight after flight.

Pilots (I almost became one) are doing the same thing every flight and are trained to illicit that very same type of response to overcome a “shock startle reflex” and handle anything that is thrown at them.
We… (the flight attendant) are the in between - taking care of the needs of the folks in the seats - as we whisk them to meetings and vacations - reunions - events - one flight at a time.

Today - I have done this for 36 years. I have created relationships with friends in this industry and we have become family.

During my last silent review - as I sat in that state of readiness - with a little bit of knowledge of PSA 5342 - I had to overcome more that a shock startle reflect.
I had to fight a profound sadness.
There have been very few incidents involving the aircraft type I work on. The last one was a tragic “single person” event in Seattle when a Q-400 was lost.
In that incident I was astounded at the manoeuvres that aircraft went through and remained structurally sound.

In this instance - it was different.

I sat and heard (if you’re trained well you hear these things) - the radar altimeter call “1000”as I began thinking about “what I would do”. I focused on things like exits and words that would be needed. I briefly thought about how tired I was and the drive ahead of me.
The family - then cleared my head and back to the commands. “500”. Equipment locations “You hold people back”. “Lights -camera - action”. “100”.
“50-40-30-20-10”. Contact.
As we rolled out I thought “Pretty good Chris- but Jenna’s was better in San Diego”.
I picked up the PA.
I said “and I hope we’ll see you again soon…”
We said goodbye and thank you.
Many of the passengers didn’t know.
After a day of weather delays we even finished a 13 hour day on schedule.

Then I looked at the news.
400 feet.
That would have been about 10-15 seconds after “500”.
The flash.
The noise.
The water.
The “it won’t happen to me”.

36 years and I’m still going.
Still a professional - still care about what I do and still try to mentor those that are learning the ropes because I still am.
I won’t stop because I love it.
I will weep for this because it hurts and hits close.
We had an aircraft near the event and I believe it was in a line waiting to depart.
This one will take a while to stop thinking about.
But we will carry on managing the carry ons.
I’ll be saying “Welcome aboard” again a few hours.
I won’t be the only one.

We know what you were doing.
Thinking.
Preparing for.
We can’t believe what happened.
We are with you and you will always be with us.

January 30 1989. Today 36 years later it hits a bit different. “Clear for the door”.
Sad and silent state of vulnerability! We are so far from totally autonomous flying aircrafts. Think about having a TARS for each airplane. (Ref. to Interstellar) Note to self: Dream baby, dream.
 
It's curious that they've released bios and family interviews concerning two of the three helicopter crew, leaving people to speculate online that the third is a female pilot, or even a transgender one:

From AP:

Ryan O’Hara​

Ryan O’Hara was one of three soldiers aboard the Black Hawk helicopter.

“Ryan was just the most committed, disciplined person I remember working with,” said Josh Muehlendorf, a senior instructor pilot in the U.S. Army. “He had such great integrity.”

The two flew together numerous times on the same route in D.C. several years prior to the fatal crash and O’Hara took rules and procedures seriously, according to Mehlendorf.

“Ryan was one of those crew chiefs who always had our back,” he said. “It’s really hard to stomach a guy as professional and excellent as he was.”

Andrew Eaves​

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said on the social platform X that the state was mourning the death of Andrew Eaves, who was also aboard the Army helicopter.

Eaves was from the small town of Brooksville in eastern Mississippi, Reeves said.

His wife Carrie Eaves confirmed he was on the helicopter in a Facebook post Thursday.

“We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve,” the post read.

She also asked that people refrain from posting negative comments on social media.

“These families children do not need to suffer more pain,” she wrote.
 
It's curious that they've released bios and family interviews concerning two of the three helicopter crew, leaving people to speculate online that the third is a female pilot, or even a transgender one:
It looks like that is the case:


'She' recently converted to Judaism.


So that, if true, puts another wrinkle in the story. One way or the other this was evidently no accident, and the public will not learn of the real cause or motive... by design?
 
It looks like that is the case:
In case the Tweet is taken down or is invisible in some countries, the main news in the text is:
The Last Interview of Blackhawk Pilot Joe Ellis—Was This Crash Intentional? Just ONE DAY before piloting the Blackhawk that collided mid-air with a passenger jet over DC, transgender military pilot Joe Ellis appeared on the Michael Smerconish podcast. In the interview, Ellis expressed anger over Trump’s ban on trans service members, calling it a direct threat to a career in the military.
 
It appears they a sending out a myriad of messages to who is in the know. RT run a article yesterday
that a great majority of the passenger list were Russian American junior skaters along with their families and coaches. So maybe
its also a message to Putin why they choose this Airline. Also distraction and fear mongering to paralyze passengers.
 
Indeed, but what about the vaccinated ones that may follow certain instructions?
What about voice to skull devices that may have been present to deliver certain instructions?
There are many plausible details that could turn a speculative thought into a theory.

Question is, can you zap 3 pilots in the same time to drive an apache helicopter which is not a small bird into a descending 80 ppl jet flying at 140km/h, and all that in the dark? You need some skill for that or wrong data fed to the air traffic control, which would prove real time external monitoring.

I would consider this incident a terrorist cyber attack.
 
Back
Top Bottom