It sounds like many of the victims are going to be kids 
The figure skating community is posting a lot on socials; they donât seem to be confirming names as families are still being notified, but there is plenty of speculation that these were all junior skaters around age 9-12 as well as parents and coaches on board with them.
US figure skating actually had a plane crash about 60 years ago that took the entire squad; to this day they donât all travel together because of that incident.
Elon first actions to get head of FAA fired given all his crying over the years of his plane being tracked
Then there is shock and being disoriented in the dark and the extreme cold.
I think youâre grossly underestimating the effect of cold shock.
https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1995/vp950217/02170571.htm
https://mariovittone.com/2010/10/the-truth-about-cold-water/
https://www.coldwatersafety.org/cold-shock
https://www.instagram.com/p/C7PVf2kvoD0/?igsh=MTBia2Z0ZWk4bmZuNg==
Maxim has been confirmed as not being on the plane; he left Kansas a couple of days earlier than his parents.
Trump blames DEI hiring on the crash.
And dwarfismâŚ
Zeke Miller And Chris Megerian, The Associated Press - Jan 30, 2025 / 10:16 am | Story: 530575
Photo: The Canadian Press
President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump on Thursday questioned the actions of the army helicopter pilot and air traffic controller ahead of a deadly midair collision in Washington and quickly veered into politics to speculate that Democrats and diversity initiatives shared blame for the deaths of 67 people.
As Trump spoke, a federal investigation into the crash was just getting started and first responders were still working to recover bodies from the wreckage of the commercial jet and army helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday night.
Speaking from the White House â just over three miles from the scene â Trump at points acknowledged that it was too soon to draw conclusions as he encouraged the nation to pray for the victims. But he moved nonetheless to assign blame.
Trump said âwe are one familyâ as he expressed condolences for the crash. He then proceeded to attack political opponents and unleash grievances about diversity initiatives.
âThe FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agencyâs website,â Trump said. He added that the program allowed for the hiring of people with hearing and vision issues as well as paralysis, epilepsy and âdwarfism.â
Trump said air traffic controllers needed to be geniuses. âThey have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses,â he said. âYou canât have regular people doing their job.â
Trump said he had no evidence to support his claims that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and hiring preferences played a role in the crash, allowing that "it just could have been.â He defended doing so âbecause I have common sense.â
The plane crash marked the first major disaster of Trumpâs new term, and his response evoked his frequent â and controversial â briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic. His handling of the pandemic helped sour voters on him as he failed to win reelection in 2020.
Trump said âwe do not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions.â Then he proceeded to hold forth at length about what happened, at one point wondering if the helicopter pilot was wearing night vision goggles.
Trump declared that âyou had a pilot problemâ and the helicopter was âgoing at an angle that was unbelievably bad.â And he questioned why the Army pilot didnât change course, saying that âyou can stop a helicopter very quickly.â He also mused about the air traffic controller, saying of the two aircraft, âfor whatever reason they were at the same elevation," adding "they should have been at a different height.â
Vice President JD Vance, new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth all lined up behind Trump to praise his leadership and echo his concerns about DEI programs and hiring.
âWhen you donât have the best standards in who youâre hiring, it means on the one hand, youâre not getting the best people in government," Vance said, âBut on the other hand, it puts stresses on the people who are already there.â
Trump complained specifically about Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary under former President Joe Biden, calling him âa disaster.â
âHeâs run it right into the ground with his diversity,â Trump said.
Complaining about the previous administration, Trump continued, âtheir policy was horrible and their politics was even worse.â
Buttigieg responded in a post on X, calling Trumpâs comments âdespicable.â He added: âAs families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying."
Trump made a point to tell Duffy, who was sworn in on Tuesday as Buttigiegâs replacement, âItâs not your fault.â Duffy took the White House podium alongside Trump and declared, âWhen Americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination.â Duffy added, âWe will not accept excuses.â
Despite the crash, Trump said he "would not hesitate to fly.â
The ârealâ enemy
Contemptible. But not at all surprising.
He is a narcissistic incompetent prick ⌠letâs face it. He is always at his very worst when a tragedy hits the country
He doesnât need a tragedy to display just how despicable he is, but he is consistent, a total R sole.
Just a guess, but I suspect you donât like him. But maybe I am reading that wrong?
Misidentification of which aircraft the helicopter sees & is told to fly behind seems like a viable scenario.
Trump needs to stop blaming others and the Dems need to stop blaming Trump. Let the investigators determine what happened.
Or perhaps Trump needs to stop telling everyone heâs going to cull 5,000,000 jobs in the public service that might lead to additional stress being placed on employees in already stressful lines of work.
As soon as Trump suggested this was caused by DEI he lost any case for anyone to stop looking at ways his actions may have contributed
This appears to have been an ATC issue. ATC employees amongst many others have been targeted by Trump and Elons rhetoric over the last couple of weeks. It is not a stretch to suggest this may have played a very small role. Itâs way way way more conceivable than this accident having been caused by DEI hires.
This was interesting. It really does seem that the Black Hawk misidentified the two planes approaching.
I doubt it had anything to do with what happened, at all.
In fact, according to a leaked report this has been an ongoing issue for some time:
By Brianna Morris-Grant
One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) obtained by The Associated Press.
The configuration was ânot normal,â the report said, but a person familiar with the matter said the staffing at the air traffic control tower on Wednesday night was at a normal level.
The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.
They said the two positions were regularly combined when controllers needed to step away from the console for breaks, were in the process of a shift change, or when air traffic was slow.
The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers and identified fatigue as a factor that might lead to mistakes.
After a number of highly publicised close calls between planes that were following orders from control towers, the FAA said last summer that it would increase the minimum time controllers get between shifts starting this year.
AP
So staff already under pressure have more pressure added.
Surely you can see that such a situation is more conceivable as being a contributing factor than DEI hires.
Like all things this will likely come down to many factors. They may or may not find ATC errors to be one of the factors, but Iâm fairly confident (short of Trump putting is a fake investigation team to generate the answers he wants to push an agenda based on (redacted) ) that DEI hires will have nothing to do with it
