After President Donald Trump blamed the DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hiring policies of the Obama and Biden governments for the tragic mid-air collision between and American Airlines plane and an army helicopter, rumors spread that one of the pilots of the helicopter was a transgender person — Jo Ellis. This was to connect Donald Trump’s reasoning with the mishap — until Jo Ellis issued a video claiming that she is indeed a Blackhawk pilot, but is alive and was not flying the ill-fated helicopter.
“Interesting morning. This is Jo Ellis. I am a Blackhawk pilot with the Virginia Army National Guard. I understand some people have associated me with the crash in DC and that is false. It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some kind of political agenda, They don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve this. And I hope you all know that I am alive and well and this should be sufficient for you all to end all the rumors,” she said adding a statement that the Department of Defense handles casualty notifications and confirmed that no Virginia National Guard personnel were involved in the Black Hawk collision.
What was the misinformation around Joe Ellis?
Jo Ellis’ social media posts were scanned after she was mistakenly identified as one of the pilots. Keen-eyed social media users found out that Ellis wrote many anti-Trump statements. “Just ONE DAY before piloting the Blackhawk that collided mid-air with a passenger jet over DC, transgender military pilot Joe Ellis appeared on the Michael Smerconish podcast. In the interview, Ellis expressed anger over Trump’s ban on trans service members, calling it a direct threat to a career in the military,” one social media post claimed asking whether the DC crash was “another trans terrorist attack” and whether Ellis crashed into the jet on purpose.
“So now we’re learning that the Pilot/Co-Pilot ‘female’ who was on the Blackhawk is actually a transgender who wrote a long letter ONE DAY PRIOR about “Gender dysphoria” and depression,” another post read.
Who is Jo Ellis?
Ellis is a Chief Warrant Officer and Black Hawk helicopter pilot who has served in the Virginia National Guard for 15 years, reports said. She served in combat zones in Iraq, along with other operations overseas. She serves in the military part-time, and also works as an IT engineer in the private sector.
Ellis began her gender transitioning in 2023 while serving in the Army and claimed that everyone in her unit was very supportive.
‘Blackhawk took a bizarre flight path’
Though the investigation is on, prima facie the army helicopter is being blamed for taking a bizarre flight path deviating from its scheduled route and also altitude. President Donald Trump this morning took to Truth Social claiming that the Blackhawk was flying higher than its 200-ft limit. A New York Times report said the helicopter pilot even confirmed seeing the American Airlines plane and the air traffic controller asked the pilot to go behind the plane but it did not follow that.
