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Black Hawk helicopter crew chief id as father of one sitting behind 2 very experienced pilots

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Ryan O'Hara id as Black Hawk helicopter crew chief sitting behind 2 very experienced pilots
Ryan O'Hara, Georgia father of one, id as Black Hawk helicopter crew chief sitting behind 2 very experienced military helicopter pilots who collided into American Airlines plane as it came in for landing.
Ryan O'Hara id as Black Hawk helicopter crew chief sitting behind 2 very experienced pilots
Ryan O’Hara, Georgia father of one, id as Black Hawk helicopter crew chief sitting behind 2 very experienced military helicopter pilots who collided into American Airlines plane as it came in for landing.

Ryan O’Hara, Gwinnett County, Georgia father of one id as Black Hawk helicopter crew chief who was sitting behind two pilots who collided into American Airlines plane as it came into land at Ronald Reagan airport in Washington D.C. All three soldiers were deemed to be experienced and knowledgeable with specific Potomac River route aligning D.C airport. Officials have yet to say what caused mid-air collision amid contention of helicopter pilot and airport traffic control error. 

The crew chief of the BlackHawk helicopter involved in the deadly mid-air collision with an American Airlines flight has been identified as a Georgia father-of-one.

Ryan O’Hara, 29, was on board the doomed military helicopter when it plunged into the Potomac River after colliding into the descending path of an American Eagles passenger jet as it prepared to come in for landing, just before 9pm, Wednesday night.

O’Hara was one of three Army soldiers on an annual proficiency training flight and one of 67 lives lost in the deadliest U.S. plane crash since 2009.

Only 1 air traffic control worker was managing helicopters and planes, doing the job of two people

Black Hawk Crew Chief had only just graduated in 2014

O’Hara left behind a wife and a one-year-old son, and was remembered as a ‘beloved’ member of the rifle team.

The Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corp at Parkview High in Gwinnett County, Ga. confirmed O’Hara was a student and one of those on board.

‘It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of one of our own. Class of 2014, former cadet Ryan O’Hara was the Crew Chief on the Black Hawk involved in last nights crash in DC.,’ Parkview MCJROTC posted on Facebook

‘Our deepest condolences go out to Gary O’Hara and his entire family.’ The post added that O’Hara is ‘fondly remembered as a guy who would fix things around the ROTC gym as well as a vital member of the rifle team.’

Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation, told Atlanta First News that the crew onboard the UH-60 BlackHawk helicopter was ‘very experienced’ and was not new to the rigors of flying in the congested area along the Potomac River.

‘Both pilots had flown this specific route before at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them,’ Koziol said.

‘Even the crew chief in the back has been in the unit for a very long time, very familiar with the area, very familiar with the routing structure.’

Ryan O'Hara id as Black Hawk helicopter crew chief sitting behind 2 very experienced pilots
Ryan O’Hara id as Black Hawk helicopter crew chief sitting behind 2 very experienced pilots

Chief of staff for Army aviation maintains all three soldiers could’ve successfully manned chopper, but what went wrong? 

The crew included an instructor pilot and pilot in command were experienced to the point where either crew member ‘could manage that helicopter by themselves.’

The instructor pilot, who was serving as pilot-in-command, had about 1,000 flight hours, Koziol said. The instructor pilot was evaluating the second pilot — who was also qualified as a pilot in command — for that night training flight and the pilot who was being evaluated had about 500 flight hours, Koziol said.

The identities of the two other soldiers on board the fated Black Hawk military chopper and believed to be piloting the aircraft had yet to be revealed.

Doomed AA Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas – carrying 60 passengers and four crew – collided in a massive fireball with the Army Black Hawk helicopter 400ft above the Potomac River as it was approaching Reagan National Airport just before 9pm Wednesday. The plane was just 3 miles short of runway 33 where it had moments before been given clearance to land after a 2 and half hour flight from Wichita. 

AA pilots, Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley and flight attendants Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder were all among the victims on the doomed aircraft

Investigators have yet to determine what led to the mid-air collision, amid contention that the Black Hawk helicopter pilot had erroneously flown into the oncoming path of the AA passenger plane along with claims that an under-manned Washington D.C airport control tower failed to warn the ‘confused’ pilot in what is now being decried as a ‘preventable tragedy.’

Going on his Truth Social media platform, President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested the helicopter pilots should have seen where they were going along with faulting the chopper for failing to make necessary adjustments. Furthermore, Trump suggested that the control tower had failed to redirect the helicopter after it had strayed into the plane’s path.

‘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,’ he wrote on Truth Social‘Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane.’

Added Trump, ‘This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!’

Shortly after his initial post, Trump wrote on Truth Social, ‘What a terrible night this has been. God bless you all!’

Officials have confirmed the worse fears, stating there were no survivors and the rescue operation had turned to a recovery mission. 

Multiple federal agencies have now launched an investigation into how the aircraft came into contact so close to one of the busiest transport hubs in the country. 

The last major commercial airplane accident involving a U.S. passenger plane was in 2009 when a Colgan Air flight crashed near Buffalo killing a total of 50 people (49 passengers and crew, and one person inside a house).

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