Social media is awash with a slew of conspiracy theories suggesting that the D.C. air crash was deliberate.
The theories have been turbocharged by President Donald Trump expressing his own disbelief at how the crash could have happened in the immediate aftermath of the Army Black Hawk helicopter colliding with the American Airlines CRJ 700 on Wednesday evening. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter on a training mission and 64 were on board the jet, which was moments away from landing at Reagan Airport after departing from Wichita, Kansas. Authorities said Thursday morning after a night of searching for victims that none were believed to have survived the crash.
Other social media users have been emboldened to make various claims including that the mid-air collision was a suicide attempt by the helicopter pilot, that the helicopter was actually a drone, that the the crash was a deliberate “hit” on the plane or a so-called “false flag” operation.
Video of the incident, which appears to show the military helicopter flying directly at the aircraft for several seconds before impact, is bolstering these theories.
Some online conspiracy theorists are arguing that Trump’s comments on Truth social suggest that the president shares their concerns.
Trump wrote, just hours after the crash: “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. 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. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
Billionaire Bill Ackman gave weight to the theories by writing: “It sounds more like terrorism than an accident.”
Although he deleted the comment soon after posting it, Ackman has left up his repost of a widely shared air traffic control video allegedly showing the two aircraft being flagged for a collision alert for over 30 seconds.
At a press conference Thursday morning, asked if investigators have determined that the airport control tower should have told the helicopter what to do, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy answered: “We are going to wait for all the information to come in from this vantage point, but to back up what the president said, what I’ve seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely.”
The plane captain had six years of experience, according to American Airlines CEO Robert Isom. Duffy said he didn’t know how much experience the military pilot had. The military flight was classified as a training mission, but that would not typically necessarily mean the pilot was inexperienced.
