| | | | | | | Presented By Amazon | | | | Axios PM | | By Mike Allen · Jan 30, 2025 | | Good Thursday afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 761 words, a 3-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing. | | | | | | 1 big thing: No survivors | | | | Emergency response units work at the crash site on the Potomac River today. Photo: Al Drago/Getty Images The lives lost in last night's plane-chopper collision over the Potomac River included American and Russian figure skaters who were returning from a training camp in Wichita, Kansas. - Public schools in Virginia and a labor union also said they lost members of their communities in the crash.
All 67 people — 64 on the plane, 3 in the helicopter — are believed to have died in the tragic midair collision, authorities said today. 🎤 "Everything was standard in the lead-up to the crash," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press briefing today. - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter was flown by a "fairly experienced crew."
🛫 The latest: The air traffic controller on duty last night was doing the work usually done by two people — instructing both departing and arriving flights — according to The New York Times. - Crews have begun to recover parts of both aircraft, including the plane's fuselage, from the Potomac River. They've set up tents along the Anacostia River to receive the victims' remains, Axios D.C.'s Cuneyt Dil reports.
 Data: FAA, FlightAware. Chart: Axios Visuals President Trump implied, without evidence, that diversity measures at the FAA might have contributed to the crash. - "I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first," Trump said during a press conference in which he repeatedly attacked his Democratic predecessors, as well as former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Trump claimed the FAA's diversity policies had included "hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities." |     | | | | | | 2. ✈️ A pilot's perspective | | |  Data: NTSB and early news reports. (NTSB figures are preliminary for 2023. 2024 and 2025 figures are from news reports.) Chart: Axios Visuals Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick — a hobbyist pilot — offers his thoughts on the deadly crash: For some of us in aviation, last night's midair collision just a few hundred feet over our nation's capital was a simmering fear made real in tragic fashion. - Aviation safety experts have been warning that air traffic controllers are overloaded and overworked — and that the airspace is increasingly busy with record travel. The combination fueled a grim sense that it was only a matter of time.
🔎 Air traffic control audio suggests the helicopter, which was on a training mission, was instructed to see and avoid the jet, which was approaching to land at DCA. - That didn't happen, for reasons only a thorough and professional investigation — which could take years — may reveal.
💭 Alex's thought bubble: President Biden's FAA took safety concerns seriously. But even an agency tasked with overseeing near-supersonic air travel can only move at the speed of government. - At the same time, DEI doesn't bring down airliners. Mistakes do, and anyone can make those — even well-trained pilots and controllers, of any race, gender or creed.
Aviation disasters rarely come down to a single mistake by a single person. Instead, they're often attributable to multiple factors that meet at a point in space and time with terrible consequences. | | | | | | | | A message from Amazon | | Meet Lisa-Jae and Kammy: a New York-based business selling nationally | | |  | | | | Best part about selling in Amazon's store: "Selling on Amazon has helped our small business expand its reach and connect with new customers." More than 60% of sales in Amazon's store come from independent sellers, like 3 Moms Organics. Learn more. | | | | | | 3. Catch me up | | | | Kash Patel is sworn in during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images - 🚔 Kash Patel, President Trump's nominee for FBI director, sought to distance himself from Trump's blanket pardons for Jan. 6 rioters. "I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement," Patel said at his confirmation hearing today. Go deeper.
- 🦾 OpenAI is in early talks to raise up to $40 billion, valuing the company at $340 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports (gift link).
- ⚖️ Sam Bankman-Fried's parents are exploring ways to persuade President Trump to pardon their son, Bloomberg reports.
| | | | | | | | 4. 🐲 Dungeons & Dragons turns 50 | | | | A scene from the mythical Forgotten Realms, an iconic Dungeons & Dragons world, celebrating 50 years of adventure, magic and storytelling. Illustration: Wizards of the Coast Fifty years after Dungeons & Dragons first rolled the dice, the legendary tabletop game remains a cultural force — fueling movies, series, books and one of the most devoted fandoms in gaming history, Axios Seattle's Christine Clarridge writes. - D&D's influence can be seen in the "Stranger Things" series, the "Baldur's Gate 3" game, the "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" movie, and brand collaborations with Converse and Lego, Jess Lanzillo, VP of franchise and product for Dungeons & Dragons, told Axios.
- 85 million global fans engaged with the brand in the past year, per Wizards of the Coast — the Hasbro-owned makers of "Magic: The Gathering." That includes playing tabletop D&D and video games and buying merchandise.
🎲 Flashback: Created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974, D&D introduced collaborative storytelling, where players use dice and imagination to shape fantasy worlds. - The game's popularity exploded after Wizards of the Coast acquired it and expanded its reach.
| | | | | | | | A message from Amazon | | Meet Lisa-Jae and Kammy: a New York-based business selling nationally | | | | | | | | Best part about selling in Amazon's store: "Selling on Amazon has helped our small business expand its reach and connect with new customers." More than 60% of sales in Amazon's store come from independent sellers, like 3 Moms Organics. Learn more. | | | | 📬 Please invite your friends to join PM. |  | Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it. | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment