‘I Don’t Deserve This’: Black Hawk Pilot Jo Ellis Breaks Silence After Being Wrongly Named in Washington Crash- wna24
‘I Don’t Deserve This’: Black Hawk Pilot Jo Ellis Breaks Silence After Being Wrongly Named in Washington Crash | Image:
X
Washington: Jo Ellis, a Virginia Army National Guard helicopter pilot was misidentified as the captain of the downed Black Hawk after its collision with a passenger jet in Washington earlier this week. All 67 people on board the aircraft and the chopper lost their lives in the incident near Raeganm National Airport.
A now-deleted post shared on January 31 on X wrote, “The Blackhawk helicopter pilot involved in the Washington D.C. Reagan National Airport #planecrash has been identified as transgender military pilot Jo Ellis.”
“Reports indicate Ellis attempted to take out three other passenger planes before colliding midair with American Airlines Flight 5342 over the Potomac. Just one day before the disaster, Ellis appeared on the Michael Smerconish podcast, slamming Trump’s military trans ban,” it added.
While many posts and videos were deleted hours after, several still went viral on social media.
Reacting to such videos and posts, Ellis shared a post on her Facebook account with the captions, “Some craziness has happened on the internet and I’m being named as one of the pilots of the DC crash. Please report any accounts or posts you see. It’s insulting to the victims and families of those lost and they deserve better than this BS from the bots and trolls of the internet.”
Ellis in the video can be heard saying, “I understand some people have associated me with the crash in DC and that is false. It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda. They don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve this.”
According to Trends24, a website that monitors trending topics, “Jo Ellis” was ranked second in the US on X with almost 90,000 postings on Friday, the New York Times reported.
Later, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp wrote a condolence post on X on January 30 to the families and friends of pilots Ryan O’Hara and Sam Lilley.
“Both of these young Georgians shared a passion for flight and for serving others, and this terrible tragedy is that much more difficult knowing their lives were cut so unexpectedly short,” he said.
Mid-Air Collision Between American Airlines Jet and Military Helicopter, All 67 People Killed
A collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C, killed 67 people, including more than a dozen figure skaters. The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members at the time of the crash late Wednesday. Three soldiers were on board the helicopter.
In a somber news briefing from the White House Briefing Room on Thursday, President Donald Trump confirmed that there were no survivors from the tragic mid-air collision. Starting the briefing, President Trump requested a moment of silence for the victims and their families, visibly bowing his head in respect. “I’d like to request a moment of silence for the victims and their families,” he stated, marking the gravity of the situation.
“Sadly, there are no survivors,” Trump announced, speaking to the American people during what he described as an “hour of anguish.” He detailed that the focus of operations had shifted from rescue to recovery. “The work has now shifted to a recovery mission,” he reiterated, emphasizing the shift in response strategy. “This is really shaking a lot of people, including people very sadly, from other nations, who are on the flight for the family members back in Wichita, Kansas, here in Washington, DC, and throughout the United States and in Russia, we have a Russia contingent, some very talented people. Unfortunately, were on that plane,” Trump said.