#flight 5342

[thatdisasterauthor]

The clips of skaters who lost loved ones in the DC crash and are now skating to honor them in their current competition are breaking my damn heart.

[davidaugust]

[figureskatingfanblog]

Condolences to everyone who lost family and friends in the crash AA flight 5342. Many young skaters and their coaches and parents were on board, coming back from the Development Camp. My condolences to all, but a particular mention to Maxim Naumov who lost both of his parents/coaches.

[rorygi1more]

Here are the young figure skaters we lost on flight 5342. I wanted to try to show a fraction of the joy they brought into the world and the passion they had for figure skating. They were woman's figure skaters, men's figure skaters and ice dancers. The whole community is mourning these bright young stars. They were so excited to be invited to the national development camp. They were fans of the sport first. They got to take pictures with their heroes among them Amber Glenn, Caroline Green and Micheal Parson and Oona Brown and Gage Brown. Thank you to all the older skaters who supported and encouraged our young ones. They will be remembered by this community, their friends, families and all who had the pleasure of knowing them. Lost coaches Inna Volyanskaya, Vadim Naumov, and Evgenia Shishkova are pictured among their lost students. They inspired the next generation. The children we lost include Spencer Lane, Jinna Han, Edward Zhou, Everly Livingston, Lydia Livingston, Franco Aparicio, Sean Kay RE and Angela Yang. Please support their families and each other during this time. If you need someone to talk to or help, please reach out. There are services available including therapy if you think it may be helpful. There is no shame in needing extra support during a life changing tragedy. There are online mental health services too including suicide hotlines Sending love and prayers to our lost members of the community and their families. We will remember them 🕊️

[istandonsnowpiles]

Recovery Effort

[tomorrowusa]

Donald Trump has sent the federal government into a state of turmoil with his mass firings, flood of dubious executive orders, and appointments of alarmingly incompetent individuals. And when something goes wrong because of his own malfeasance, he resorts to flimsy scapegoating rather than accept responsibility.

A US Army helicopter collided with an airliner just a few days after a frequently drunk sex abuser picked by Trump became Defense Secretary.

At Daily Kos, Emily Singer writes about Pete Buttigieg's response to Trump's demented tirade about the crash.

Buttigieg then said Trump bears some of the blame for the crash, as he is in charge and has already taken actions to make the skies less safe. "President Trump now oversees the military and the [Federal Aviation Administration]," Buttigieg continued. "One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again." At the time of the crash, there was no head of the FAA, as Trump's co-President Elon Musk had forced out the previous administrator because the FAA fined Musk's company SpaceX.

Yep, Elon Musk's billionaire ego may have contributed to the deaths of 67 people in this week's crash.

Trump also gutted an aviation safety committee days before the crash, getting rid of a three-decade-old safety committee that was created by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Because the committee was created by an act of Congress, Trump couldn’t get rid of it, but he did fire all of its members, which will make the committee unable to do the work of looking into airline safety issues, the Associated Press reported. Kara Weipz, the president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, said a statement that Trump’s gutting of the safety commission, “will undermine aviation security in the United States and across the globe.”

Trump only cares about keeping oligarchs happy and himself out of prison. Public safety and health mean nothing to him.

Alexander Sammon at Slate writes...

t marks the first major crisis of the nascent Trump presidency, and one with particularly bad optics for the president. In his war with the administrative state and in his determination to gore federal spending, Trump had already fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard and gutted a key aviation safety advisory committee, all just 10 days before the crash. As the Daily Beast reported, Federal Aviation Administration head Michael Whitaker stepped down on Jan. 20, after Elon Musk, the spear tip of Trump’s ��cost cutting” spree, demanded that he quit.

Firing public safety officials so Elon Musk can play James Bond villain is the mark of a malicious moron, not a leader.

Trump doesn't have a great history with airplanes. He once had an airline called Trump Shuttle. One serious accident can be found in news archives.

Trump Jet Crash-Lands; No Injuries

Trump Shuttle lasted only three years and never made a profit. It sits on the shelf of Trump business failures along with Trump Vitamins, Trump Steaks, and Trump University.

A broader matter is the existence of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). It's directly on the other side of the Potomac River from Washington and suffers from congestion and understaffing. It probably shouldn't even be there but it's very convenient for politicians who prefer not to commute to the better equipped Dulles Airport.

USA Today says...

The airport is particularly popular among lawmakers because it's more convenient to their Capitol Hill offices than either Dulles International Airport (IAD) or Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI). [ ... ] "DCA is currently at capacity and at risk of being seriously overburdened should there be changes to the slot and perimeter rules," the Coalition to Protect America’s Regional Airports said in April. "Moreover, any changes to the slot and perimeter rules threaten to undermine the access of regional airports and their communities to the D.C. area, as well as increase delays, traffic, congestion, noise, and safety concerns." [ ... ] The airport's longest and main runway, Runway 1/19, is 6,869 feet long, which today is considered a relatively short runway for a major airport. Because the other two runways are much shorter, most airplanes use 1/19, making it the single-busiest runway in the country, according to airport officials. According to air traffic control data, Flight 5342 was on final approach for one of the shorter DCA runways, Runway 15/33. Due to safety and noise considerations, the FAA generally requires aircraft flying around the Washington, D.C., area to travel above the Potomac, which concentrates traffic in a narrow area. Aircraft are generally required to stay above or below certain altitudes in the area to reduce noise impacts on both residential and tourist areas, including the National Mall.

With fewer federal workers and reduced regulation which Trump and his filthy rich libertarian extremist broligarchs demand, expect more disasters.

[generallemarc]

Really Don?

The bodies aren't even cold yet and you're blaming DEI? Couldn't you at least wait like, half a day so that we know why this even happened before making an assumption on what you wish it was? Now you've given the inevitable "he was President so it's his fault!" criticisms more weight by giving them a sizable grain of truth to wrap any future lies or exaggerations in, not to mention giving them free clearance to start politicizing things so soon because, hey, he did it first. Just when I thought I couldn't respect the guy any less, he reminds us all that he is still the same man who called John McCain a coward for spending years getting tortured.

[saturn-sketches-hyperfixtations]

I never knew Spencer Lane but he seemed like such a fun guy. He was on American Airlines flight 5342 which on January 29th, collided with a Blackhawk helicopter. 67/67 people passed. Spencer was one of them, with his mom.

TAG LIST:

@sillylilneurodivergent @little-teacupss

[just-a-pileofslime]

Flight 5342

I wanted to write something to remember those lost on Flight 5342. As a skater myself this whole event has really shaken me and my heart goes out to those who were personally affected, to the families who are no longer whole, and to all the people who are no longer with us. This poem is for them.

How does one mourn over 60 people?

People who just like you had lives and dreams

Families and passions

Over 60 people who had loved ones waiting for them to come home

Over 60 people who were almost home

Over 60 people who suddenly were gone. 

How does one mourn for people they haven’t met?

People who we only see on the news

People we only read about in articles

People who were skaters, athletes, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters and mothers and fathers

Just like us. 

We mourn because they were human, just like us

Because they were alive and loved and beautiful

Full of talent and passion

Hopes and dreams and ever growing curiosity

The future of a nation

The people of a nation

All snuffed out in an instant

Returned to stardust. 

We carry their memory with us all

And maybe our togetherness, our community

Will make this festering burden ache a little less. 

Grief is endless

And we will never truly heal

The world shakes at this loss and we will feel the vibrations for forever

But new layers will eventually form

And that grief will eventually callous

And hurt a little less. 

Someday, those who are left behind will also return to stardust

And be reunited in the cosmos. 

[carreiraponomarenkosworld]

LEGACY ON ICE

Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko skated a beautiful exhibition on the note of Cold by Chris Stapleton as a tribute to the victims of the Flight 5342 crash. It was an honor and so meaningful seeing them skating at this very heartwarming show.

This is really hard to watch, I don't know how the skaters are managing it, truly.

Just look at this lineup...from kids to champions, coaches, friends, families and all in between - everyone united together, to honour loss, to celebrate love, to support through grief.

Full show:

[in-the-toeloop]

I'm so devastated about the crash. there were so many talented skaters on that flight and its so awful and wrong what happened. Spencer Lane is one of my biggest inspirations, he started late but he is sooo talented, i strive to be like him. my heart is heavy for all the victims and their families.

[onlytiktoks]

[autumngracy]

Airport Drops Bombshell on Trump, CALLS OUT HIS LIES

[world-and-usa]

Fatalities confirmed as passenger plane collides with Army Black Hawk, source reports.

[rvllybllply2014]

One can only hope it was instantaneous, that they didn’t have time to know what happened.

[alwaysupdatenews24]

Fatalities confirmed after passenger plane collides with Army Black Hawk, source say

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