The US Coast Guard
(USCG), one of the US Military’s branches in wartime and the government organization responsible for guarding the nation’s coasts and waterways is involved in American Airlines Flight 5342
. With the Potomac River where Flight 5342 went down in a major United States waterway, the US Coast Guard has been and remains clearly helpful in addressing the tragedy.
Related
American Airlines Flight 5342 Crash: Everything We Know So Far
Authorities believe there are no survivors after last night’s midair collision.
How is the US Coast Guard helping?
According to two January 30 statements by the USCG and the US Naval Institute News, a news and advocacy organization the author is a member of on their blog reports,
“Response boat crews from Coast Guard stations Washington, Curtis Bay, Annapolis, St. Inigoes, Oxford, and Crisfield deployed to conduct searches in coordination with local authorities and enforce a safety zone. Coast Guard patrol boat USGC Sailfish (WPB-87356), fast response cutter USCGC Nathan Bruckenthal (WPC-1128), inland construction tender USCGC Kennebec (WLIC-802), and buoy tender USCGC Frank Drew (WLM-557) are on their way to assist.”
In fact, the Secretary of the United States Cabinet that the USCG reports to in Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem noted the first on scene were the USCG:
Below are two US Coast Guard images from the scene, with another serving as the cover photo to this tragic situation:
USCG marine units are also ensuring that this stretch of the Potomac River is closed off to vessel traffic to prevent potential tampering with the crash site. Additionally, pollution response equipment is being moved into position as a reasonable precaution against fuel and oil spills from the crash. Secretary Noem posted these photos to X – formerly known as Twitter – of those activities:
Although as of press time, the means of the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Bombardier CRJ700 is not public, it is safe to say without the USCG’s efforts, the below would be impossible:
USCG is entrusted with many missions
The USCG has many missions to provide. Below is a list from the official website created from the Homeland Security Act of 2002 when the USCG was moved over from the US Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security:
- Ports, Waterways & Coastal Security
- Drug Interdiction
- Aids to Navigation (ATON: including maintaining the nation’s lighthouses, buoys & VTS; also legacy ATON missions including lightships & LORAN)
- Search & Rescue (SAR)
- Living Marine Resources
- Marine Safety
- Defense Readiness (National Security & Military Preparedness)
- Migrant Interdiction
- Maritime Environmental Protection
- Polar, Ice & Alaska Operations (including the International Ice Patrol)
- Law Enforcement (including Prohibition Enforcement History)
Although the USCG’s aviation branch, whose
exploits in Alaska were recently profiled
, has not been an active participant in the response to the American Airlines Flight 5342 crash – as one can see, the USCG has more tools for emergencies, such as ships and divers.
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directory of our news stories
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Obviously, we at Simple Flying are all grieving the loss of life.