A victim aboard the Washington DC plane which collided mid air with a Black Hawk helicopter was on her way back to university after her grandfather’s funeral, her family confirmed. All 64 people aboard the American Airlines flight and three soldiers in the Army helicopter died in the tragedy, as investigations into its cause continue. Sickening pieces of wreckage can be seen jutting out of the Potomac river, close to Ronald Reagan Airport.
In the wake of the tragedy the identities of those lost to the accident have been revealed, including popular 13-year-old TikTok skating star Jinna Han, and sisters Everly and Alydia Livingston, aged 14 and 11. Russian figure skating champions and renowned athlete couple Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, also died. Another which has been confirmed was 20-year-old university student Grace Maxwell, who was flying through the capital back to Ohio from the funeral of her grandfather - her father confirmed to the Wichita Eagle. Grace had been a junior majoring in mechanical engineering at Cedarville University.
The school said in a statement: “Grace was scheduled to serve on a project team this semester that would begin to create a hand-stabilizing device for a differently enabled Dayton boy so he could feed himself rather than relying on others.”. Dr. Tim Norman, who served as her secondary adviser, added: “Grace was a quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering.”. The plane, Flight 5342, was on its final approach to Reagan Washington National Airport when the tragic accident occurred. Debris from the collision rained down over the river and nearby areas.
Without evidence, Donald Trump blamed air traffic controllers, the helicopter pilots and Democratic policies at federal agencies. He claimed that the FAA was “actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative.". The US President, 78, also made an awkward joke about the site of the Washington DC plane crash . Speaking at the press conference at the White House, only three miles away, he said: "I have a plan to visit – not the site. Because what – you tell me. What's the site? Water. We're going to go swimming?".
An aviation safety expert told reporters he believes flying at night and over water could have been factors . Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who famously landed a passenger plane on the Hudson River in New York City in 2009, shared his take on the tragedy. It happened in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world , around three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.
