Scores feared dead in Washington plane crash
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Scores feared dead in Washington plane crash

Regional jet carrying 64 people plunges into river after colliding with army helicopter

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Emergency crews respond to the crash site near the Potomac River after a passenger jet collided with a military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington DC on Wednesday night. (Photo: Bloomberg)
Emergency crews respond to the crash site near the Potomac River after a passenger jet collided with a military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington DC on Wednesday night. (Photo: Bloomberg)

WASHINGTON - Scores of people are feared dead after an American Airlines regional passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter collided and crashed into the frigid Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night, officials said.

Officials did not provide a death toll from the collision. But Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, where the flight originated, suggested that all on board died.

“It’s really hard when you lose probably over 60 Kansans simultaneously” he said at a news conference at the airport early Thursday.

“When one person dies, it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die, it’s an unbearable sorrow.”

Jack Potter, the CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, emphasised at the same news conference that first responders were still in “rescue mode”.

CBS News had reported that at least 18 bodies had been recovered, citing a police official. Two sources told Reuters multiple bodies had been pulled from the water.

American Airlines said 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the PSA Airlines Bombardier regional jet that was travelling from Wichita, Kansas to the US capital. PSA is a subsidiary of American.

Three US Army soldiers were onboard the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter based out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia. It was taking part in a training flight, said Heather Chairez, a spokesperson with the Joint Task Force-National Capital Regio.

The midair collision occurred as the passenger jet was on approach to land at Reagan. Radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk show that the helicopter crew were aware that the plane was in the vicinity.

US President Donald Trump “has been made aware of this situation and tragically it appears that a military helicopter collided with a regional jet”, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News.

The Pentagon said it was launching an immediate investigation into the incident, which Trump appeared to blame on the helicopter crew and air traffic controllers in a post on Truth Social.

“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,” Trump wrote.

“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!!!”

Air traffic control recordings appear to capture the final attempted communications with the helicopter, call sign PAT25, before it collides with the plane, described as CRJ.

“PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,” an air traffic controller says at 8.47pm, according to a recording on liveatc.net.

Seconds later, another aircraft calls in to air traffic control, saying, “Tower, did you see that?” — apparently referring to the crash. An air traffic controller then redirects planes heading to runway 33 to go around.

Video of the crash captured by a webcam at the nearby Kennedy Center showed the moment of impact between the aircraft and the helicopter, with a massive explosion lighting up the night sky.

Just after the collision, an air traffic controller was heard saying over the radio, “I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river.” (Story continues below)

A woman reacts as she waits for news at Ronald Reagan National Airport following the collison between American Eagle flight 5342 and a US Army helicopter on Wednesday night. (Photo: Reuters)

A woman reacts as she waits for news at Ronald Reagan National Airport following the collison between American Eagle flight 5342 and a US Army helicopter on Wednesday night. (Photo: Reuters)

‘Extremely rough’ conditions

Relatives gathered at the airport said they were getting little to no information from officials about the incident, adding that they were hearing more about the incident from news reports.

One woman told an airport official, “I don’t know if she got on there or not”, in apparent reference to a passenger on the crashed jet. She then collapsed in tears.

Washington fire chief John Donnelly said at the news conference that at least 300 first responders were continuing to work on the “highly complex” rescue operation.

“Conditions out there are extremely rough for the responders,” he said. “It’s cold. They’re dealing with windy conditions.”

A Reuters reporter near the airport saw a helicopter circling in the sky and shining a spotlight into the water. A boat with a rescue team floated by with those aboard peering into the water with a flashlight.

Earlier, dozens of police, ambulance and rescue units, some carrying boats, staged along the river and raced to positions along the tarmac of Reagan airport. Live TV images showed several boats in the water, flashing blue and red lights.

Airports authority CEO Potter said the airport would remain closed until at least 11am local time on Thursday.

In 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River, killing 70 passengers and four crew members. Only four passengers and one crew member survived.

The last deadly major crash involving a commercial airliner in the US was in 2009, when all 49 people aboard a Colgan Air flight died when the plane crashed near Buffalo in New York state. One person also died on the ground.

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