While some conspiracy theories can be farfetched, some of them do have some truth behind them. This applies to what happened in the Black Hawk military helicopter and American Airlines flight 5342 collision.
What began as a conspiracy theory turned out to be true, as there was a genuine reason behind why the military helicopter deviated from its normal course.
RELATED STORIES
Internet theorists speculate
At first, internet theorists speculated that the Black Hawk military helicopter was practicing for a Continuity of Government (COG) contingency plan.
Later, defense sources confirmed to CBS News that the internet theorists were right after all. The military personnel on board the plane were rehearsing an evacuation plan for the president in case of a catastrophe.
The military personnel on board were identified
The three military personnel on board the Black Hawk were identified, with the identity of one of them remaining anonymous.
There were Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, Staff Sergeant Ryan O’Hara, and a third female military personnel whose identity remains anonymous as per her family’s request.
The army surprisingly honored the family’s request
It was an unconventional move for the army to not release the woman’s identity since it is standard procedure to reveal the identities of personnel involved in fatal accidents after 24 hours of notifying their relatives.
The New York Times dubbed the army’s gesture in honoring the family’s request “extraordinary.”
Her anonymity raised suspicion
The unconventional suppression of the third military personnel’s identity did nothing but fuel speculation, especially surrounding her competency as a pilot.
Officials revealed that she only had about 500 flight hours experience, unlike the other two with her, who had around a thousand flight hours experience each.
An expert breaks the events down
Dr. Daniel Bubb, an ex-pilot with a PhD in political science from the University of Missouri, told BoredPanda that the accident was “unfathomable.”
He also predicted that the tragic crash would lead to a change in military training protocols.
Training operations are normal
“It’s common for military aircraft to conduct training operations in the same airspace as commercial aircraft and even share airports. This is something that predates World War II,” Dr. Bubb explained to BoredPanda.
“This accident might prompt conversation about the danger of military and civilian operations happening [at the same time],” he added.
The black boxes are pivotal
Dr. Bubb correctly predicted that the main focus of the American Airlines crash would be the black boxes from both aircraft and questioning the air traffic control personnel.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials confirmed the recovery of the boxes on January 31.
The recovery mission is still ongoing
D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly confirmed that more bodies have been found and identified, amounting to 55 out of the 67. Authorities are also keen on removing the regional American Airlines jet remnants, as the process may take up to three days.
A transgender woman was falsely identified as the third military personnel
Transgender woman Jo Ellis was falsely identified as the third military personnel aboard the Black Hawk military helicopter. She debunked these claims herself to DailyMail.com. They confirmed that the third military personnel’s identity still remains unknown.
There could be a contributing factor
Turns out that a controller was allowed to go home on the night of the crash, leaving more workload on their colleagues, which might have led to the crash.
President Trump suggested diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) measures may be a part of the problem that led to the crash, but he hasn’t elaborated further on this.
