Pete Hegseth reveals Black Hawk crew 'fairly experienced' and had night vision goggles

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth broke his silence about the fatal Washington D.C. plane crash and gave an update about President Trump's Guantánamo Bay plan.

New US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth breaks silence on the fatal Washington D.C. plane crash (Image: Getty)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth broke his silence about the fatal Washington D.C. plane crash that occurred Wednesday evening.

He announced that the Department of Defense was working alongside a senior-level investigation team from the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence in an "active" and "ongoing" investigation into the incident, which claimed 64 civilian and three soldiers lives.

"We are actively working to investigate and understand what occurred and why,” he said in a video announcement shared Thursday morning on social media.

He confirmed that around 8:48 p.m. Wednesday a UH6 assigned to the U.S. Army Aviation Brigade in the military district of Washington at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, "collided tragically with a civilian airline."

The army unit involved was the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

He said the army aviation crew was conducting an annual training proficiency flight.

"It was a fairly experienced crew doing an annual night evaluation. They did have night-vision googles,” Hegseth said.

He added that authorities are withholding their names because the families have not all been notified.

The battalion has been issued a 48 hour operational pause as the investigation is underway, Hegseth said.

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A senior-level investigation team from the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence was deployed last night to assist in the investigation, he added.

"We anticipate that the investigation will quickly be able to determine whether the aircraft was in the quarter at the right altitude at the time of the incident," Hegseth said.

"It's a tragedy," he said while shaking his head. "A horrible loss of life for those 64 souls on that civilian airline and, of course, the three soldiers in that Black Hawk. They are in our prayers and their families."

President Trump made major changes in aviation last week ahead of the crash, firing the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard, slashing a key aviation security advisory group, freezing hiring for air traffic controllers and pausing new aviation regulations.

Former FAA Director Michael Whitaker also resigned the day Trump was inaugurated under pressure from Elon Musk. He had only served in the role for a year and accused the SpaceX CEO of “harassment.”

He also provided insight into President Trump's Guantánamo Bay executive order announced last night.

Trump said Wednesday that he was signing an executive order to deport about 30,000 undocumented immigrants to the U.S. military base detention facility in Cuba.

Hegseth said he spoke with joint-chiefs about Trump's Guantánamo Bay operation, which he said was "ongoing."

He said the team is securing a location for "violent criminals as they are deported out of the country."

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