Helicopter in DC plane crash was practising top-secret ‘continuity of government mission’ in case of attack

The military helicopter that collided with an American Airlines plane over Washington was on a training mission to prepare for an attack on the US.

The doomed military helicopter that collided with an American Airlines flight over Washington, DC on Wednesday night was conducting training to prepare for a catastrophic event or attack on the US, according to officials.

The crew aboard the UH-60 Black Hawk chopper, the 12th Aviation Battalion, is responsible for top-secret evacuation missions meant to whisk top US officials from DC to secure locations in the case of a national emergency such as a terrorist or nuclear attack, the New York Post reports.

In a press conference on Thursday night, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the soldiers “were on a routine, annual retraining of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission.”

The military helicopter that collided with an American Airlines flight over Washington, DC on Wednesday night. Picture: Supplied

Recovery teams search the wreckage after the crash of an American Airlines plane on the Potomac River. Picture: Al Drago/Getty Images/AFP

He said he couldn’t reveal further details on “anything that’s classified.”

“The military does dangerous things,” Hegseth added. “It does routine things on a regular basis.”

Typically, crews like the one killed on the Black Hawk transport Washington elites in and out of the heavily trafficked airspace around Reagan National Airport, one of the busiest in the nation, according to reports.

Mississippi man Andrew Eaves was among the military Black Hawk pilots who died. Picture: Supplied

Blackhawk pilot, Ryan O'Hara, was also involved in the Washington DC plane crash. Picture: Supplied

The Army has come under scrutiny for allowing pilots to train at night near a high-traffic airport, and in a chopper that was not equipped with new technology that would have alerted air traffic control to its path.

But officials, including Hegseth, have pointed to the sensitive nature of such operations.

“You need to rehearse in ways that would reflect a real-world scenario,” Hegseth said.

The chopper was travelling along a core training route but was flying nearly twice as high as aviation guidelines permit.

Local first responders salute the flag draped bodies of service members killed in the aviation crash. Picture: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/AFP

Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, and an unidentified female pilot were all aboard the helicopter when it collided midair with an American Airlines flight on Wednesday.

The fiery crash sent both aircraft plunging into Washington, DC’s Potomac River, also killing all 64 people aboard the passenger jet.

The last known time a continuity of operations mission was activated was on Sept. 11, 2001, when high-ranking officials were transported to sites including Raven Rock Mountain Complex, or “Site R,” located near Camp David.

It remains one of three government backup facilities and the primary one for the Pentagon leadership.

This article originally appeared in the New York Post and has been reproduced with permission.