The nation was shocked by the tragic incident involving a Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet in Washington DC on Wednesday, leading to an investigation to determine the cause of the mid-air collision.
Amidst accusations from Republicans attributing the crash to DEI and Democrats holding President Donald Trump responsible, reports have highlighted longstanding concerns regarding the ‘systemic failures’ of the helicopter.
Over the past years, American soil has witnessed over 10 major accidents resulting in the loss of more than 40 soldiers since 2014, with the recent training flight claiming the lives of three individuals.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-D) called for an investigation into ‘a disturbing pattern of incidents’ back in 2021 and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer raised concerns about ‘maintenance issues’ two years later.
Lockheed Martin, the sole manufacturer of the Black Hawk, was sued in 2017 by a widow a UH-60 crew chief who died in a crash on a Maryland golf course.
The suit claimed that the company knew some of the helicopter’s components were ‘unfit, unsafe, unairworthy and defective.’
In addition to technical issues, the Army has been aware of training and maintenance issues since 2017 after a Pentagon report found the military branch ‘did not provide adequate funding and training for UH-60 pilots on the new equipment.
The mid-air collision on Wednesday occurred as the American Airlines jet was set to land at Washington National Airport. Radio communications showed the Black Hawk helicopter crew knew the plane was in the vicinity.
There were 60 passengers and four crewmembers on the American Airlines flight and three soldiers in the helicopter, all are believed to be dead.
District of Columbia fire chief John Donnelly said: ‘At this point, we do not believe there were any survivors.’
Donnelly said 28 bodies had been recovered from the river so far, in what was shaping up to be the deadliest US air disaster in more than a decade.
‘We will work to find all the bodies and reunite them with their loved ones,’ he said.
Former airline pilot and aviation safety expert Robert Sumwalt told CBS the plane’s pilots may not have seen the helicopter as they were too focused on lining up the runway.
‘They’re focused on the runway. I was an airline pilot for 24 years. I’ve landed on that runway many times. You’re in the turn. You’re not looking out here for other traffic at that point,’ he said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday: ‘It was a fairly experienced crew and it was doing a required annual night evaluation.
However, deadly Black Hawk incidents on American soil have plagued the US Army for years with more than 40 mishaps since the helicopter’s inception in 1979.
Black Hawks account for at least 60 percent of the Army’s helicopter fleet, Military.com reported.
The helicopters are four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift helicopters that have become a critical part of the US Army’s airborne fighting system.
They are used to provide air assault, general support, and aeromedical evacuation to US troops, and can also be used for command and control and special operations support to combat, stability and support operations.
The cost to make a Black Hawk helicopter varies depending on the model, equipment, and quantities. The price can range from around $7.5 million to over $40 million
Gillibrand urged the Department of Defense (DoD) to launch an investigation into deadly crashes in Idaho and New York that happened within three months in 2021.
An investigation into the Idaho incident found fog and precipitation were to blame and human error was said to have caused the crash in New York.
‘I ask that you take all necessary steps to promptly investigate these incidents to determine if they fit a larger pattern of malfunction with the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter,’ Gillibrand shared in a letter to the DoD.
‘If so, I ask that the Department of Defense produce recommendations and guidance regarding the operational readiness of the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and its crew to ensure the safety of our service members.’
There were at least four deadly Black Hawk crashes in 2021, leading Schumer, a longtime advocate for air safety regulations, to join Gillibrand’s concerns.
Schumer tasked the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the events, requesting a full report be done that was released in 2023.
The report found that the Army and Air National Guard had established flying hour goals for pilots training to use the helicopters, but those times were not met.
That was due to a ‘lack of aircrew availability, maintenance issues, and simulator access.’
But a month before the report was released, two Black Hawk helicopters crashed mid-air while conducting nighttime training, killing nine soldiers.
‘I was deeply saddened to hear that nine soldiers lost their lives on March 29 when their Black Hawk helicopters crashed in Kentucky and that three soldiers were killed on April 27 in an Apache collision in Alaska,’ Gillibrand said at the time.
‘Though we understand that military service is inherently dangerous, it remains a shock when we lose service members during training exercises.
The collision happened on March 29 near Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
The Army Combat Readiness Center (ACRC) opened an investigation in 2023 but has yet to release its findings. ACRC declined to comment on the matter to DailyMail.com.
In 2019, two helicopters went down due to technical issues.
Maj. Trevor Joseph was killed during an aviation mishap on September 29 in Louisiana. The engine failed as he approached the landing zone.
And on December 5, three soldiers perished in Minnesota when the Black Hawk also experienced engine failure that caused the helicopter to crash
Lockheed purchased Sikorsky, the first Black Hawk manufacturer, in 2015 for $9 billion.
The company’s subsidiaries have been involved in multiple lawsuits related to the Black Hawk helicopter, specifically a suit in 2018 that claimed it was supplying faulty parts.
The lawsuit was filed by Spc. Jeremy Tomlin’s widow, Jessica; Capt. Terikazu Onoda and his wife; and Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Nicholas.
The complaint claimed the tail rotor system was defective.
Marine veteran and attorney Timothy Loranger, who represented the plaintiff, told Military.com in 2018: ‘The helicopter was defective, it crashed, the pilots were badly injured, one person died; Sikorsky, we are alleging, is responsible for the crash.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to Lockheed Martin for comment.
Duffy said the midair collision on Wednesday should not have happened, vowing reforms to ‘make sure that these mistakes do not happen again and again.’
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the midair crash occurred before 9pm ET when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military helicopter on a training flight while on approach to an airport runway.
It occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.
