WASHINGTON — An American Airlines jet carrying 64 people collided with an Army helicopter carrying three people Wednesday night prompting a search-and-rescue effort in the Potomac River. At least 28 plane passengers and all three on the helicopter have been recovered from the river, according Chief of D.C. Fire and EMS John Donnelly.
DC Fire announced recovery efforts will remain active. Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the airplane. Those devices are being sent to NTSB’s labs for evaluation to piece together the events that led up to the collision.
Divers have searched all areas that are accessible as of Thursday night. On Friday divers will work with NTSB to recover parts of the aircraft. Boats will be on the scene through the night to secure the area.
Thursday morning, crews were still searching for other casualties but did not believe there were any other survivors, making it the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly 24 years.
The midair collision between the passenger jet and a military Black Hawk helicopter happened just before 9 p.m. The body of the plane was found upside down in three sections in waist-deep water. The wreckage of the helicopter was also found, the Associated Press reports.
Acting Prince George’s County Executive Tara Jackson reported the debris field from the crash had reached the county. Jackson said the plaza and piers at National Harbor will be closed Thursday to further assist with rescue and recovery efforts.
On Thursday morning, officials with U.S. Figure Skating organization issued a statement that “several members of our skating community” were among the passengers onboard the plane.
“These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas,” U.S. Figure Skating said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that two Russian figure skaters and former world champions, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were on the flight. He also said there were other Russian citizens on the flight.
“We are sorry and send condolences to the families and friends who lost those of our fellow citizens who died in the plane crash,” Peskov said.
American Airlines flight 5342 collided with the helicopter around 9 p.m. on January 29 as the jet was landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
> If you believe your loved ones or someone you know was onboard flight AA 5342 from Wichita, KS please call American Airlines at 1-800-679-8215.
DCA was closed until 11 a.m. Thursday. The first flight to land at the airport after the crash was Delta flight 2958 from Minneapolis, Minnesota. All flights overnight and Thursday morning were diverted to Dulles Airport.
At the height of search-and-rescue efforts, there were 300 crew members on the ground working to rescue victims from the water. Officials tapped state officials from other jurisdictions to aid in the search. WUSA9 Chief Meteorologist Topper Shutt said the rescue efforts were impacted by 42-degree water in the river. At temperatures like that, a person would only have between 30-40 minutes in the water.
American Airlines flight manifest says there were 60 passengers and four crew members were onboard during the time of the crash. The U.S. Army confirmed at 11 p.m. that the helicopter involved in the crash was one of their aircrafts based out of Fort Belvoir on a training mission with three soldiers onboard.
According to Flight Radar’s X account, formerly Twitter, the helicopter was not broadcasting ADS-B data. This data includes information regarding the helicopter’s location, altitude, and other important details. The last update the helicopter gave was at 8:48 p.m. EST.
“All takeoffs and landings have been halted at DCA,” Reagan Airport said at around 9:15 p.m. on Wednesday. “Emergency personnel are responding to an aircraft incident on the airfield. The terminal remains open. Will update.”
Senator Jerry Moran from Kansas posted a Tweet about the crash.
Learning that a plane inbound from Kansas was involved in a crash at DCA.I am in contact with authorities.
Please join me in praying for all involved.
— Senator Jerry Moran (@JerryMoran) January 30, 2025
During a press conference Wednesday, Senator Moran who also serves as as the Chairman of the subcommittee of Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation said “I know that flight, I’ve flown it many times myself. I lobbied to have American Airlines add a direct flight from Wichita. This flight has only been in operation for a year.”
In 2024, DCA experienced two near misses, just months apart. During this time lawmakers were lobbying to add more flights coming in-and-out of the airport. Despite local leaders arguing that the airport could not handle any more flights.
Ultimately, the bill was passed and the flights were added. However, this flight from Kansas that Senator Moran lobbied for was not one of the flights included in the new flight plans for DCA.
