By: Summer Bixler

Last weekend, several were left devastated. On January 29, an American Airlines plane was preparing to approach the runway over the Potomac River in D.C. when a Black Hawk helicopter collided into it. The Black Hawk was seemingly flying too high, higher than the usual height. After the collision, no survivors were left. Since then, all 67 victims have been identified.

Just two days later, a medical jet was transporting a young girl back home after treatment for a life-threatening illness. Just seconds after taking off, the jet dove straight into the ground, killing a bystander and all six passengers on the jet. Over 20 bystanders have been treated for injuries due to the accident. The actual cause of the crash has not yet been released.

Although both accidents were far from Bellbrook, Ohio, several people here have strong opinions. “I think it was so sad and tragic,” junior Delaney Dine said. “I hope that the victims’ families get support to help them get through this.”

“Nobody likes hearing about tragedies like this,” senior Lilly Birch said. “And anytime I hear about situations like this, it definitely has an effect on me and stays on my mind.”

One student in particular was directly affected by the collision in D.C. Riley Hodges, a senior at Bellbrook High School, was on his way to New York for surgery when his connecting flight in D.C. was abruptly canceled. “My flight had just landed in D.C. and we had come out of the plane and into the terminal when a bunch of flashing red lights caught my eye,” Hodges said. “Out of the window there was a very long line of distant lights, which I initially thought were lights on the runway, but soon everyone was standing up and looking there so I figured it wasn’t normal.

When I overheard someone mention a plane crash, I looked it up on my phone and there were a bunch of news stories already popping up, but none with any real info yet. There was a TV in the airport that was on the news and was covering it as more information surfaced.

It didn’t take long for the ‘small airplane crash’ to turn into a passenger jet colliding with a Black Hawk helicopter, and it became obvious this was a lot more serious than I originally thought. Not long after, the airport announced that no more flights would be leaving for at least that day and my mom and I rented a car because we had to be in New York by the next morning for surgery.

The personal effect it had on me at first was just a major inconvenience to our journey, but the realization that my plane had taken that same path five minutes prior made me realize that it was almost my plane and made the situation a lot more personal to me,” Hodges said.