Lights from rescue crews reflect on the Potomac. Photo: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images
An American Airlines passenger jet with 64 people on board collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers near Reagan National Airport outside D.C., sending both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River.
The latest: John Donnelly, chief of D.C. Fire and EMS, told reporters: “We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, 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.”
- Frantic rescue operations along the frigid river began soon after the crash at around 9pm ET.
- The press briefing about the incident is ongoing and this story will continue to be updated
American Eagle Flight 5342 traveling from Wichita was approaching DCA, sometimes described as having “America’s busiest runway.”
- Visibility was good at the time of the crash, with winds blowing out of the northwest. An advisory for high winds had expired earlier in the evening.
The U.S. Army UH-60 helicopter was on a training exercise out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, a Pentagon spokesperson said.
- The helicopter was told to maintain visual separation with the plane — essentially, “see and avoid,” Axios aviation expert Alex Fitzpatrick notes. That’s not an unusual procedure, despite a Truth Social post from President Trump questioning why the control tower hadn’t given more direct instructions.
- It’s also not unusual to see Black Hawks flying low along the Potomac. This is some of America’s busiest airspace due to the presence of both military and commercial aircraft.
- What remains unclear is why the military aircraft did not divert from its path and collided with the jet as it made its final descent.
Wreckage can be seen on the river. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty
Who was on board
A figure skating group said skaters, coaches and their families were on the flight following the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Telegram that Russian figure skaters and other citizens were on board.
- U.S. Figure Skating confirmed “several” of its members were on board.
- The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew, while the Black Hawk was carrying three soldiers.
Rescue operations continue
Search efforts are ongoing in and around the Potomac, in dangerously cold conditions for any survivors.
- The temperature in Arlington, as of 7am ET is 33F, while water temperatures are in the mid-30s, just a notch above freezing.
- Dive teams scoured the site as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in a methodical search for bodies, AP reports.
- The airport is expected to remain closed until at least 11am.
Deadly plane crashes in the U.S.
Fatal crashes of commercial aircraft in the U.S. have become a rarity.
- The last was in 2009 near Buffalo, N.Y. All 49 passengers and crew above Colgan Air Flight 3407 were killed when the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane crashed into a house. A person on the ground also was killed.
- Other than the Pentagon attack on 9/11, last night’s collision is the worst air tragedy in the D.C. area since the Air Florida Flight 90 crash on Jan. 13, 1982, which killed 78 when it hit the 14th Street Bridge and crashed into the Potomac.
