JUST IN: A U.S. military official told NPR on Friday that at the request of the family the Army is not going to release the name of the female crew member. The withholding of the name is a highly unusual move.
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Good for this family. No one deserves to be treated the way Trump and the GOP treat women and minorities (except the actual minority that is white straight men.)
It seems like a “checkride” along the world’s busiest runway at night would be the “highly unusual move,” no? If that’s what this was, then it’s on the Army & its top officials & not any one pilot or co-pilot. But obviously Hegseth & Trump knew the identities & it was their chance to pin it on DEI.
When the president of the United States, the vice president and the head of the military are all blaming women and minorities for the accident I would make the same request
Everything is unusually in Trump world. This family knows that Trump will make sure to get his goons to do everything they can to hurt, humiliate and accuse them with added threats of violence because that's what Trump does all the time.
"See, it was a Blackhawk helicopter! Not a Whitehawk helicopter! That's all the evidence I need to prove that the pilot was black! Not even helicopters can be white anymore!" - Further proof that an unusual number of Americans have serious mental problems.
Musk has seized the Treasury. Federal workers are being illegally harassed & threatened. The government is being systematically removed from the internet. We're in a trade war w/ our two neighbors & allies for no reason at all. We won't have a country left by summer unless something drastic is done.
Seeing as how people Trump blames for things get death threats to their family members and their names dragged through the mud by far-right lunatics, I do not blame them for not wanting to reveal her name.
This is very upsetting - blame a woman because she’s not a white man. Now the family is in mourning and fearful of all the hate the revolting MAGAt’s would put on the family when they are heartbroken. All for the head maggot’s blame on DEI. It’s gross!
and a President blaming diversity in the middle of a accident press conference is highly unusual too. I don't blame the family for trying to protect themselves from fascists.
But wait... the whole incident might have actually happened because the FAA control tower personnel was severely understaffed, right ? If it is, then who cares about the gender, name or even "race" of the pilot ? This is non-sense.
Probably safer for her and her family, given Trump’s sickening DEI crap.
But we should know. We shouldn’t conceal the names of US soldiers killed while working for our government.
A highly unusual move...that's only going to become more common as the Felon makes blaming others par for the course.
When you are in the highest office of the land, all of its responsibilities are yours to own. When you don't, you show the world the kind of feckless coward you are.
It's her family that made the decision, not the military or the administration. Under the law, her family has the right to prevent her name from being released
I feel so sorry for the family. You’ve just lost a loved family member and your own president is out for blood so you have to hide and protect her identity. This is so messed up.
A woman of color. Her family would be attacked by maga and Trump himself if he had a chance. They are well aware of the out of control maga in this country making innocent people's lives miserable. That's what so unusual. We now have a government that attacks civilians politically on a whim.
As soon as he finds his handy-dandy fact altering Sharpie and can draw a 5 o'clock shadow, and brown skin on an AI generated image of a female aviator, he will call a special oval office press avail to tell us all about how DEI for women, trans people and minorities harms military readiness. 3-fer
They won't be able to get her name and a court won't let them. The Privacy Act of 1974 guarantees the family the right to have identifiable information (like her name) withheld. Her name can only be released if the family says it is ok
Yeah, it would only be unusual if we all didn't know that by releasing her name, the family was going to be harassed for the rest of their lives by a bunch of crazy people.
A 'highly unusual move' is necessary in a highly unusual time in history. They are protecting their family which is what we should all be focused on while a lunatic is at the helm.
New rule, everyone! If you aren't a cis white male you better not be involved in anything that goes wrong EVER even if it wasn't at all your fault.
Yes, I know it's an old rule.
Yep. Every time you do something as anything but a cis white male you are representing your gender/race/category and your performance reflects on everyone like you.
It’s true, it doesn’t even matter to these mediocre white males. They just hate women. And that’s why they’re so outraged by trans women while not even acknowledging the existence of trans men. Misogyny is off the charts thanks to shitlords like Tate and Fuentes becoming so popular with them.
Hegseth will release her name, then use it as an excuse to ban women pilots in the military. He will only want women to be admin and nurses. No women in any role close to combat. After that, will be to ban women on Navy ships. Then reduce the number of women in the military all together.
Reminds me of when the lady who dared to say diaper don disrespectful of rules at Arlington and staff got physical but terrified to make any official complaint or speak to press. MAGA goons and troll army.
I wouldn’t want my child’s name out there after this accident, either male or female. Because Trump indicated it was the Blackhawks fault the disgusting people that support Trump are going to terrorize these poor grieving families. Just like Infowars did to the Sandy Hook families.
It's because when people got wind out was a woman they started in about DEI and implying that the crash was because a woman was pilot rather than simply an accident.
Truth... I'm exhausted after 2 weeks. I'm a school therapist/social worker of course Republicans don't like. god forbid kids have social emotional learning, learn empathy how to appropriately manage emotions. Waiting for Trump 2 crack down & threaten my job at some point during these 4 years 😭😭
What is also highly unusual is for the U.S. government to be “run” by incompetent, deranged, sociopathic individuals. Those idiots made it necessary for the family of one of our service members to make such a request. Sick.
"The third crew member on the helicopter was a female pilot with 500 hours of flying experience, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation. The Army is withholding the pilot's name at the request of her family."
Think about the families being bullied by people over this DEI crap witch hunt.
The innocent people constantly get bullied by The MAGA and Trump himself.
They just lost a loved one and this is what they have to deal with all thanks to the so called “president”. I’ve said it before and will continue to, he is a sick man.
Good call in this combative climate.
The NTSB will likely name all the crew as part of its final report in a few years, provided the NTSB exists as a funtional body by them.
Whether cooler heads prevail at that time is yet to be seen.
Actually, legally they can't release her name either without her family's permission. Under the law her family has the right to block any personally identifiable information from being released
I seriously doubt that the privacy shield extends that far without mitigating circumstances.
This would be a matter for the courts. I can see her not identified up to the final report, but identified there. Do you have specific precedent? A lot of law to wade through.
I wouldn't release the name of a female crew member in the face of the grotesque misogyny and racism Trump is spewing despite no relationship to the accident. If named, she'll be targeted
Let's talk how Trump fired the Director of the FAA and started reducing numbers of air traffic controllers
This catastrophic accident is also a clear indicator that Trump, and his co-president, Musk's arbitrary and mindless effort to destroy the American civil service and long time non-partisan specialists who work for the Federal government wlll lead to more deadly outcomes. Trump needs to be called out
I don't blame the family from withholding the name. It's already a circus because there was a woman onboard. She could have been unconscious in the back and they would still exploit it.
Consider it a blessing the military will honor the family's wishes. The seeming allowance of hate towards women would have people disparaging that crew member for no honorable reason.
Because Trump and his unholy alliance made it clear yesterday, they were ready to target any, woman, black, brown, gay, service member in order to push their anti-DEI agenda. His sick following would harass and terrorize her family. We live in a sick world.
Trump will put the blame on the female crew member because he is spouting hate for DEI programs and will try anything to discredit women or others in these programs. God be with the families of those lost in this tragedy.
What a horrible situation that because of the disgusting mentality the President has instilled in his supporters, a grieving family takes these measures to protect themselves from threats of violence, harassment and abuse.
I really wish the US army would release a facts based analysis of what went wrong regarding how the helicopter ended up in a commercial airliner flight path and collided with the plane.
Absolutely unreal that we are in a scenario where the family of a military pilot who died in the line of duty is afraid to even mention their name. Disgusting. This is a direct reflection of the views repeated by the leadership, and this is situation is only going to get so much worse.
Understandable since Trump is trying to place blame on anyone who isn't a white male, and we know he likes to push his followers into violent reaction.
I am sure the crew-member’s family does not want their loss to be used as an example of keeping women out the military or to be otherwise disrespected by the Orange Clown in Chief.
“…highly unusual”? Her family would get dragged through the coals with the current rhetoric being spewed about DEI. Of course they’re protecting her memory and themselves during this tragedy.
She didn't get to be a helicopter pilot because she was a female, she got there because she did the work. She trained. She had to be qualified like everyone else. So shameful that our media has stopped screaming the horrible things this fascist antichrist and his minions are doing to this country!
Full traitor, Babbit. I agree. I’m talking army institution as a whole has something funny going on with it, if you step back, ALWAYS during trump time
yet at the same time, those conspiracy theorists have already begun harassing a transgender black hawk pilot that they claimed was the pilot in this accident, despite her still being very much alive. withholding the identity of this pilot is just going to keep fueling the DEI/Transgender narrative.
That's a stupid take. What's fueling the fire is the lies of a group of powerful people and the media who choose to amplify them. What's NOT fueling the fire is a family trying to avoid being harassed for the next ten years by crazies. (They won't avoid it, these poor people will not only bury
I definitely don't want to see their child harassed. It's just sad that there's no humanity in this situation from people who want to use it to demean others just for their existence. Its a tragedy all around and I hope that all this terrible behavior stops.
My point is not to say that there's any responsibility to release the name...but rather that there's terrible people out there using this as an opportunity to demean the existence of transgender people, to scapegoat DEI, and ultimately make us all less safe through misinformation and violent threats
It won't matter if the name is released.The wingnuts will just claim "lie!", "cover-up!" and all the usual drivel. And if the actual victim is identified, photos will be altered. There is no way to win in a society that thrives on disinformation and ridiculous theories that keep an audience excited.
After many trips in & out of National, and 43 years on the South Shore of the Big Lake they call Gitchigumie, I'd rather land at Marquette International in a snow storm with a Moose herd grazing on the runway. It's safer.
100% chance they'd harass her grieving family, if not directly than just by smearing her name with all kinds of made-up BS all over. Imaging losing your daughter/sister/partner in a freak accident and being bombarded with that kind of vitriol. It's the worst kind of awful.
nope... not at all... see my comment on my post... just pointing out we are in a terrible situation with misinformation and transgender people getting scapegoated. The family has every right, and should protect their privacy 100% as they'll get just as much of the hate and threats. It's a catch 22.
I don't blame them in this atmosphere, even without such a politically charged atmosphere, withholding the name allows family and friends to grieve in peace, out of the spotlight and without being harrassed or just simply overwhelmed by all the attention.
Probably because they know that Donald Trump is irresponsible enough to target that person’s family by yelling at press conferences or all CAPS tweeting about how a woman shouldn’t have been in the Army (DEI nonsense?), blaming her for the accident. I don’t trust FOTUS either.
Because she’ll be attacked for being a woman by the party that says they support the troops but doesn’t actually care about anything except its agendas
Oh I said on the crew if there was a woman or Person of Color watch out. They will be blamed Looks like Military thinks the same. If DOD going to stand up for her or be a puppet for Trump
The family of military members who die in service have the right to decide if their names can be released. Her family chose not to, you should respect that
The family appears concerned that because of the DEI claims by Trump, that their fallen loved one will likely be blamed. My heart breaks for this family And all the families who have lost someone in this disaster. Trump "piled on" to the pain with his reprehensible disgusting remarks.
I understand that some of the right wing lunatics are lying in support of the 🍊Fascist's blaming DEI, with blaming the crash on a trans person. I'd imagine they'd attack an actual female member (trans or not) of the Army crew. These white MAGA shitheads hate women. They think they're superior.
More war on women. Accusing highly qualified women as being other than what they are. They ARE highly trained and extremely qualified. Even more so than the dui hire for Sec of Defense.
Comments
Absolutely shameful
So much love to that family who even has to deal with this right now. We are a disgraceful country for the next 4 years and beyond.
Respect is earned, not given and with this tragedy, Trump keeps stooping to new lows.
I stand her family, nothing good will come of releasing her name in Trumpland... he/they ruin everything!
We all deserve better!
This allows the 'DEI' claims to continue.
Hours? Days?
If NPR could make the easy connection between that and the family’s decision here, there’s a cookie waiting for you with your name on it
The media needs to stop pretending it isn't.
It may not be the official reason, but we know it’s the reason.
I rarely say this to soldiers, so… good work.
But we should know. We shouldn’t conceal the names of US soldiers killed while working for our government.
When you are in the highest office of the land, all of its responsibilities are yours to own. When you don't, you show the world the kind of feckless coward you are.
Yes, I know it's an old rule.
https://www.newsweek.com/blackhawk-helicopter-pilot-what-we-know-2024107
She deserves better. As do we all.
Trump’s dismantling of the FAA created a safety hazard that led to the crash.
He is deflecting blame from himself to black people, women, anyone except the real culprit.
The innocent people constantly get bullied by The MAGA and Trump himself.
The injustice is incensing.
The media NEEDS to get this story right & refuse to drop it.
The NTSB will likely name all the crew as part of its final report in a few years, provided the NTSB exists as a funtional body by them.
Whether cooler heads prevail at that time is yet to be seen.
This would be a matter for the courts. I can see her not identified up to the final report, but identified there. Do you have specific precedent? A lot of law to wade through.
Let's talk how Trump fired the Director of the FAA and started reducing numbers of air traffic controllers
No political agendas. Just the facts
I know I am completely dreaming but I hope
So that's why I was seeing the "make up a trans woman to get mad at" memes cycling this morning
The issue seems to be with attempting to control someone else’s thoughts. Pretty sure “thought police” isn’t a good thing.
1. Release the name, get harrassed by conspiracy theorists
2. Dont release the name, others get harrassed instead
MAGAs endgame has always been this. Trump can blame literally anybody for literally anything, and the crazies WILL follow.
Fuck Trump!