Well, Trump has thoughts:
CNN obtained two new videos that show the collision from much closer than previously-available clips. Both show that the Army helicopter did not attempt to swerve before colliding with the American Airlines flight out of Wichita.
Here's one of the videos with the aircraft highlighted:
Speculations are still abounding on social media. Fox News reported that the co-pilot was a woman with 500 hours of flight time:
The instructor pilot in charge who was flying the helicopter had 1,000 flying hours - which is considered 'very experienced,' Fox News has learned. Most flights are on average two hours in length.
The co-pilot had 500 flying hours, which is considered a 'normal' amount of experience. Fox News is told the co-pilot was a woman. Both the instructor pilot in charge and the co-pilot were being evaluated during the flight, and were familiar with the area and route, Fox News is told.
Online trolls are also circulating the rumor that one pilot was a transgender dude named Jo Ellis (Ellis shared a post to say he is, in fact, very much alive).
Reagan National Airport has had staffing issues for years, which may have played a role in the ability of the airport tower to move such large volumes of traffic safely. At this time, everything is speculation.
Avoid the trolls and rumors. We'll report if any of those rumors are true.
In the meantime, stick with things like this animated analysis 👇
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
