The pilot of the plane which collided with an Army helicopter in Washington D.C. on Wednesday was former Ormond Beach resident Jonathan Campos, records show. Campos was among those killed when American Airlines Flight 5342 crashed with a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter into the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Campos attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, graduating in 2015. ERAU is one of the top-ranked flight schools in the nation, rated second in America by the website PilotMall. Before relocating to Volusia County to pursue a career in aviation, Campos was a native of Brooklyn according to multiple reports. He attended John Dewey High School.
Among the most publicized responses to the air crash that killed 67 people was by President Donald Trump, who assigned blame for the incident to diversity hiring by the parties involved. The claim, which Trump attributed to ‘common sense’ as opposed to any documentation or evidence, constitutes an insinuation that Campos and/or the Army personnel in the Black Hawk helicopter got their jobs not on merit but by their status as a racial minority. Trump has received substantial backlash from those who’ve categorized his claim as unsubstantiated or even racist.
A report by the Daytona Beach News-Journal shed further light on the inaccuracy of Trump’s claim, interviewing a close friend of Campos’. Campos was of Puerto Rican heritage, leading some to raise racially-motivated questions about his qualifications. Aviation personnel and both current and former administrative leaders have maintained that in the absence of a known cause for the crash, allegations against Campos’ qualifications are premature at best.
The crash occurred on the evening of Wednesday, January 29th near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Early reports indicate the American Airlines flight was making its descent toward the airport when it collided with the Black Hawk helicopter. Both craft crashed down into the frigid Potomac River. The commercial plane had 60 passengers and four crew members on board, while the helicopter contained three crew members. All 67 people on board the two aircraft have been confirmed dead by authorities. Most, but not all, of the victims have been recovered from the river according to officials.
