When former Navy SEAL Jake Zwieg joined Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt to talk about the recent tragic crash in Washington DC involving an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter, he was visibly disturbed by an unexpected question.
As an aviation expert with a background in the Navy, Zwieg was in a position to provide insight into the incident that claimed the lives of 67 individuals.
Despite his familiarity with tragic events, Zwieg was caught off guard when Earhardt inquired about the harrowing final moments of the individuals onboard both the helicopter and the plane.
She said: ‘It’s a tough question to ask, but I’m always I always think about this when we report on someone who has died.
‘What were those last moments like? Because you don’t want anyone to be scared, but you also want people to say their prayers before and have a little bit of time.
‘But if I were in that situation, you just want it to be quick, you know? So do you think when the plane crashes, when something like this happens, there’s no pain, right? The people don’t experience that.’
After taking a moment to digest Earhardt’s words, Zwieg blurted out: ‘Golly! Can you give me a harder question – golly!’
‘I just want to make sure they didn’t fall through the air and land on the water,’ Earhardt interjected before the veteran responded.
‘I can’t really go out and say that, it was a pretty kinetic crash – we’ve all seen the big explosion and obviously the helicopter’s rotor blades went through the bottom of the aircraft.
‘Aircraft turned and crashed into the water. I imagine at most you had probably eight seconds of just absolute terrifying fear.
‘I mean obviously we can’t go talk to any of the victims, but, I mean, probably the most horrific thing that you could live through.’
Zwieg also shared his initial reaction to the fatal collision, relating it back to his own military experiences.
‘As a guy that’s ridden in helicopters, I’m gonna tell you right now – I was down at Seal Team 8 and we had five helicopter crashes down there. Helicopter is not your friend when it’s falling out of the sky.’
The horrifying crash happened over the Potomac River as American Airlines flight 5342 was attempting to land at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday just before 9 pm.
The jet from Wichita, Kansas was carrying 64 people – 60 passengers and four crew members – and three soldiers were onboard the US Army Black Hawk helicopter at the time of the incident.
The aircrafts collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake past the airport.
At least 40 bodies have since been pulled from the Potomac River following extensive recovery missions by emergency teams.
The bodies of all four flight crew members – including one who was mere months away from a promotion and wedding – were recovered from the debris on Thursday.
The pilots were Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed. The flight attendants were Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.
Two of the soldiers onboard the helicopter have been identified as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves and Staff Sergeant Ryan O’Hara, who was the Black Hawk’s crew chief.
Passengers included members of the US figure skating team who were returning from the US Figure Skating Championships.
Rescue crews digging through the wreckage recovered two black boxes from the waters of the Potomac River on Thursday night. These are the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.
This evidence will come into play as authorities investigate what exactly happened in the moments leading to disaster.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) wrote in a statement: ‘As we await more information from the ongoing investigations, our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, and military members and their families, as well as the first responders who were on scene.
‘NATCA stands with the highly trained, highly skilled air traffic controller workforce and those who perform safety-critical work 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week, 365 days-a-year and keeps the United States as the gold standard for aviation safety.’
