The tragic midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River has left 67 people dead, sending shockwaves across the nation. While aviation experts and military analysts work to piece together what happened, Fox News’ Ainsley Earhardt sparked intense debate with a question that left even a former Navy SEAL speechless.

A Question That Stopped an Expert in His Tracks

During an interview on Fox & Friends, Jake Zwieg, a former Navy SEAL and aviation expert, joined the show to analyze the devastating collision. However, it wasn’t the mechanics of the crash that rattled him—it was Earhardt’s haunting question about the victims’ final moments.

Earhardt, who often brings a deeply personal and emotional angle to her reporting, asked:

“It’s a tough question to ask, but I always think about this when we report on someone who has died. What were those last moments like? You don’t want anyone to be scared, but you also want people to say their prayers before and have a little bit of time.”

“When the plane crashes, when something like this happens, there’s no pain, right? The people don’t experience that?”

Zwieg, visibly taken aback, paused before blurting out:

“Golly! Can you give me a harder question?”

The unexpected exchange between the two stunned viewers, with some praising Earhardt’s raw empathy while others questioned whether such speculation was appropriate in a moment of national grief.

Rescue teams search the wreckage of a commercial airplane that collided with a military helicopter in Washington

The Brutal Reality of the Crash

After a brief moment of silence, Zwieg reluctantly responded with a chilling dose of reality.

“I can’t really go out and say that,” he admitted. “It was a pretty kinetic crash—we’ve all seen the big explosion, and obviously, the helicopter’s rotor blades went through the bottom of the aircraft.”

Zwieg estimated that victims had at most eight seconds of sheer terror before impact, calling it “probably the most horrific thing that you could live through.”

For a man who has survived multiple helicopter crashes during his military career, his grim honesty painted a harrowing picture of what may have happened in those final moments.

Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport also captured the moment the two collided in midair

Rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River for survivors after the deadly plane crash

Emergency response units assess airplane wreckage in the Potomac River

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The aircrafts collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake past the airport.

At least 40 bodies have since been pulled from the Potomac River following extensive recovery missions by emergency teams.

The bodies of all four flight crew members – including one who was mere months away from a promotion and wedding – were recovered from the debris on Thursday.

The pilots were Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley, DailyMail.com exclusively revealed. The flight attendants were Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.

Two of the soldiers onboard the helicopter have been identified as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves and Staff Sergeant Ryan O’Hara, who was the Black Hawk’s crew chief.

Passengers included members of the US figure skating team who were returning from the US Figure Skating Championships.

Rescue crews digging through the wreckage recovered two black boxes from the waters of the Potomac River on Thursday night. These are the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

Pictured: Parts of the wreckage which remain in the Potomac River

This evidence will come into play as authorities investigate what exactly happened in the moments leading to disaster.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) wrote in a statement: ‘As we await more information from the ongoing investigations, our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, and military members and their families, as well as the first responders who were on scene.

‘NATCA stands with the highly trained, highly skilled air traffic controller workforce and those who perform safety-critical work 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week, 365 days-a-year and keeps the United States as the gold standard for aviation safety.’