Latest news with #ArmyBlackhawk
Time of India
07-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
'It's not over for us': US coast guard saves 165 lives in Texas flash floods; hailed as 'American hero'
Scott Ruskan (Image credits: X @nicksortor) A US coast guard rescue swimmer is being hailed as an 'American hero' after saving 165 lives during his first-ever mission, a response to deadly flash flooding in Texas that has claimed the lives of at least 82 people, with many still unaccounted for. Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem praised the mission online, calling Scott Ruskan an 'American hero' whose courage 'embodies the spirit and mission of the Coast Guard.' But Ruskan quickly shared the credit. 'Honestly, I'm mostly just a dude. I'm just doing a job,' he said. 'Whoever it may be, would have done the exact same thing in our situation." Scott Ruskan, 26, a New Jersey native and former accountant, had only recently completed his coast guard training when he was called into action on the fourth of July. 'This is what it's all about, right? Like, this is why we do the job,' said Ruskan as quoted by The New York Post. 'This is why like Coast Guard men and women, are risking their lives every day.' Ruskan, who grew up in Oxford, New Jersey, enlisted in 2021. After finishing basic training and Aviation Survival Technician school in California, he was stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas. He had been training and preparing since November, waiting for a mission that finally came during the holiday weekend. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo Texas Task Force 1, a partnership between the Texas army national guard and Texas A&M, contacted the coast guard asking for urgent help. 'That's a little bit outside our area of operation normally, but people were in danger, and we're a good asset to try and help people out, and these guys were asking for help, so that's kind of what we do,' said Ruskan. By early Friday, coast guard MH-65 and Army Blackhawk helicopters were in the air headed to Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' summer camp hit hard by the floods. Five young campers, ages 8 and 9, were confirmed dead. A counselor and 11 more girls were still missing. With limited space in the helicopters, the rescue crew decided to leave Ruskan on the ground to direct the triage operation. He helped guide choppers to pockets of survivors, tended to the injured, and tried to comfort cold, frightened children and adults still in pajamas after fleeing their bunks overnight. Over several hours, Ruskan worked through the chaos to help evacuate 165 people to safety. 'So we basically got the majority of the people out of Camp Mystic, which is awesome. And I feel like we did a lot of good that day, but obviously it's still super sad,' he said. 'There's still a lot of people missing and unaccounted for, so the mission's not over yet. It's not over for us.'
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What It's Like at the Army Birthday Festival
This is the early scene at the Army festival on the National Mall. The 21-year-old Georgetown student said he got a small taste of the real thing Saturday, when he got to talk to soldiers and sit behind the controls of an Army Blackhawk, parked in the shadow of the Washington Monument. Originally from New Jersey, Wong said he voted for President Trump and plans to stick around all day for the parade, which Trump is expected to attend.
CNN
14-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Air traffic control 'hotline' between Pentagon and Reagan Washington National Airport has been broken since 2022
Source: CNN A 'hotline' between air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Pentagon, intended to coordinate aircraft, has not worked since March 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration revealed in a congressional hearing Wednesday. The FAA was not aware the direct line was broken until a May 1 incident where a helicopter circled the Pentagon and caused two flights to abort landings, Franklin McIntosh, the FAA's deputy chief operating officer testified. The airport was the site of the deadliest US airline crash in more than a decade when an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter on a training mission collided on January 29. The unit flying the helicopter that circled the Pentagon was the same one involved in January's midair collision, as CNN previously reported. Military flights to the Pentagon have been suspended since the incident and will not resume until the hotline is fixed, McIntosh said. The hotline is maintained by the Department of Defense and is one way for controllers to coordinate, in addition to using regular landline telephones. Before the military halted flights, the FAA considered revoking the permission that allowed helicopters to operate in the DC airspace without explicit clearance. 'We were ready to deploy any option available that we could use or have that we felt was necessary to bring safety measures and better behaviors from the DOD,' McIntosh said. CNN's Pete Muntean contributed to this report. See Full Web Article
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Air traffic control ‘hotline' between Pentagon and Reagan Washington National Airport has been broken since 2022
A 'hotline' between air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Pentagon, intended to coordinate aircraft, has not worked since March 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration revealed in a congressional hearing Wednesday. The FAA was not aware the direct line was broken until a May 1 incident where a helicopter circled the Pentagon and caused two flights to abort landings, Franklin McIntosh, the FAA's deputy chief operating officer testified. The airport was the site of the deadliest US airline crash in more than a decade when an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter on a training mission collided on January 29. The unit flying the helicopter that circled the Pentagon was the same one involved in January's midair collision, as CNN previously reported. Military flights to the Pentagon have been suspended since the incident and will not resume until the hotline is fixed, McIntosh said. The hotline is maintained by the Department of Defense and is one way for controllers to coordinate, in addition to using regular landline telephones. Before the military halted flights, the FAA considered revoking the permission that allowed helicopters to operate in the DC airspace without explicit clearance. 'We were ready to deploy any option available that we could use or have that we felt was necessary to bring safety measures and better behaviors from the DOD,' McIntosh said. CNN's Pete Muntean contributed to this report.
CNN
14-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Air traffic control 'hotline' between Pentagon and Reagan Washington National Airport has been broken since 2022
A 'hotline' between air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Pentagon, intended to coordinate aircraft, has not worked since March 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration revealed in a congressional hearing Wednesday. The FAA was not aware the direct line was broken until a May 1 incident where a helicopter circled the Pentagon and caused two flights to abort landings, Franklin McIntosh, the FAA's deputy chief operating officer testified. The airport was the site of the deadliest US airline crash in more than a decade when an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter on a training mission collided on January 29. The unit flying the helicopter that circled the Pentagon was the same one involved in January's midair collision, as CNN previously reported. Military flights to the Pentagon have been suspended since the incident and will not resume until the hotline is fixed, McIntosh said. The hotline is maintained by the Department of Defense and is one way for controllers to coordinate, in addition to using regular landline telephones. Before the military halted flights, the FAA considered revoking the permission that allowed helicopters to operate in the DC airspace without explicit clearance. 'We were ready to deploy any option available that we could use or have that we felt was necessary to bring safety measures and better behaviors from the DOD,' McIntosh said. CNN's Pete Muntean contributed to this report.
