Eduardo Sifuentes
preCharge News (PN) WASHINGTON – A massive search and rescue effort was underway after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair with an American Airlines jet at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia on Wednesday evening.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan National Airport (DCA) around 9 p.m. local time.
PSA was operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines, and it departed from Wichita, Kansas. There was no immediate word on casualties or the cause of the collision.
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What to know about the Washington, D.C., plane crash
- An American Airlines plane with 60 passengers and four crew on board collided in midair with an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., and crashed into the Potomac River on Wednesday night.
- President Trump told reporters Thursday at the White House that no one survived the crash.
- At least 40 bodies had been recovered by 5:30 p.m. ET, a police official at the scene told preCharge News.
- The plane’s black boxes have been recovered, the NTSB confirmed.
- Top figure skaters from the United States and Russia were on board the flight.
- The plane, American Eagle flight 5342, had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, and was approaching for landing when the collision occurred.
- The helicopter was on a training flight with a crew of three, based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
Experts ask why Black Hawk helicopter may have been flying above allowed altitude
The military Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into a passenger plane near Reagan National Airport Wednesday appears to have been flying above the permitted altitude, publicly available flight data analyzed by preCharge News shows.
This data point is one of several key mysteries investigators are exploring as they seek to explain what caused the nation’s worst air disaster in more than a decade, aviation experts said.
The permitted flight ceiling on the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport is 200 feet – a crucial ceiling for keeping the heavy flow of military helicopters safely clear of the steady commercial aircraft traffic into and out of the nation’s capital.
Data from FlightRadar24, which tracks and records aircraft data for most flights across the U.S., showed the helicopter’s last estimated altitude was about 400 feet when it crashed. The jet’s altitude was about 375 to 400 feet, according to data from FlightAware and FlightRadar24.
What to know about Trump’s criticisms of DEI and the FAA’s diversity policies
In a Thursday press briefing, President Trump criticized his predecessor for his management of the Federal Aviation Administration and suggested, without evidence, that diversity initiatives at the agency could be to blame for Wednesday’s deadly crash.
“I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first,” Mr. Trump said. “The FAA’s website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism.” Mr. Trump added that people in those categories would be “qualified” for controller positions, even though the agency’s statement does not say that.
It has been longstanding FAA policy — including before, during and after Mr. Trump’s first term — to include people with disabilities in recruitment. However, there is no evidence that these initiatives have compromised air safety or had any relation to the crash Wednesday night. The cause of the collision remains under investigation.
Air traffic controllers must undergo extensive training and meet rigorous standards, including physical and mental fitness tests. They cannot have a history of mental disorders or physical conditions that could interfere with their duties, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which is the chief human resources agency for the federal government.
Sen. Duckworth, former Black Hawk pilot, on flying in area where crash occurred
Sen. Tammy Duckworth told preCharge News’ Nikole Killion in an interview Thursday that she’s requested a transcript of the air traffic control instructions and responses from the pilots involved in the deadly midair collision.
“What I did learn was that air traffic control did contact and speak with the helicopter crew twice, and they acknowledged the instructions twice,” Duckworth said. “I also am asking for the flight path of both aircraft up until the moment of the impact.”
The Illinois Democrat will have more insight than many of her colleagues — she is an Iraq War veteran and was a Black Hawk pilot before an RPG downed her helicopter during an Iraq deployment in 2004, costing Duckworth both of her legs and partial use of her right arm.
Duckworth says she’s certain that the soldiers who were piloting the Black Hawk on Wednesday night were well trained because otherwise, “they wouldn’t be out there in this special airspace — the airspace around Washington, D.C.” She noted that they were in the SFRA — the Washington, D.C., metropolitan Special Flight Restricted Area. It’s a circular 30-nautical-mile area around Washington, D.C., which also surrounds the Flight-Restricted Zone, a smaller area encompassing Reagan National Airport.”
“You don’t get to fly in that without additional flight training,” Duckworth said.
The Illinois Democrat described what the crew would have been doing in the cockpit as the Black Hawk flew Wednesday night.
6 members of Boston figure skating club among D.C. plane crash victims
The rink was empty at the Skating Club of Boston Thursday, one day after six members from this elite figure skating community were killed aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter.
“Our rink is eerily quiet,” Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the club, told CBS Boston. “Coaches are not coming in. Kids are not coming in. I think everyone is mourning privately.”
Among those who died are 13-year-old Jinna Han and 16-year-old Spencer Lane, two up-and-coming skaters. Han’s mother, Jin Han, and Lane’s mother, Christine Lane, were also on the plane, along with their children’s coaches, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova.
“He was just loved by everyone, from the adults running the club, to the smallest skaters, to the people who are competing for a shot at the Olympics, they all just adored him,” said Douglas Lane of his son Spencer.
The Russian-born Shishkova and Naumov were married. The couple won the pairs title at the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships and competed in the Winter Olympics twice. Their son, Naxim, a competitive figure skater for the U.S., was not on the plane
“They grew up in St. Petersburgh,” Zeghibe said. “They learned a very traditional Russian style of skating and training. And that is something they brought here.”
D.C. fire chief on victim recovery efforts, salvage operations
In an interview with CBS News, District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly detailed how search and recovery efforts for the 67 victims of the midair collision were progressing, and the challenges crews were facing.
Donnelly said the crash occurred “in a spot that’s relatively close to our fire boat pier and harbor patrol pier.”
“The first fire boat was on the scene in 10 minutes,” Donnelly explained. “We were also fortunate that they were on the water. While they didn’t see the accident, they understood where it was. And if you understand the water, it is a big black spot in the middle of the night. There’s no way to see anything other than the buoys.”
Donnelly said moving forward there will be “salvage operations.”
“We’re gonna lift all the wreckage out, collect all the wreckage,” the fire chief said. “And at the same time (as that) we’re getting the rest of the bodies.”
What to know about the route the Black Hawk chopper was flying
New Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters in a briefing Thursday that the Sikorsky H-60 Army Black Hawk helicopter was on a routine training mission, saying there appeared to be nothing unusual about the flight that took off from nearby Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
“A routine annual retraining of night flights on a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission. The military does dangerous things. It does routine things on a regular basis,” Hegseth said. “Tragically, last night a mistake was made.”
It’s a mission similar to those flown every day by Army helicopters in the tight air corridors around the nation’s capital.
“No excuses,” Hegseth said. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this.”
Former Black Hawk pilot Bradley Bowman has flown this route along the Potomac River many times and told preCharge News about the challenges.
“The area around Reagan National Airport is one of the busiest, if not the busiest, in the nation. And you have these low-level helicopter routes. And it’s all in a relatively tight space,” Bowman said.
He said it would be fair to describe it as routine.
“The day-to-day mission of this aviation unit is what we call priority air transport to fly VIPs around. And so if you’re going to go pick up the chief of staff of the Army at the Pentagon, right, and fly him on a night mission, you don’t want the first time you’re doing that to be with the VIP in the back,” Bowman said. “So, you do these regular training missions to make sure that you know your trade.”
Bowman said the Black Hawk is “incredibly maneuverable.”
“You can think of it like a Porsche in the sky,” Bowman said. “Very maneuverable. Lots of power. They could have maneuvered quickly if they’d seen the problem.”
Black boxes from crashed plane recovered
The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, commonly known as black boxes, have been recovered from the crashed plane, a source familiar with the investigation confirmed.
They will be analyzed at the NTSB lab, which is located about a mile from the crash site.
The NTSB later confirmed it had recovered the black boxes in a statement.
“NTSB investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Bombardier CRJ700 airplane involved in yesterday’s mid-air collision at DCA. The recorders are at the NTSB labs for evaluation,” the NTSB said.
Trump administration deploys disaster medical team
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response said in a news release that it has “deployed a team of fatality management and victim assistance specialists from the National Disaster Medical System” to respond to the midair collision near Reagan Washington National Airport.
They say that a disaster mortuary team is working with the Washington, D.C., medical examiner to assess fatality management needs and staff from the victim identification center is supporting the family assistance center.
They also said that they did a “rapid behavioral health needs assessment” to help D.C. health authorities.
Dive operations temporarily suspended due to dangerous conditions
Dive operations at the crash site have been temporarily suspended due to dangerous conditions, sources told preCharge News.
While it is believed that dive teams have recovered all the bodies that can safely be retrieved, the U.S. Coast Guard will move in assets to safely remove parts of the fuselage from the Potomac River in order to access and recover the remaining bodies.
While less complicated and resource intensive, the operation has been likened to debris and steel removal during last year’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, with crews employing vessels and machinery to carefully clear the site and retrieve victims from the water.
Once parts of the fuselage are removed and it is again deemed safe, dive operations will resume.
Sonar scans of the river and air and ground searches along the banks of the Potomac are still underway. Those will be suspended overnight.
Nancy Kerrigan calls deaths of Massachusetts figure skaters in D.C. crash a “shock”
Olympian Nancy Kerrigan gathered at the Norwood ice rink to share her grief over the deaths of six people with ties to the Skating Club of Boston. Kerrigan, an alumnus of the club, called the news a “shock.”
“Much like everyone here’s been saying, I’m not sure how to process it,” Kerrigan said. “We just wanted to be here and be part of our community. The kids here really work hard, their parents work hard to be here.”
Kerrigan said while everyone grieves differently, figure skaters learn that you always get back up.
40 bodies recovered, source says
Authorities have recovered 40 intact bodies and the partial remains of several others, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation. Some remains have washed ashore, the source said.
Investigators believe they have accessed all the remains they can safely retrieve up to this point, but believe there are more in a tail section of the fuselage currently out of reach, according to the source.
Crews will suspend recovery operations at dusk and resume tomorrow in daylight. They fear some bodies may not be recovered, the source said.
Trump signs memo to make sure transportation chief undoes DEI policies
President Trump signed a presidential memorandum in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon directing Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to ensure that the White House undoes any Biden-era or Obama-era diversity and inclusion or “woke” policies and programs. This comes after Mr. Trump suggested DEI could be to blame for Wednesday night’s collision.
“In other words, competence,” the president said, adding, “I think everyone understands that.”
Multiple agencies are investigating the collision, and investigators haven’t indicated what may have caused the crash.
Mr. Trump also signed paperwork appointing an acting administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration, Christopher Rocheleau, something he said earlier Thursday that he would do.
“He’s a very capable guy,” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump said it’s fine for helicopters to fly in the D.C. airspace as long as they’re in the right place.
“We’re not gonna let it happen again,” he said.
Updated 4:29 PM/January 30, 2025
Sen. Tammy Duckworth pushes back on Trump’s DEI comments: “How dare he?”
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a former Black Hawk pilot, pushed back after President Trump suggested Democrats’ federal diversity and inclusion policies might be to blame for the crash.
“That’s an attack on those pilots, and how dare he?” Duckworth told CBS News congressional correspondent Nikole Killion.
“How dare the commander in chief of the greatest military on the face of the earth attack the soldiers that just died last night by saying that he’s implying that they were not qualified to do their jobs,” Duckworth said. “He’s implying that they were substandard as an aviation air crew member, because, as if they had that position because of some other initiative that had nothing to do with their qualifications and capabilities as their crew members. I am offended that the commander in chief of the United States military would actually say that about the soldiers that he has sworn to lead. Shame on him.”
Duckworth has long raised concerns about crowded airspace at airports like Reagan National.
The senator said pilots don’t fly in the Washington, D.C., airspace without extensive training.
“You don’t get to fly in that without additional flight training, so we know this was a trained crew that was in there,” she said, adding that people need to allow investigators to do their job before speculating.
Updated 4:44 PM/January 30, 2025
Only 1 air traffic control worker was managing helicopters and planes, sources say
One air traffic control worker was managing the helicopters and planes from the Reagan National Airport tower at the time of the collision, a job normally done by two people, two sources tell CBS News.
According to a source, managing the helicopters and planes are two jobs before 9:30 p.m. but a supervisor combined them early.
The New York Times first reported the air traffic control staffing numbers. The Times reported that staffing at the tower was “not normal,” according to a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration report.
Flight data recorders have not yet been recovered, NTSB says
Flight data recorders from the plane and military helicopter have not yet been recovered, National Transportation Safety Board officials said in a news briefing on Thursday.
“We know they’re there, they are underwater,” NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said. “This is not unusual for the NTSB. We have many times recovered flight data recorders in water.”
Homendy said the NTSB’s lab, which is located about a mile from the crash site, would be able to read the plane’s flight data recorder. Board member J. Todd Inman, who will be serving as a spokesperson for the investigation, said that the helicopter’s data recorder will be recovered and read by either the NTSB or the Department of Defense. He indicated there was an agreement between the two agencies to share the information on the recorder.
“Once we get those, we’ll be able to get those read, and information from them, to be able to provide further information to you,” Homendy said.
NTSB intends to issue preliminary report in 30 days, official says
In a briefing on Thursday afternoon, the National Transportation Safety Board said that its goal is to publish a preliminary report about the deadly crash in 30 days.
J. Todd Inman, a member of the board who will be serving as a spokesperson for the investigation, said that an investigative team will be on the scene “as long as it takes to obtain all of the perishable evidence and all of the fact-finding that is needed to bring this to a conclusion of probable cause.”
All aspects of the crash will be investigated, he said, with working groups tackling specific aspects of the incident. One group will review and reconstruct air control activities. Another group will look at all of the plane’s systems and functions. A third will investigate the activities of crew members of both flights in the days leading up to the crash.
A final report will be issued once all fact-finding and investigation is done, Inman said. He did not indicate when this might be completed.
“We don’t have a lot of information now. We will continue to gather that. We will try to release it as we can, but we will only talk about the facts of the case that we know right now,” Inman said.
Helicopter crew was “very experienced,” official says
Jonathan Koziol, the chief of staff at the Headquarters Department of the Army Aviation Directorate, told reporters that the crew of the military helicopter was “very experienced” and would have been familiar with the route they were flying.
One of the pilots had 1,000 flying hours, Koziol said, and the other had 500 hours. The flight pattern is flown on a daily basis, he said.
“This should not have been a problem,” he said.
NTSB officials holding briefing on collision
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board are briefing reporters on its investigation into the collision. Watch the briefing in the player above.
Helicopter crew chief identified as 29-year-old
preCharge News has learned the crew chief on the helicopter was 29-year-old Ryan O’Hara. He is survived by a wife and 1-year-old son.
26-year-old returning from work trip among crash victims, father-in-law says
Asra Hussain Raza, 26, was among the victims of the crash, her father-in-law, Hashim Raza, told CBS News. A graduate of the University of Indiana and Columbia University, Raza had recently relocated to Washington, D.C., with her husband for a consulting position. She was traveling back to Washington from a work trip to Wichita when the crash occurred.
Senator says crash “demands answers”
During the confirmation hearing for President Trump’s pick for FBI director, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley offered prayers to those who died in the crash.
“This is a horrible, hard-to-understand disaster that demands answers,” he said.
Maryland labor union says 4 members were on flight
Four members of a Maryland-based labor union were on board the flight, union leaders said in a social media post.
They belonged to Steamfitters United Association Local 602, which represents workers in the heating, air conditioning, refrigeration and process piping industries in the D.C. Metro area.
Former Black Hawk helicopter pilot raises questions for investigation
Retired Lt. Col. Darin Gaub, a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot, spoke on “CBS Mornings” about what questions could be raised during the investigation into the deadly midair collision.
“They had one crew chief and not two. That could be a factor that needs to be accounted for in the investigation … but the visibility in the Black Hawk is good,” Gaub said.
Gaub also said the National Transportation Safety Board will have to analyze congestion as part of its investigation.
“It is very dense. It is high risk because of that,” he said. “There are specific corridors and air space restrictions that are extremely effective as a result as well when they are followed.”
Buttigieg blasts Trump for response to crash
Pete Buttigieg, who served as secretary of transportation during the Biden administration, lambasted President Trump for his comments blaming the crash in part on the FAA’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices. The president also took aim at Buttigieg specifically, claiming he was a “disaster” as leader of the Transportation Department.
“Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying,” Buttigieg wrote on social media. “We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.”
Buttigieg criticized Mr. Trump for eliminating the membership of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee when he came into office and said he needs to tell the American people how his administration will prevent a similar disaster in the future.
“President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe,” Buttigieg wrote. “Time for the president to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”
Trump tells Americans it’s safe to fly
President Trump said Americans shouldn’t be nervous about flying in the wake of the crash.
“It’s been many years since something like this has happened, and the collision is something we don’t expect to happen ever again,” he said, adding that he would not hesitate to fly himself.
He also pointed to the nation’s safety record.
“Flying is very safe. We have the safest flying anywhere in the world, and we’ll keep it that way,” he said.
Trump criticizes Biden administration during press briefing
During his press briefing Thursday morning, President Trump criticized the Biden administration and attacked diversity initiatives, claiming that he had increased standards for those who work within aviation.
Duffy vows speedy investigation: “This should not have happened”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that an investigation into the deadly crash will be conducted “as quickly as possible.”
The National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Transportation will be part of the investigation, he said. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Department of Defense and the U.S. military will also be part of the investigation.
“What happened yesterday shouldn’t have happened,” Duffy said. “It should not have happened. When Americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination. That didn’t happen yesterday. That’s not acceptable. We will not accept excuses. We will not accept passing the buck.”
Trump confirms no survivors in crash
President Trump said there are no survivors in the deadly airline crash.
“This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history,” Mr. Trump said.
Trump appoints acting FAA head
President Trump appointed an acting administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration, which does not have a Senate-approved leader. Trump appointee Chris Rocheleau, a 22-year veteran of the agency who was serving as the deputy administrator, will be the acting head.
Mr. Trump said that multiple authorities, including the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board, are working “tirelessly” to investigate the crash. He emphasized safety goals, saying that his administration “will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety.”
“We are in mourning,” Trump says
President Trump spoke from the White House briefing room at around 11:20 a.m. on Thursday, referring to the morning as an “hour of anguish” for the United States.
“As one nation we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly. We are in mourning,” he said.
Hegseth, Duffy join Trump at press briefing
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy are joining President Trump as he speaks from the White House briefing room.
Flights resume at Reagan National Airport
Flights resumed at Reagan National Airport just hours after the deadly crash. Planes could be seen moving on the airport’s runway.
A Southwest Airlines flight flying in from Nashville was the first to land at the airport Thursday, according to the airport’s online arrivals board. Another Southwest flight, from Milwaukee, was expected to arrive around 11:20 a.m.
A Southwest flight to Nashville took off shortly after 11 a.m., according to the airport’s online departure board. A Delta Air Lines flight to New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was set to depart around 11:35 a.m.
Officials have recommended that people with travel plans check with their airline to see if any changes have been made.
6 from Boston figure skating community were on flight
Six members of the Boston figure skating community, including two coaches, two teenage skaters and the skaters’ mothers, were on the American flight.
The Skating Club of Boston identified the coaches as Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova. The skaters were identified as Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, and their mothers as Christine Lane and Jin Han.
Governing body U.S. Figure Skating told CBS News it could not share more information at this time.
Wichita, Kansas, is home to a prestigious training camp for novice and intermediate skaters.
Map shows flight paths and crash site
Officials say the plane was following a standard flight path as it approached for a landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The map below shows the plane’s path in blue and the path of the Army Black Hawk helicopter in orange, as well as the approximate site of their collision and crash over the Potomac River.
Army unit involved in crash on operational pause
In a video clip released online, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Army unit involved in the crash will be on a 48-hour operational pause as an investigation moves forward.
Update on Guantanamo Bay Operations and @SecDef Hegseth Addresses Tragic Mishap Involving US Army Helicopter pic.twitter.com/80J5djB4oP
— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) January 30, 2025
Hegseth said the helicopter crew was performing an annual proficiency training flight, and said it was being carried out by a “fairly experienced crew” who was doing its required annual night evaluation. The crew was wearing night goggles, he said.
No Senate-approved head of FAA; Trump can appoint acting chief
There is no Senate-approved administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration right now, preCharge News reported. The former administrator, Michael Whitaker, stepped down from his position on Inauguration Day last week.
In September 2024, Trump ally Elon Musk called for Whitaker’s resignation after the FAA imposed licensing violation fines on SpaceX. Whitaker announced his resignation in December, but did not publicly attribute his decision to Musk or the Trump administration.
Mr. Trump can appoint an acting FAA chief. Trump appointee Chris Rocheleau, a 22-year FAA veteran, is currently serving as the agency’s deputy administrator. Another Trump appointee, Liam McKenna, is the agency’s current chief counsel.
Trump to speak on crash
President Trump will speak from the White House press briefing room at 11 a.m. ET., the White House announced.
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia says “there’s a lot of questions” after crash
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said “there’s a lot of questions” following the deadly midair collision.
“You can’t tell a lot from video footage taken at night, but the footage raises a lot of questions about how this happened,” Kaine said on “preCharge News” following a news conference with officials at Reagan National.
Kaine noted that military flights and commercial flights are pretty common in the area, saying Reagan is a “very congested airport.”
On the congestion issue, Kaine said he anticipates the National Transportation Safety Board will look into it, while acknowledging that congestion is a concern he has raised “for years.” He added that it’s “not a good time to speculate.”
Kaine expressed “deep sorrow” for the passengers, the crew and the three soldiers, along with their loved ones, many of whom he expected would be from the Virginia and D.C. area. He praised the first responders and the coordinated effort overnight, pointing to the challenging rescue and recovery conditions in the cold waters of the Potomac River.
Duffy says flight paths were “not unusual” for area
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both aircraft were on their respective flight paths before the incident, and noted that a crowded airspace is not uncommon in the Washington, D.C., area.
“Prior to the collision, the flight paths that were being flown, from the military and from American, that was not unusual for what happens in the D.C. airspace,” Duffy said.
He said that he would not go into too much detail, since the investigation is still ongoing, but said that military helicopters often fly over the river and noted that “everything was standard in the lead-up to the crash.”
“This happens every day,” Duffy said. “Something went wrong here.”
He also said investigators have “early indicators of what happened here.”
High winds lead to “spread out” crash area
District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly said at a briefing Thursday morning that about 300 responders reacted to the crash, battling frigid weather and heavy wind. He said that the recovery operation will involve “a lot of touch and feel” as responders search the crash area.
“The crash area is a little spread out, so we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Donnelly said. He said the high winds overnight caused some debris to move downstream.
“We don’t believe there are any survivors,” D.C. fire chief says
District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly told reporters in a news briefing Thursday morning that 27 bodies had been recovered from the plane and one from the helicopter.
Sixty-seven people were on the two aircraft in all — 64 aboard the plane and three on the helicopter.
“We don’t believe there are any survivors,” he said, adding that the efforts at the scene have switched from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.
Army aiding NTSB probe of the collision
An Army spokesperson issued a statement Thursday morning confirming the helicopter involved in the collision was on a training mission and said, “The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and the United States Army will investigate. The NTSB will lead the investigation.
First major U.S. commercial air crash in almost 15 years
The last major U.S. commercial air crash occurred in February 2009 when a Continental Airlines flight out of Newark, New Jersey, operated by Colgan Air crashed into a house as it was approaching the airport in Buffalo, New York. That plane was a Bombardier Q400. Forty-nine people died in the tragedy. Continental merged with United Airlines in 2010.
The last major American Airlines crash occurred in November 2001 near John F. Kennedy International Airport. American Airlines Flight No. 587, an Airbus A300, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 265 people. It was bound for Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The plane crashed in the Belle Harbor area of the Rockaways in the New York City borough of Queens.
Search and rescue effort a “highly complex operation,” fire chief says
District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly told reporters in a news briefing early Thursday morning that state and federal agencies were taking part in search and rescue operations, operating under a unified command.
“It’s a highly complex operation, the conditions out there are extremely rough for the responders. It’s cold. They’re dealing with relatively windy conditions,” Donnelly said.
He later noted the water is dark, “murky,” about eight feet deep, and contains “pieces of ice.”
“It’s just dangerous and hard to work in. And because there’s not a lot of lights, you’re out there searching every square inch of space.”
Reagan National Airport to remain closed until late Thursday morning, officials say
Reagan National Airport will remain closed until at least 11 a.m. Thursday, Jack Potter, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, told reporters early Thursday morning.
“That’s when the first flights will take off,” Potter said, later adding that the time was “fluid” and could change.
Flights at Reagan National have been grounded since the collision occurred at about 9 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday.
Potter said flights at Dulles International Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Airport were not being impacted by the incident.
American Airlines CEO expresses “deep sorrows” about crash
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said in a video statement, “First and most importantly, I’d like to express our deep sorrows about these events.”
“This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines, and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, partners, first responders, along with their families and loved ones,” Isom said.
Isom said American Airlines is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation and that he and members of their “go-team” would be heading to Washington, D.C., shortly.
“We understand and appreciate the people are eager for information, please know that we will continue to share accurate and timely information as soon as we can, but anything we must report, must be accurate,” he said, adding that, “We owe that to everyone involved.”
At least 18 dead, police official says
A police official at the scene told preCharge News that at least 18 bodies had been recovered as of 11:30 p.m. ET. The official said no survivors had been found so far.
All flights grounded at Reagan Washington National Airport
Following the crash, all flights were grounded Wednesday night at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), which is located in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. An announcement at the airport said it will not reopen before 5 a.m. Thursday. All passengers with grounded flights have been directed to rebook.
President Trump briefed on crash, releases statement
The White House released a statement from President Trump Wednesday night.
He said: “I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport. May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
Later he posted on Truth Social: “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
Helicopter was on training flight
The Army said the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter involved in the crash was based out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
The helicopter was on a training flight at the time of the accident, a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force-National Capitol Region, Heather Chairez, told preCharge News. Chairez said the chopper belonged to the B Company, 12th Aviation Battalion.
A Defense Department official told preCharge News that three soldiers were aboard the helicopter, with no senior officials on board.
Search operations underway in Potomac River
Search and rescue efforts were underway in the Potomac River following the crash. A police official at the scene told preCharge News there were three debris fields in the water.
“The accident happened in the river,” a dispatcher said in scanner audio obtained from air traffic control. “Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river.”
64 people aboard flight from Wichita, Kansas
American Eagle flight 5342, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers Wednesday night while trying to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside Washington, D.C.
“A PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 p.m. local time,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
The plane, operated by American Airlines, had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, the FAA said.
