The internet is buzzing with rumors and speculation following the tragic airplane and helicopter crash in Washington D.C. Wednesday.
An American Airlines passenger jet and Army Black Hawk helicopter collided around 9 p.m. Eastern near Reagan National Airport, causing both aircraft to fall into the Potomac River where 67 people died according to officials.
In the aftermath of the disaster, a video went viral showing top U.S. military contractor Lockheed Martin advertising technology that allows Black Hawk helicopters to be flown autonomously.
During the October 2024 Association of the United States Army National Convention, the “Black Hawk of the future” was advertised by Sikorsky Vice President Richard Benton.
Stephanie Hill, the president of Rotary and Mission Systems boasted the technology would allow the military to “fly this optimally piloted autonomous Black Hawk in Connecticut from three hundred miles away right here in Washington D.C.”
With the push of a button on an iPad, Hill commanded the helicopter to take off and simulate “tested logistic operations.”
The Lockheed video said its “MATRIX flight autonomy system” will deliver the future of flight.
According to the U.S. Army, the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the American Airlines flight was engaged in a training flight carrying three soldiers from “Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir.”
Is it possible the new autonomous tech was being tested during the flight or that the aircraft was somehow hacked?
Hellbound and Down 