WASHINGTON – Central Wisconsin's Sean Duffy is facing his first big test as secretary of the Department of Transportation just one day after he was sworn into office. A commercial jet carrying 64 people collided in midair with an Army helicopter carrying three servicemembers Wednesday night near Washington,
Vice President JD Vance, left, shakes hands with Sean Duffy after swearing him in as secretary of transportation as his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, holds the Bible in the Indian Treaty Room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had been sworn in just hours before the deadly midair collision of a plane and helicopter near Washington, D.C.
Duffy does not have a background in transportation, similar to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg when he arrived four years ago.
D.C. police confirmed a crash had taken place over the Potomac and that search and rescue operations were taking place in the river. Donald Trump later weighed in.
Sixty-seven people are believed to have died after a passenger plane hit a military helicopter in mid-air near Washington DC's Ronald Reagan airport on Wednesday evening.
Newly appointed Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said during a press conference that both aircrafts involved in a deadly midair collision near Reagan Washington National Airport were both in standard flight patterns.
Duffy, formerly a reality TV star and Wisconsin congressman, was confirmed as the new transportation secretary on Tuesday.
An air traffic controller was given the job of two people after one worker clocked off early on the evening the American Airlines jet and U.S. military helicopter collided in Washington, DC, according to a report.
More victims have been named following the mid-air collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a military helicopter. Details are also emerging of the events around the crash - including that an air traffic controller was allowed to leave their shift early that night.
Part of the wreckage is seen as rescue crews search the waters of the Potomac River after a passenger plane on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into the river after colliding with a US Army helicopter, near Washington, DC, on January 30, 2025.