Officials are still sorting out the details of the deadly aerial crash that killed more than 50 passengers in Washington D.C. on Wednesday night. However, social media is offering an inside look at some of the passengers’ final moments.
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U.S. figure skater Spencer Lane was one of the passengers aboard the doomed American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, to D.C.’s Reagan Washington National Airport. He and his teammates were returning from a skating camp in Wichita, which Lane had documented on his Instagram account.
The 16-year-old’s final post was on his Instagram story, from inside American Eagle Flight 5342. He posted a photo of the runway from his window seat, captioning it “ICT -> DCA” — the codes for Wichita’s Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport and Reagan National.
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The flight had almost reached the runway on Wednesday night, when, around 9:00 p.m. ET, it collided with an Army helicopter in midair. Both aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River. Rescue efforts were soon updated to recovery, with no survivors expected.
The American Eagle flight was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members. Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Sam Lilley, 28, were flying the plane alongside flight attendants Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder. The military helicopter had three people aboard.
U.S. Figure Skaters, Family Members and Coaches Were Among the Passengers in Jan. 29 Plane Crash
President Donald Trump offered his first public comments on the crash on Thursday. In his remarks, he placed blame for the crash on former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system. I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary,” Trump said. The newly returned Commander in Chief issued a federal hiring freeze when he took office on Jan. 20, as at the time of the crash, there was no Senate-confirmed administrator leading the Federal Aviation Administration.
“I put safety first, Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen because this was the lowest level,” Trump continued. “Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse.”
The president also continued to place blame on DEI initiatives, claiming a “diversity push” led to a shortage of air traffic control workers.