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Thursday, January 30, 2025

Passenger plane with 64 on board collides with US Army helicopter

A regional passenger plane carrying 60 passengers and for crew collided midair with a US military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on Wednesday night, prompting the suspension of all flights from the airport and a large-scale emergency response. 
Passenger plane with 64 on board collides with US Army helicopter (VIDEOS)
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that a Bombardier CRJ700 aircraft operated by PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, flying in from Kansas, was approaching Reagan National when it collided with a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter around 9pm local time.
The US Army helicopter had a crew of three and was not carrying any VIPs, a US defense official has told CNN. The number of fatalities remains unclear, as emergency personnel from multiple agencies continue the search for possible survivors.
“We are deploying every available US Coast Guard resource for search and rescue efforts in this horrific incident at DCA,” newly-appointed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed that President Donald Trump has been briefed on the incident.
“Tragically, it appears that a military helicopter collided with a regional jet at DCA Airport right here in Washington, DC,” Leavitt told Fox News. She added that the Trump administration’s “thoughts and prayers” were with those involved and urged the public to follow law enforcement guidance.
“There are no words that can make telling this story any easier,” US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas said in a statement on X. “My prayer is that God wraps his arms around each and every victim and that he continues to be with their families.”
DC Fire and EMS previously said that fireboats and other emergency personnel were responding after a “small aircraft” had gone down in the Potomac River.
“A multi-agency search and rescue operation is underway in the Potomac River after an aircraft crash,” the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) stated on X. The department clarified that contrary to initial reports, its own helicopter was not involved in the incident, but was assisting in the response efforts.
The airport announced that all takeoffs and landings were halted due to an “aircraft emergency”. However, the terminal remained open to passengers.
Authorities are urging the public to avoid the area to allow emergency personnel to perform their duties.
 
The collision of a US Army helicopter and a civilian airliner that killed 67 people could have been prevented, President Donald Trump has said, questioning air traffic controllers’ actions.
The H-60 BlackHawk helicopter collided with Flight 5342 that was on its final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday evening. Rescue teams have not recovered any survivors from the freezing Potomac River.
“It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn,” Trump posted on his TruthSocial platform early on Thursday.
The president also questioned why the control tower had failed to instruct the helicopter crew what to do.
“This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!” Trump added.
At 9pm local time, when the crash happened, the airport reported clear skies, with 16km visibility and winds from the northwest. The air temperature was 10C, but parts of the Potomac River were still frozen from an earlier cold snap.
The passenger jet was a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by PSA, a subsidiary of American Airlines. The flight from Wichita, Kansas was on landing approach to Runway 33, with 60 passengers and four crew members on board, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said.
Among the passengers were several athletes, coaches and family members returning from the US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.
Nearly 300 first responders were deployed to sift the wreckage for survivors, but found none as of Thursday morning. Operations were soon shifted from rescue to recovery.
 
Emergency crews have recovered 28 bodies from the near-freezing river following the collision of an American Airlines jet carrying 64 people and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter with three aboard near Reagan National Airport in Washington DC, according to Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly.
The official has confirmed that emergency crews are switching from a rescue mission to a recovery operation, adding that efforts are ongoing to return the victims’ remains to their families.
“We don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident and we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter,” Donnelly told reporters.
First responders have been working in “extremely frigid conditions. They found heavy wind. They found ice on the water, and they’ve operated all night in those conditions,” according to Donnelly.
Families of victims have been assured that all bodies from Wednesday night’s crash will be recovered. Currently, 67 are believed dead – 64 from the passenger plane and three from the helicopter.
“I’m confident we will do that, but it will take time and may require additional equipment,” Donnelly said, noting that the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the next phase of the operation.
The crash was “absolutely preventable,” the newly sworn-in Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters on Thursday.
“We are going to wait for all the information to come in from this vantage point, but … what I’ve seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely,” Duffy said.
He noted that the Black Hawk was on a training mission but emphasized that this does not imply the pilot was inexperienced.
Wednesday night’s crash was the deadliest aviation disaster in the US since November 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight crashed in New York, killing all 260 people on board.

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