The first commercial flight from the United States to Venezuela since 2019 took off from Miami International Airport on Thursday morning, a win for the Trump administration as the president reshapes Washington&#8217;s relationship with Caracas.
The American Airlines plane destined for Caracas was given a water salute by fire engines on the tarmac before it took off from Miami at around 10:00 a.m. ET. Flight AA3599 was operated by Envoy Air, a subsidiary of American Airlines. The plane was one of the airline&#8217;s America 250 commemorative aircraft.
&#8220;For nearly 7 years there have been no direct commercial flights between the U.S. and Venezuela,&#8221; the State Department said. &#8220;Under President Trump we&#8217;re changing that today. Flights between Miami and Caracas restored.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
For nearly 7 years there have been no direct commercial flights between the U.S. and Venezuela.
Under President Trump we&#8217;re changing that today. Flights between Miami and Caracas restored. <a href="https://t.co/3fsLVwWHQQ">pic.twitter.com/3fsLVwWHQQ</a>
— Department of State (@StateDept) <a href="https://twitter.com/StateDept/status/2049870663138083123?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Flight AA3599 is expected to arrive in Caracas just after 1:20 p.m. local time. The plane will return to Florida later Thursday afternoon, the Associated Press <a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/flights-resume-from-miami-to-caracas-venezuela-for-the-first-time-in-7-years/3803307/">reported</a>. Miami resident Lennart Ochoa said he was excited for the reopening of commercial air travel between the two countries.
“I’m very excited to go and see the family and I’m looking forward to see the country,” Ochoa said, according to the AP.
Thursday&#8217;s flight from the United States to Venezuela comes less than five months after U.S. forces captured dictator Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the United States to face drug trafficking charges. In March, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article314795646.html">praised</a> acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez and said his administration&#8217;s relationship with Venezuela had greatly improved after the operation to capture Maduro.
The Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/15/politics/dhs-suspends-venezuela-flights">suspended</a> air travel between the United States and Venezuela in 2019 during Trump&#8217;s first term &#8220;based on the ongoing political instability and increased tensions in Venezuela.&#8221; Just a few months earlier, the Trump administration sanctioned Venezuela&#8217;s state-run oil company, citing Maduro&#8217;s corruption.
“As a result of the Maduro regime’s inability to govern and perpetuation of lawlessness, it is no longer possible to certify that Venezuela is meeting baseline standards of security,&#8221; a U.S. official told CNN at the time.
The flight to Caracas on Thursday is just the first of many commercial flights to come between the two countries. In the coming months, American Airlines will also offer <a href="https://www.aa.com/en-us/flights-to-venezuela">flights</a> to Caracas from Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, and Washington, D.C.

American Airlines

Trump Officially Opens Flights To His Favorite South American Country

Air Travel

Donald Trump

Global Politics

Trump Administration

Venezuela

World

Hobby Airport  TSA line

Why Our Disgusting Airports Are Proof Of The Country’s Decline

Why Our Disgusting Airports Are Proof Of The Country's Decline

Airlines

Matt Walsh

New York City

Opinion

United Airlines

Violence

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss what their investigation revealed about the 2025 mid-air collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a United States Army helicopter that killed 67.
The hearing comes nearly a year to the day of the crash that happened January 29, 2025. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told a <a href="https://x.com/petemuntean/status/2016230873557856470?s=20">reporter</a> after Tuesday&#8217;s hearing that the incident that took place in Washington, D.C., was &#8220;100% preventable.&#8221;
Investigators said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ignored warning signs about a dangerous level of air traffic at Reagan National Airport (DCA) before the tragic crash.
“We have an entire tower who took it upon themselves to try to raise concerns over and over and over and over again only to get squashed by management and everybody above them within FAA,” Homendy said at the hearing.
Homendy and other NTSB members said the crash resulted from systemic failures at multiple institutions, including too much reliance on pilots to maintain visual separation between aircraft — the safe distance every plane has to maintain to avoid collisions.
During the hearing, NTSB members showed the most accurate recreation of the crash to date. A series of presentations showed how the Army helicopter and the American Airlines jet collided, with the helicopter blade slicing off one of the wings of the jet. Both aircraft immediately fell into the Potomac River.
According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2026/01/27/final-ntsb-hearing-dca-crash/">The Washington Post</a>, there was a wide array of issues that led to the tragedy. Per the outlet, instruments gave inaccurate readings, there was a lack of identification and collision avoidance technology on both the helicopter and the commercial jet, the airspace was crowded, and basic failures occurred including FAA maps that didn&#8217;t have clear guidance on the exact details of the helicopter&#8217;s route. The plane crew was never warned about the helicopter from air traffic controllers.
Per The Washington Post, the helicopter crew most likely confused the American Airlines aircraft with a plane that was farther away. Investigators also found the helicopter crew thought the aircraft was flying lower than it was. Investigators said Tuesday that the crash could have been prevented if the helicopter crew knew the instruments on the aircraft might have displayed inaccurate information about the altitude.
Homendy, who was visibly frustrated, said the two routes were close together and the FAA should have known the dangers.
“How is it that no one, absolutely no one in the FAA did the work to figure out there was only 75 feet, at best, 75 feet of vertical separation between a helicopter on Route 4 and an airplane landing on runway 33?” she asked at the hearing.
A controller at DCA was managing five helicopters and six aircraft after working alone for more than five hours at the time of the crash. The Washington Post reports nine times in the 18 minutes before the crash, the approaching collision alerts can be heard in the background of tower transmissions. However, investigators said there&#8217;s no evidence that any of the pilots or controllers involved that night were unqualified, impaired, or sleep-deprived &#8212; but they said the FAA did not conduct timely drug and alcohol testing for the controllers in the tower that evening in the aftermath of the accident.
Since this incident, the FAA banned non-essential helicopter traffic near DCA and closed the route the Black Hawk chopper took the night of the crash.
The helicopter had three crew members on board. The commercial jet was carrying 60 passengers, including youth figure skaters and coaches. United States figure skater Maxim Naumov lost his parents in the crash. He will compete in next month&#8217;s Winter Olympics in his parents&#8217; honor.

Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images

NTSB Chair Says D.C. Plane Crash That Killed 67 Was ‘100% Preventable’

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

General

Plane Crash

U.S.

Washington D.C.

An American Airlines flight landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Tuesday was forced to abort its landing to avoid hitting another plane taking off on the same runway.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that the incident happened at around 8:20 a.m. EST.
&#8220;An air traffic controller instructed American Flight 2246 to perform a go-around at Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA) Airport to ensure separation was maintained between this aircraft and a preceding departure from the same runway,&#8221; the statement said.
The FAA said that a &#8220;go-around&#8221; maneuver is a &#8220;safe, routine maneuver performed at the discretion of a pilot or at the request of an air traffic controller.&#8221;
The maneuver aborts a landing and returns the aircraft to a position where it can make another approach to land.
&#8220;American has a no-fault go-around policy as a go-around is not an abnormal flight maneuver and can occur nearly every day in the National Airspace System,&#8221; American Airlines said in a statement. &#8220;It&#8217;s a tool in both the pilot&#8217;s and air traffic controller&#8217;s toolbox to help maintain safe and efficient flight operations, and any assertion that flight 2246&#8217;s canceled approach was more than that is inaccurate.&#8221;
The incident comes after a Southwest Airlines flight had a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/us/chicago-midway-airport-near-miss-planes/index.html">very close call</a> on Tuesday morning at Chicago Midway International Airport.
Southwest Flight 2504 was touching down on the tarmac when a private jet taking off pulled out in front of the plane. The Southwest flight was forced to initiate a go-around, immediately taking off again to avoid a collision.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into the incident, officials said.
&#8220;We don’t believe that this was an air traffic control issue,&#8221; TSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/ntsb-blames-southwest-chicago-near-miss-flexjet-crew-failure-listen-air-traffic-control">Fox News</a>. &#8220;It appears this was a failure of the flight crew from Flexjet to listen and abide by the instructions of air traffic control.&#8221;

American Airlines Plane And Black Hawk Helicopter Crash Near Reagan National Airport

American Airlines Flight Forced To Abort Landing To Avoid Another Plane Collision

Air and Space

airport

Questions continue to abound in this horrifying tragedy outside Reagan National Airport, where an American Airlines flight coming from Wichita, Kansas, was struck by a Black Hawk helicopter.
Was this an air traffic control problem? Was this a pilot error issue? All of that is still very much up in the air. There have been near-misses in the past.
A lot of people are now asking why Black Hawk helicopters are operating at night in an area where passenger jets are taking off and landing.
Apparently, near-misses of this sort tend to happen a lot more often than expected. According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pilots-recall-problems-washington-airport-after-fatal-crash-2025-01-30/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a>, “U.S. commercial pilot Rick Redfern was preparing to land at Reagan Washington National Airport about a decade ago when he spotted a bright red Coast Guard helicopter hovering about 50 feet (15 m) above the Potomac River. Air traffic control promptly warned the helicopter pilot to stay clear, and Redfern said he used evasive maneuvers to avoid it and avert a potential disaster &#8211; and that was in daytime, when visibility was clearer.”
It&#8217;s almost unthinkable that this even happened, considering how sophisticated our machinery is now and how sophisticated our ability is to see planes in the air — even at night.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2129-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
But to attribute it to anything other than an accident at this point would be to move beyond the available evidence; it&#8217;s unclear what caused the crash. Apparently, the black boxes have been recovered, so we&#8217;ll have a better window into what was going on aboard the two aircraft before they collided. Army secretary nominee Daniel Driscoll said during a Senate hearing that the crash may prompt the military to reconsider conducting training operations near the Washington, DC airspace.
Yesterday, when President Trump spoke to the press, he brought up the DEI policies of the Obama and Biden administrations that he felt had weakened the air traffic control systems. 
That suggestion made Democrats insane. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), for example, slammed Trump for speculating about DEI issues.
You could make the case that President Trump shouldn&#8217;t be talking about DEI and the FAA until we have more details, but I think what Schumer really objected to was the idea that DEI is bad at all. Like all Democrats, he tends to think DEI is good. And it pervaded every aspect of the Biden administration.
As The Washington Times <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jan/30/faa-diversity-hiring-practices-scrutiny-long-air-d/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>:
<blockquote>Years before Wednesday’s fatal collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, critics warned that the Obama and Biden administrations had jeopardized safety by prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion at the Federal Aviation Administration. &#8230;
Critics warned that the FAA’s focus on DEI diverted time and resources from air travel safety. It hobbled the agency as it grappled with air traffic controller shortages, antiquated monitoring equipment and an increase in near misses on crowded airport runways, they said. An unidentified source told The Associated Press on Thursday that the air traffic controller in charge of monitoring the airspace at the time of the fatal collision was performing the work of two people.</blockquote>
In other words, because they couldn&#8217;t get enough “diverse members” in the FAA, they were simply under-hiring. That meant that they were short-staffed during critical times.
The Times continued:
<blockquote>Air safety concerns prompted 11 Republican attorneys general to write to FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker last year to question the administration’s hiring practices and priorities. “Unfortunately, the Biden FAA, under your administration, appears to prioritize virtue-signaling ‘diversity’ efforts over aviation expertise. And this calls into question the agency’s commitment to safety,”</blockquote>
That is not wrong. It is true that the Obama and Biden administrations prioritized DEI over safety. The Times added:
<blockquote>The Biden-era FAA website, now scrubbed, said, “The FAA’s mission involves securing the skies of a diverse nation. It only makes sense that the workforce responsible for that mission reflects the nation.” In 2022, the FAA pledged to “diversify its workforce by rethinking its hiring practices,” and administration officials assigned long-term goals to amplify diversity, accessibility and LGBTQ issues. A 2022 performance target required that the agency “host a national symposium with internal and external stakeholders to socialize efforts on the use of gender-neutral language at FAA.” &#8230;
In 2013, the FAA started using a “biographical assessment” to increase the hiring of preferred minority racial groups at air traffic control centers. The assessment asked applicants about their participation in school sports &#8230;</blockquote>
One of the questionnaires circulated by the FAA reportedly awarded points for factors such as having the lowest grade in high school in science — which is psychotic.
There is a lot of heartburn on the Left because Trump is suggesting DEI had something to do with this accident. I can&#8217;t name the number of times that Joe Biden came forth right after some sort of school shooting — before any of the evidence was available — to discuss how gun control was obviously the solution.
Here&#8217;s the salient point: It is very clear that the FAA has been operating along these lines for a very long time. Regardless of whether this crash was a result of DEI or not, there is a reason why the blowback is coming in that form.
We&#8217;ll have to wait and see what the cause of this particular plane crash was, but it is certainly the case that procedures have to change. This is why President Trump took executive action yesterday, signing a memorandum to end DEI practices in the aviation sector and to assess aviation safety, as well as issuing an Executive Order to appoint a new head of the FAA.
Regardless of what led to this crash, DEI procedures must change.
Trump is correct about that.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-AVIATION-ACCIDENT

Trump, DEI, And The FAA

Airline Crash

Ben Shapiro

Biden Administration

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

President Trump

U.S. Army

Woke Culture

The more we learn about the mid-air collision involving American Airlines 5342 and a military Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, the more it&#8217;s clear that we can now identify some reasons why this catastrophe happened.
This is something that, in the mainstream press, you&#8217;re not supposed to say out loud. You&#8217;re supposed to believe that we can&#8217;t really know anything about what happened — and that, at a minimum, we should allow a few years&#8217; worth of investigation to take place, before we jump to any conclusions. That&#8217;s certainly the position of CNN, which sent a reporter to the White House briefing yesterday to browbeat Donald Trump because he cast blame on the Black Hawk pilots, DEI and air traffic control. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="006 Trump Against Kaitlan Collins" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AutwhdX_-ig?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
We&#8217;ve talked a lot about how Trump is reforming Washington at a very rapid pace, largely with his steady stream of executive orders and executive actions. But one of the most important changes he&#8217;s making is that he&#8217;s introducing accountability to the federal government. He&#8217;s demonstrating that he has no patience for the bureaucratic runaround that allows disasters like this to occur in the first place. The corporate media cannot run interference anymore. They cannot hide what actually happened.
One of the reasons that&#8217;s true is that, in this case, we have primary sources that we can rely on. There are a lot of aviation enthusiasts on platforms like YouTube, and they regularly upload air traffic control data and audio. And those videos paint a pretty clear picture of what took place on Wednesday night. Here for example is a reconstruction of the accident from the account &#8220;VASA Aviation.&#8221; It combines the radar tracking data with audio from air traffic control. In this footage, you&#8217;ll hear the first relevant interaction between the tower at Reagan airport and the Black Hawk helicopter crew. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="007 Visual Seperation" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/saYk_jL2BeI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
So the tower says, &#8220;PAT 25, traffic just south of the Woodrow Bridge, a CRJ, it&#8217;s 1200 feet setting up for runway 33.&#8221;
And then comes the response: &#8220;PAT 25 has the traffic in sight, requesting visual separation.&#8221;
And then &#8220;visual separation&#8221; is granted.
This is a key moment. Contrary to what you may have heard in the media, the controller tells the Blackhawk pilot exactly what plane to look out for, and where it is at that exact moment. And the Blackhawk pilot states that he sees the plane at the bridge, and will avoid it.
At this point, everything&#8217;s going normally.
Then, about twenty seconds later, an alarm goes off in the control tower, because the two aircraft are on a collision course. That obviously signals that the Blackhawk pilot may not have followed the instructions. Listen to what happens at that point:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="008 Crash Reaction" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5q8QY8qVkg4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
This time around, the air traffic controller isn&#8217;t very specific. He doesn&#8217;t state where exactly the passenger plane is, he just tells the helicopter pilot to avoid a &#8220;CRJ,&#8221; probably because he assumes they&#8217;re still tracking the same plane he mentioned earlier. He also doesn&#8217;t give the helicopter pilots much time to respond. And then, as you heard, within seconds the two aircraft collided.
So right away, there&#8217;s reason to speculate that maybe the Blackhawk helicopter was somehow looking at the wrong plane. Or maybe the Blackhawk lost sight of the passenger jet at some point, and failed to tell anyone. Either way, it&#8217;s clear that air traffic control&#8217;s guidance in those final seconds was very lacking, to say the least. And on top of that, based on the radar data, the Blackhawk pilots made a series of other mistakes, in addition to failing to see the passenger jet that was right in front of them.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1527-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
As several aviation analysts have pointed out, the Blackhawk helicopter was supposed to be below 200 feet at this point. That&#8217;s a requirement for all helicopters on that route, at that point, right in front of the runway at DCA. The idea is that they&#8217;ll pass below the arriving traffic at the airport. But in this case, according to the radar data, the helicopter was flying above 300 feet. Additionally, the helicopter appeared to be slightly off course.
According to the published charts for this area, the helicopter was supposed to be hugging the land. Instead, it was over the water. Here&#8217;s how one aviation analyst described the problem:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="009 Recap of Flight Paths" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jaM9VdRbeik?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
Late last night, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/01/29/us/plane-crash-washington-dc?rsrc=ss&amp;unlocked_article_code=1.tU4.kM9x.An5Rzyh6YvWu&amp;smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> this analysis: &#8220;The Army Black Hawk was supposed to be flying in a different location and lower when it collided with a passenger jet, according to four people briefed on the matter.&#8221;
So already, we have evidence of serious errors by pretty much everyone involved in this crash, except the American Airlines flight crew. They were in the right place, doing the right thing. The helicopter pilots were apparently too high and off-course, and they clearly failed to spot the plane that was right in front of them. According to the defense secretary, they also had night-vision on, which reduced their field of view. And the air traffic control wasn&#8217;t offering much help.
And that&#8217;s not even scratching the surface of the extent of the failures here. NBC News reports that, according to the FAA, staffing levels were &#8220;not normal&#8221; at the airport at the time of the accident. One controller was handling both inbound planes and helicopters, where normally two controllers split those responsibilities. So this is some of the most congested, critical airspace in the entire country, and we&#8217;re evidently running things at half capacity. How exactly is that possible?
As you might remember, a little over a year ago, I did a few <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6byj8jfZYRA" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D6byj8jfZYRA&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1738441249163000&amp;usg=AOvVaw31SaIoTbIYpw6lfbzff2RU">monologues</a> on the fact that a major aviation disaster was imminent in this country. It got to the point that it felt redundant after a while, because every week, there would be a new series of near-misses. We didn&#8217;t even have time to talk about all of them. In one of these monologues I specifically pointed out that TCAS — the on-board collision avoidance system in most commercial planes — doesn&#8217;t help prevent mid-air collisions when aircraft are close to the ground. It&#8217;s not designed to work below 1,000 feet. So I made the point that there&#8217;s a very high risk of a mid-air collision near the ground. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="010 Matt Predicts More Accidents" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NThFetmVdVQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I&#8217;m not an aviation expert. I&#8217;m not even a hobbyist. I&#8217;m a high school educated podcaster. But even I knew, more than a year ago, that this was a major risk. Our mid-air collision fail-safes simply do not work at low-altitude. That&#8217;s especially true given that some low-flying aircraft don&#8217;t have TCAS at all, like military Black Hawks.
With that information, you might think that the FAA would consider, say, banning helicopters from flying directly into the approach paths of major airports like Reagan National. But they didn&#8217;t think of that, apparently. Instead, this is the chart that helicopters currently use to fly around DC:
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-869635 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/gbtoHN0-Imgur-629x576.png" alt="" width="629" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/gbtoHN0-Imgur-629x576.png 629w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/gbtoHN0-Imgur-300x275.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/gbtoHN0-Imgur-768x703.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/gbtoHN0-Imgur.png 1188w" sizes=" (max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px" /></div>
As you can see, they just put the helicopter routes right in front of the airport. Look at how close Route 1 and Route 4 are to the runway. And if there&#8217;s any deviation from those altitudes whatsoever, there&#8217;s a major risk of a catastrophe. Everyone has to be perfectly on their game, at all times, or else there could be a disaster.
But as we know, very often, air traffic controllers are not always on their game. Almost all of the near-disasters I&#8217;ve talked about over the years were potential mid-air collisions caused by incompetent air traffic control. Here&#8217;s one of these near-misses from Reagan National Airport — the same airport where the crash occurred on Wednesday. This is from last April. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="012 Near Crash on Taxi 1" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0gOkFKYBR8c?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
You can hear the controllers in the tower screaming once they realize their mistake. Again, there was new footage like this every week. That&#8217;s why, in 2023, there were 503 air traffic control lapses that the FAA categorized as &#8220;significant,&#8221; which was a 65% jump year-over-year. I&#8217;ll say that again. &#8220;Significant lapses&#8221; by air traffic controllers increased by 65% in just one year.
It&#8217;s not hard to understand why this might be happening, given all of the evidence of declining standards at the agency. Last year for example I <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qofbS4OFLHM" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DqofbS4OFLHM&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1738441249163000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3-_fGXff2ALW-bdZ1uBm36">published</a> footage and documentation from whistleblowers in the FAA and the aviation industry. And what these whistleblowers made clear is that the FAA (and the airlines) have drastically cut their performance expectations, across the board. Actually, that&#8217;s underselling what happened. The FAA specifically went out of its way to punish white applicants. They introduced a &#8220;biographical questionnaire&#8221; that dinged applicants who had relevant education or experience, knowing that white applicants would be affected the most. In one case, an FAA official was even <a href="https://x.com/tracewoodgrains/status/1752091831095939471" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/tracewoodgrains/status/1752091831095939471&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1738441249163000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0pCHihEurO-D_MG5RT_Gv_">caught</a> <a href="https://x.com/JoshDehaas/status/1752175942166868312" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/JoshDehaas/status/1752175942166868312&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1738441249163000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0CDsU9rBPQmgjlId8PAHDf">helping</a> black employees — and only black employees — to access inside information that would help them in the application process. In the footage I reported on last year, a senior FAA official openly talked about the importance of &#8220;reducing the number of white males&#8221; in the aviation industry.
As increasingly under-qualified air traffic controllers have been promoted, the situation has deteriorated further. And that&#8217;s produced a constant stream of near-misses that continued right up until this disaster. As the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/01/30/dc-plane-crash-updates-helicopter-potomac-reagan-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>: &#8220;Just 24 hours before the collision of American Eagle Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday, another jet trying to land there had to make a second approach after a helicopter appeared near its flight path.&#8221;
So that&#8217;s what we know. Airlines and the FAA deliberately lower standards and then near misses dramatically increase. No one does anything about it, or takes preventative measures of any kind. And then we have an inevitable crash.
Based on those facts, do we know for sure that if DEI were never invented as a concept, then this accident would never have happened? No, we don’t. Based on the information we have right now, we can&#8217;t say that with certainty. One of the Black Hawk pilots was reportedly a woman with just 500 hours of experience, but we don&#8217;t yet know whether she was handling the controls at the time of the crash — although that seems likely, since her male co-pilot was doing the radio calls. But we still don&#8217;t know the full extent of her qualifications, or anything else.
At the same time, as Donald Trump outlined yesterday, that&#8217;s not really the point. The point is that we shouldn&#8217;t even have to wonder, even for a second, if DEI played a role in an incident like this. But we do have to ask that question because any agency or organization that practices DEI cannot claim to be upholding the highest possible standards.
As Trump pointed out, that never ends well — particularly in an industry like aviation. Watch:
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If we want to avoid future disasters like this one, this is the approach we need to take. We don&#8217;t really have a choice. You simply have to establish high standards. And if you can&#8217;t find enough applicants who meet those standards — if there&#8217;s a shortage of qualified personnel — then the solution is to pay qualified applicants more, so that you attract competent people.
At this point, we also need a full accounting of the damage that the COVID lockdowns have done to this country. Last night I received an email from a senior engineer at a major company in the aviation industry: &#8220;While nobody had it easy, the aviation industry was hit particularly hard. The demand for air travel plummeted when the lockdowns took effect, resulting in massive attrition of experienced people out of every corner of the aviation industry. When demand came back about three years ago, these people were replaced by relatively young and inexperienced new hires. I would be utterly shocked if this did not in some way impact the midair collision at Reagan National.&#8221;
That&#8217;s another aspect to this incident I hadn&#8217;t really considered. We have too few qualified people in part because of the devastation that the COVID lockdowns inflicted on this country. It&#8217;s yet another reason why we should never allow lockdowns like that to occur in this country. And the current White House seems to understand that.
Moving forward, the White House has now committed to rooting out existing DEI hires at the FAA, so they can start recruiting competent employees. Speaking to Fox last night, senior White House official Stephen Miller said that&#8217;s exactly what&#8217;s about to happen. Watch:
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This is the step we need to take. We have no other choice. Once an organization actually rewards competence, things start improving very quickly. A competent FAA official might decide, for example, that it&#8217;s a bad idea to have a helicopter route pass right in front of a major airport, on the assumption that the helicopter will never make a mistake and go 100 feet above or below their assigned altitude.
Those are the kinds of practical, life-saving decisions that get made when you&#8217;re focused entirely on your mission, and nothing else. They&#8217;re the kinds of decisions that Americans just voted for, in record numbers. And they&#8217;re the kinds of decisions that need to get made, immediately, before a lot more people die.

Why The Plane Crash Was Entirely Foreseeable And Preventable

Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan broke down in tears over the tragic <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/airplane-crash">plane crash</a> near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport involving an Army helicopter and American Airlines Flight 5342 on Wednesday night.
Speaking to <a href="https://x.com/MSNBC/status/1885067494538219837">reporters</a> outside the Skating Club of Boston, as an alumna member of the club, Kerrigan joined with fellow members and opened up about trying to process the loss following news that six of the victims &#8212; two teenage figure skaters, two coaches, and their mothers &#8212; who were killed in the plane crash, were from the Boston club, <a href="https://www.wcvb.com/article/nancy-kerrigan-skaters-washington-crash/63622801">WCVB</a> reported.
“Not sure how to process it,” Kerrigan said through the tears. “Which is why I’m here. I just wanted to be here and be part of our community.”
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&#8220;And then when you find out you know some of the people on the plane, it’s an even bigger blow,” she added. “We just wish them well, the families, the courage and the strength to make the next steps.&#8221;
&#8220;I just feel for the athletes, the skaters and their families &#8230; anyone that was on that plane, not just the skaters, because it&#8217;s just such a tragic event and we&#8217;ve been through tragedies before as Americans, as people, and we are strong,&#8221; Kerrigan continued. “Even when it&#8217;s hard, you get back up. Even when you&#8217;re crying, hurt, pain, you get back up and move forward. It&#8217;s not easy. But that&#8217;s what we all have to do now together.”
U.S. Figure Skating announced that there were “several” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/sports">athletes</a> and coaches aboard the passenger flight when it crashed into the Potomac River after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/airplane-crash">colliding</a> with the helicopter on Wednesday night, as previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-figure-skating-confirms-several-skaters-and-coaches-were-in-american-airlines-crash">reported</a>. The organization provided a <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/special-reports/dc-plane-crash/washington-dca-dc-reagan-national-airport-us-figure-skating-american-airlines/65-6b954cb8-4db9-4fa8-ad19-430829843262">statement</a> to news outlet WUSA9 on Thursday morning.
“U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/washington-d-c">Washington, D.C.,</a>” the statement read. “These athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.”
On Thursday morning, D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly said that rescue efforts were now switching to recovery efforts with no survivors expected in Wednesday night&#8217;s crash, as previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/authorities-believe-there-are-no-survivors-after-american-airlines-crash-with-army-helicopter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. He said first responders had already recovered the bodies of 27 of the 64 people onboard the passenger plane and one body from the Black Hawk helicopter.
“We wish we were gathering for different purposes today,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press conference. “We will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public. You should be assured that when you fly you are safe.” 
Amanda Harding contributed to this piece.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/first-lady-melania-trump-issues-statement-following-tragic-plane-crash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">First Lady Melania Trump Issues Statement Following Tragic Plane Crash</a>

Nancy Kerrigan

Olympic Skater Nancy Kerrigan Breaks Down In Tears Over Plane Crash

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U.S. Figure Skating announced that there were “several” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/sports">athletes</a> and coaches aboard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/american-airlines">American Airlines</a> Flight 5342 when it crashed into the Potomac River after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/airplane-crash">colliding</a> with an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night.
The organization provided a <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/special-reports/dc-plane-crash/washington-dca-dc-reagan-national-airport-us-figure-skating-american-airlines/65-6b954cb8-4db9-4fa8-ad19-430829843262">statement</a> to news outlet WUSA9 on Thursday morning. 
“U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/washington-d-c">Washington, D.C.,</a>” the statement read. “These athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.”
There were reportedly 60 passengers and four crew members on Flight 5342, a regional American Eagle jet that departed from Wichita, Kansas. The names of the athletes and coaches involved in the crash have not yet been made public.
World champion husband and wife pairs competitors Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were reportedly on board the plane, according to Russian state media. 
D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly said Thursday morning that rescue efforts were now switching to recovery efforts as no survivors are expected. He said first responders had already recovered the bodies of 27 of the 64 people onboard the passenger plane and one body from the military helicopter. 
“We wish we were gathering for different purposes today,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press conference. “We will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public. You should be assured that when you fly you are safe.” 
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom released a <a href="https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2025/Information-regarding-American-Eagle-Flight-5342/default.aspx">statement</a> on the crash, sharing his “deep sorrow.” 
“This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines. Our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, partners, first responders along with their families and loved ones,” he said. 
“Anything we can do now we are doing and right now that means focusing on taking care of all passengers and crew involved as well as their families,” Isom added.
The crash is under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Army, and the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the probe.
&nbsp;

U.S. Figure Skating

U.S. Figure Skating Confirms ‘Several’ Skaters And Coaches Were In American Airlines Crash

U.S. Figure Skating Confirms 'Several’ Skaters And Coaches Were In American Airlines Crash

Airplane crash

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Thursday morning that a &#8220;fairly experienced&#8221; crew was on the Army Black Hawk helicopter that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/plane-crash-halts-all-flights-at-ronald-reagan-washington-national-airport?topStoryPosition=5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">collided</a> with an American Airlines flight near Washington, D.C., Wednesday night before both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River.
Sixty-four people, including passengers and crew, were on board American Airlines Flight 5342, a regional jet that was preparing to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when it collided with the military helicopter. Authorities said Thursday morning that they believe <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/authorities-believe-there-are-no-survivors-after-american-airlines-crash-with-army-helicopter?topStoryPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">no one survived</a> the crash and have switched rescue efforts to recovery efforts. Responders have recovered at least 28 bodies from the Potomac River.
Hegseth said the three soldiers on the Black Hawk helicopter were conducting an &#8220;annual proficiency training flight&#8221; and were wearing night-vision goggles.
&#8220;The Army unit involved was Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, at Fort Belvoir,&#8221; Hegseth said. &#8220;It was an annual proficiency training flight, and when we look at the crew, not all kin have been notified, so we&#8217;re going to withhold ranks and names at this point. We do know, on our side, who was involved.&#8221;
The Department of Defense has deployed an investigation team to look into the crash, according to Hegseth, who said investigators will come up with answers &#8220;quickly.&#8221;
&#8220;We anticipate that the investigation will be able to quickly determine whether the aircraft was in the corridor and at the right altitude at the time of the incident,&#8221; he said, adding, &#8220;It&#8217;s a tragedy. A horrible loss of life for those sixty-four souls on that civilian airliner, and of course the three soldiers in that Black Hawk. They&#8217;re in our prayers.&#8221;
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Hegseth also addressed the media at the White House during a press briefing with President Donald Trump. During the briefing, Trump ripped the diversity, equity, and inclusion policies instituted by the Biden administration, and Hegseth assured that under the Trump administration, the &#8220;era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department,&#8221; saying the DOD will focus on putting the &#8220;best and brightest&#8221; in &#8220;every position possible.&#8221; He added that their standards will be &#8220;color-blind and merit-based.&#8221;
The Reagan Washington National Airport and surrounding area have some of the busiest air traffic in the country as military and government helicopters often fly near inbound and outbound commercial flights. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Thursday morning that the crash was &#8220;absolutely&#8221; preventable.
Duffy&#8217;s comments came after Trump addressed the crash in a late-night Truth Social post, <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113915617049801010" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a>, &#8220;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. 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. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!&#8221;
Wednesday&#8217;s deadly crash marked the first major commercial airline crash in the U.S. since 2009, when a Colgan Air flight <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/dc-plane-crash-marks-major-commercial-crash-us/story?id=118250215" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crashed</a> as it was landing at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. All 49 people aboard that plane were killed.
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report.

Pete Hegseth

Pete Hegseth Reveals More Info On Army Helicopter Involved In Deadly Plane Crash

Pete Hegseth Reveals More Info On Army Helicopter That Collided With AA Flight In D.C.

Authorities said Thursday morning they believe there are no survivors after an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight near Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., and crashed into the Potomac River late Wednesday night. 
D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly said Thursday morning that rescue efforts were now switching to recovery efforts as no survivors are expected. He said first responders had already recovered the bodies of 27 of the 64 people onboard the passenger plane and one body from the Black Hawk helicopter. 
“We wish we were gathering for different purposes today,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press conference. “We will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public. You should be assured that when you fly you are safe.” 
The crash, which was reported at around 8:48 p.m., prompted a 300-person emergency response from local fire departments, police departments, the Department of Defense, the Coast Guard, and the FBI.
Donnelly said that rescue workers faced frigid conditions, including icy water and wind that made the response efforts hazardous. 
Duffy added that the two aircraft had been located and that the fuselage of the airplane had been found in about three different locations. He said that an investigation was being launched by the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA. 
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said that he was “absolutely heartbroken” and that “we are all hurting incredibly.” He said it appeared that the helicopter appeared to have veered into the flight path of an American Eagle regional jet, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas. 
Some on board were American figure skaters. 
&#8220;U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C.,&#8221; the organization said. &#8220;These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.”
&#8220;We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available,” the organization added. 
In a statement on Truth Social overnight, President Donald Trump said that the crash could have been prevented. 
“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. 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. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”

US-AVIATION-ACCIDENT

Authorities Believe There Are No Survivors After American Airlines Crash With Army Helicopter

American Airlines passengers had a rough start to their Christmas Eve travel plans when the airline grounded all flights on Tuesday morning due to a nationwide &#8220;technical issue.&#8221;
American requested a ground stop for all of its flights, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, and <a href="https://x.com/AmericanAir/status/1871520528206295120" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on social media early Tuesday morning, &#8220;We&#8217;re currently experiencing a technical issue with all American Airlines flights.&#8221; An hour after the disruption, American Airlines began boarding flights again and the FAA lifted the ground stop, ABC News <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/american-airlines-requests-ground-stop-flights-faa/story?id=117078840" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
American said in in a statement later Tuesday morning that a “vendor technology issue” caused the disruption which has &#8220;been resolved and flights have resumed,&#8221; CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/24/business/american-airlines-delays-cancellations/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Just after 7:00 a.m. ET, American Airlines had nearly 2,000 outages reported, according to DownDetector. Social media users said they were stuck on the tarmac or being sent back to the gate after boarding their flights, Fox Business <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/american-airlines-reports-technical-issue-affecting-all-flights" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
&#8220;Was seated on plane. Captain made announcement at first computer was down for balancing the weight. Maybe 5 -10 minutes delay he stated. About 15 mins later made announcement entire AA system was down,&#8221; Texas native Morgan McMahon told Fox News.
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The flight disruption for one of the biggest airlines in the U.S. came during the year&#8217;s busiest travel season. The Transportation Security Administration said that up to 40 million people are expected to fly through January 2, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/american-airlines-flights-grounded-halted-travel-c666afa120054b032014c6005677aa7a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>. American alone has over 3,000 domestic flights scheduled on Tuesday. The airline appears to have recovered well from the ground stop as only 26 American flights were canceled nationwide as of Tuesday morning.
During the Christmas travel season in 2022, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines stranded millions of travelers after a technology issue that affected flights worldwide.

American Airlines Grounds All Flights After Nationwide ‘Technical Issue’ On Christmas Eve

American Airlines Resumes Flights After Nationwide 'Technical Issue' On Christmas Eve

Christmas

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<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/american-airlines" target="_blank" rel="noopener">American Airlines</a> is backing away from its court filing blaming a nine-year-old girl for not noticing the hidden camera a flight attendant allegedly planted in the aircraft&#8217;s bathroom.
A former American flight attendant is accused of taping his iPhone to the toilet seat and then luring young girls to use the airplane bathroom.
Attorneys for the airline initially blamed the child, saying in a court filing that any injuries the girl suffered were due to her “own fault and negligence, were proximately caused by [her] use of the compromised lavatory, which she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”
On Thursday, however, the airline distanced itself from that accusation.
An American Airlines spokesperson <a href="https://apnews.com/article/american-airlines-blames-girl-hidden-camera-4b474bf3d8c8803872dbb7e12032d13e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that external attorneys working for the airline had “made an error in this filing.”
“Our outside legal counsel retained with our insurance company made an error in this filing. The included defense is not representative of our airline and we have directed it be amended this morning,&#8221; the spokesperson said. &#8220;We do not believe this child is at fault and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously. Our core mission is to care for people — and the foundation of that is the safety and security of our customers and team.”
The 9-year-old’s family sued American Airlines after the FBI informed them that videos of their daughter were found on the former flight attendant&#8217;s phone. The family had flown from Texas to California last year.
The fired flight attendant, Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, pled not guilty this week to charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of images of child sexual abuse.
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Thomas is accused of having recordings of four girls, including the nine-year-old, using bathrooms on flights. He is also accused of trying to secretly record a video of a 14-year-old girl using the bathroom on a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boston.
He was arrested in January and has remained in federal custody since then.
The court filing was amended on Wednesday. The new filing does not include the accusation that the girl&#8217;s injuries were her own fault. The case is making its way through a state district court in Austin.
On Tuesday, an attorney representing the 9-year-old, as well as the 14-year-old, excoriated the airline&#8217;s defense.
“To blame a 9 year old for being filmed while using the airplane bathroom is both shocking and outrageous,” attorney Paul Llewellyn <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/4678026-american-airlines-says-filing-blaming-9-year-old-in-bathroom-recording-case-was-an-error/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
“In my opinion this is a depraved legal strategy that sinks to a new low. American Airlines should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves,” he added.
The 9-year-old’s mother <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/4678026-american-airlines-says-filing-blaming-9-year-old-in-bathroom-recording-case-was-an-error/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement through her attorney, “How in good conscience could they even make such a suggestion?”
Thompson is due in federal court in Boston on July 1.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

American Airlines Claims ‘Error’ After Blaming 9-Year-Old Girl For Not Noticing Flight Attendant’s Hidden Bathroom Camera

American Airlines Claims 'Error' After Blaming 9-Year-Old Girl For Not Noticing Flight Attendant's Hidden Bathroom Camera

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