Doomed Black Hawk helicopter's call sign sparks fresh mystery following DC plane crash

The telephone motion for the doomed Black Hawk chopper that crashed into an American Airlines level and killed much than 60 passengers has sparked enigma arsenic the nationalist struggles to marque consciousness of the tragic incident. 

The Black Hawk was marked arsenic a PAT 25, which stands for precedence aerial transport and is usually reserved for erstwhile the Army is conducting VIP missions, specified arsenic having officials onboard. 

The Army has confirmed nary officials were onboard the aircraft, which was carrying 3 soldiers, a modular sized crew, according to Fox News Journalist Jennifer Griffin. 

The subject craft was conducting a grooming flight, according to Joint Task Force-National Capitol Region Media Chief Heather Chairez. It belonged to B Company, 12th Aviation Battalion retired of Fort Belvoir successful Virginia. 

However, immoderate aren't buying those claims, and question what the unit was carrying onboard for it beryllium designated arsenic a PAT 25. 

Jacq Cerra, who is successful the Army, is 1 of the radical questioning it, saying connected TikTok: 'I'm telling you close present - and they tin termination maine for saying it - nether nary circumstances is simply a subject helicopter, particularly a f**king Black Hawk, accidentally crashing into a commercialized plane. 

'There's nary way,' she continued earlier bringing up the telephone sign. 'What's connected that helicopter, you know?' 

A TikTok commenter named Uche, who claimed to beryllium a Marine veteran, besides thought the clang was weird, penning nether Cerra's video: 'You’re 100 percent correct, those Black Hawks determination damn adjacent omni-directionally and the pilots are top-tier, a batch of questions.' 

A fewer minutes earlier the pitchy was to land, aerial postulation controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could bash truthful connected a shorter runway, and the pilots agreed. 

Controllers cleared the pitchy to onshore and formation tracking sites showed the level set its attack to the caller runway.

Less than 30 seconds earlier the crash, an aerial postulation controller asked a chopper if it had the arriving level successful sight. 

The controller made different vigor telephone to the chopper moments later, saying 'PAT 25 walk down the CRJ' - seemingly telling the chopper to hold for the Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine pitchy to pass. 

There was nary reply. Seconds aft that, the craft collided.

The plane’s vigor transponder stopped transmitting astir 2,400 feet abbreviated of the runway, astir implicit the mediate of the Potomac.

Eerie radar footage showed the Black Hawk chopper chopped done the airspace from the other absorption nether screen of darkness, with some aircrafts seemingly unaware of the other's presence.

They slammed into 1 different conscionable 400ft supra ground, erupting successful a convulsive detonation earlier plunging into the freezing Potomac River below.

The assemblage of the level was recovered upside-down successful 3 sections successful waist-deep water, officials said. The helicopter’s wreckage was besides found. 

New Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on X that an probe by the Army and Department of Defense has begun. 

Hegseth besides said the chopper unit was 'fairly experienced' and was performing an 'annual proficiency grooming flight.' 

'They did person nighttime imaginativeness goggles,' Hegseth said successful a video posted to X.  

More than 60 radical were killed connected the American Airlines flight, including fig skaters Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, who some skate successful Boston. 

Spencer Lane uploaded the photograph astir 7pm ET Wednesday, which appeared to amusement the pitchy taxiing connected the runway astatine Wichita Airport successful Kansas earlier it took disconnected for its last flight.

He captioned it ICT -> DCA - the codes for Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

His mother, Christine Lane, was confirmed dead. Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, Jinna Han's parent Jin are besides dead. 

The 3 soldiers are besides presumed dead. Hegseth did not denote their identities, arsenic their families are inactive being notified. 

President Donald Trump has blamed diverseness and inclusion for 1 of the deadliest level crashes successful US history.

Speaking astatine the White House, Trump said the calamity was wholly preventable arsenic helium slammed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) recruiting practices successful national agencies.

He added that helium had immoderate 'pretty bully ideas' of however the catastrophe occurred and vowed to marque definite it would ne'er hap again.

Trump past said helium enactment 'safety' archetypal portion Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden prioritized authorities and called erstwhile Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg a 'disaster' successful an bonzer onslaught connected erstwhile administrations.

'He was a catastrophe arsenic a mayor. He ran his metropolis into the crushed and he's a catastrophe now. He's conscionable got a bully enactment of bulls**t,' Trump said of Buttigieg.

Then helium insisted that national agencies request to beryllium hiring based connected quality alternatively than connected diversity. He added that Air Traffic Controllers request to beryllium 'geniuses.' 

He was besides asked astir Hegseth's connection that the Black Hawk was doing an 'annual retraining, nighttime flights connected a modular corridor for a continuity of authorities mission.'

Trump did not look to instantly cognize astir continuity of authorities – which refers to however the authorities functions during a catastrophe – erstwhile asked astir it.

'I don't cognize what that refers to, but they were practicing. They were – they bash that. They telephone it practicing, and that's thing that should beryllium done. It's lone continuity successful the consciousness that we privation to person precise bully people, and that has to beryllium successful continuity, and that's what they referred to,' Trump said.