jmcgrfx 

Raising the Potomac

Concept discussion

by James P. McCabe

July 15, 2026

 

The idea for this project came about on the first anniversary of the January 29, 2025 mid-air collision involving a jet and a helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington D.C.

 

An article commemorating the collision included the photograph of the helicopter wreckage being lifted out of the river, which is where I saw it.

 

My reaction to the photograph was to see if something could be done to create an image that would serve as a memorial to all 67 lives that were lost, regardless of the causes for the collision, as later determined.

 

The image shows the helicopter wreckage displayed suspended in a darkened gallery setting, with a US flag hanging behind it. The whole assemblage has been raised up, to emphasize the reverential feeling that a visitor should have when viewing it. Both wreckage and flag are hovering in mid-air unassisted...

 

This is the reason for using 3D imagery to create this piece- so that we don’t have to deal with the problems of it being a physical presence. In front of this display, a visitor is wearing an Oculus headset. That is because the display exists only as an Oculus file. To see it one must be wearing the headset…

 

The first panel shows how I put together the original concept using only PowerPoint.

 

With the second panel I tried using a simple AI. program to move the point of view behind our visitor and to the right, looking up at the display, so we get more of a feeling of dimensionality. The problem with it is that it moves the flag too much into the background. That's how the image was created. JPM 7/21/26