Main points
- Officials say no survivors and that rescue operation is now a recovery operation
- An American Airlines flight carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with a Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night and crashed into the Potomac River
- There were 64 passengers and crew onboard, with 28 bodies recovered. Three US soldiers were on board the helicopter
- Russian ice-skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board the plane, as well as US figure skaters and their families
Key read
- Analysis: Blame for mid-air collision appears to lie with helicopter crew
Trump says Moscow has been contacted over Russian nationals who died in crash
US president Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington has been in contact with Moscow regarding the deaths of Russians in Wednesday night’s air collision.
“We’ve already been in contact with Russia,” Trump told a news conference. Asked if Washington would facilitate the return of the remains of Russian nationals, he said: “The answer is yes, we will facilitate.” He added that passengers of other nationalities were also on the passenger jet.
The U.S. Army unit whose helicopter was involved in the crash has been placed on an operational pause, two US officials told Reuters on Thursday, meaning helicopters from that unit will not be flying for the time being.
One of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said helicopters from the 12th Aviation Battalion, based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, would be temporarily grounded. It is not clear how long the pause would last.
Other helicopters, like those from the US National Guard, will still be allowed to help in recovery efforts, the official added.
Plane crash ‘was preventable’
Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, transportation secretary Sean Duffy was asked whether he agreed with Donald Trump’s comments that the crash could have been prevented.
Mr Duffy responded: “We’re going to wait for all the information to come in from this vantage point but to back up what the president said and what I’ve seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely.”
He makes another point, saying that people should not misinterpret that a US army helicopter on a “training flight” means these were pilots with little experience.
Ronald Reagan airport, which was closed following the incident, will reopen on Thursday morning. A helpline for family and friends of those potentially affected has been set up by American Airlines – 800 679 8215.
Here’s some more snaps from the briefing:
Sean Duffy, transportation secretary, has said he doesn’t want to be drawn into speculation about causes of the crash, stressing that military helicopters use those flight paths every single day.
“Something went wrong here,” he says, adding “I look forward to the time and point where we can give you that information, but I don’t want to comment on that right now.”
Mr Duffy is asked if he can reassure travellers. He replies: “Can I guarantee the American flying public that the US has the most safe and secure airspace in the world? And the answer to that is absolutely yes, we do. We have early indicators of what happened here, and I will tell you with complete confidence, we have the safest airspace in the world.”
Emergency services chief John A Donnelly says he is confident they will ultimately be able to recover all of the bodies from the crash. He adds: “I’m confident that we will do that. It will take us a little bit of time. It may involve some more equipment.”
Mr Donnelly is asked what the challenges are with the operation at the moment. He said: “The recovery operation goes on. It’s a lot of touch and feel in the different parts of the plane and the helicopter, and the crash area is a little spread out.
“So we’ve got some work to do.” He says, with the wind, the debris field has spread down to the Wilson Bridge.
Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser states that the National Transportation Safety Board will become the lead agency in the investigation, and she expects it will give a further briefing later today.
Speaking at the same briefing, Robert Eisen, the CEO of American Airlines, said the crash is “devastating” and “we’re absolutely heartbroken for the family and loved ones of the passengers and crew members.”
DC fire and emergency medical services chief John A Donnelly said the crash alert was sounded at 8.48pm last night. First responders found “extremely frigid conditions. They found heavy wind. They found ice on the water, and they’ve operated all night in those conditions”.
He said: “we don’t believe there are any survivors” and that 27 bodies have been recovered from the plane, and one from the helicopter.
Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser says there is “a profound sense of grief” after the crash, adding that families have been affected “from across our region, as well as in Kansas and across the country”.
At the same briefing, an emergency services official said it was not believed there were any survivors, and that the operation has switched from a rescue to a recovery operation.
Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials are holding a further briefing at Ronald Reagan airport on the crash ...
US secretary of transportation Sean Duffy is speaking. He notes it was “clear night” and that the helicopter was in a “standard flight pattern”. The American Airlines flight was also in a standard flight pattern coming in, he said.
Mr Duffy added the American Airlines aircraft fuselage was found inverted, in three sections, in waist-deep water.
CBS News reporter Kris Van Cleave said human remains and aircraft debris have been washing up on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. He told the news network the plane broke into multiple pieces, and that diving crews have had some access to the cabin, and have recovered one black box. He also reported that the helicopter “is upside down but appears to be mostly intact”.
The tragedy over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport late on Wednesday has put the spotlight on an occurrence that is as rare as it is catastrophic: mid-air aircraft collisions.
US president Donald Trump pointed out the airplane was on a “perfect and routine” line of approach, flying into one of the most densely populated and heavily surveilled air spaces, just miles away from the White House.
“It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn,” he wrote in a Truth Social post.
Collisions of commercial jets are eminently preventable and two aircraft crashing into each other accidentally mid-flight is a highly unusual occurrence. There are some 5,400 jets operating in US skies alone at any one moment.
Modern aircraft are fitted with what are called Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) devices, a key form of protection for aircrew and airlines as they navigate busy skies up to 43,000ft above the ground.
The devices are able to communicate with other jets that have the system installed to warn if a collision is imminent.
Passenger jets’ flight paths and altitudes are predetermined and settled upon by pilots and air-traffic controllers before a journey gets under way. Any changes mid-flight must be approved.
Alerts are triggered when a TCAS device spots a jet whose path breaches a minimum safe separation of 1,000 feet of altitude. When conflicting planes receive a TCAS alert, they’ll be instructed to do the opposite of each other, climb or descend.
However, TCAS, typically does not work at altitudes of less than 1,000 feet. The American Eagle flight dropped off radar tracking at around 400ft, close to the ground when it was within moments of landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
American Eagle is a network of six regional carriers operating for the larger American Airlines, and the plane flew under that banner.
Collision avoidance systems were originally designed after several high-profile mid-air collisions in the US that occurred in spite of efforts by air-traffic controllers to keep planes apart. They began to be required on all aircraft in the mid-1990s, and there have been very few incidents since.
Exceptions have mostly occurred when the TCAS devices were not working or pilots didn’t follow their instructions.
With Covid causing a labour drain, there have, in the US and elsewhere, been a growing number of near-misses at airports as airfields faces constraints over air traffic controller shortages.
A recent report into the fiery plane crash at Japan’s Haneda Airport in early 2024 detailed distracted pilots, airport congestion and shortcomings in safety protocols.
Investigators pointed to inconsistencies between the instructions by air traffic controllers to pilots in a coast guard plane on the tarmac and the subsequent actions of that crew as one of the reasons for the crash. – Bloomberg
‘All I could see at that moment was just smoke’
NBC News has spoken to one witness near the crash, Abadi Ismail (38), who said he heard a noise that may have been the incident, describing it as “something you don’t hear on a daily basis.”
He told the news network: I was getting ready to go to bed, laying down. I mean and I hear “Bang! Bang!” A very unusual sound. Something you don’t hear on a daily basis. It’s more like from a war zone, or something you hear on the movies ... action ... so that caught my attention.
“I looked up at the sky, I looked out the window, and all I could see at that moment was just smoke from the south side of Reagan airport, you know. And then I started taking videos, because I’ve started to see some activities – that’s like 5-10 minutes after.”
Emergency crews have recovered more than 30 bodies from the water after the crash site, two sources familiar with search efforts have told local station NBC4.
President Donald Trump said he has been briefed on the “terrible accident”.
In a statement late on Wednesday, Mr Trump thanked first responders for their “incredible work”, noting that he was “monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise”.
“May God Bless their souls,” he added.
Vice-president JD Vance also encouraged followers on the social media platform X to “say a prayer for everyone involved”.
Russian skaters on board
The Kremlin has expressed its condolences to the families of Russian citizens who lost their lives in the American Airlines plane crash in Washington on Wednesday night.
Russian ice-skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board the plane that crashed into the Potomac River after a mid-air collision near Reagan Washington National Airport.
When asked whether Russian president Vladimir Putin planned to offer condolences to US president Donald Trump in a phone call, Peskov said there were no plans for high-level contacts for now. – Reuters
Here are some specifics on the aircraft involved:
UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter
- The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is one of the most ubiquitous and iconic military helicopters, filling multiple roles for the U.S. military, including air assault, general support, medevac, command and control, and special operations support.
- The aircraft involved in the crash was flying with the call sign PAT25 and had three occupants, according to the Aviation Safety Network, a public database of aviation accidents.
- More than 5,000 Black Hawks have been built since production began in the mid-1970s.
Bombardier CRJ700
- The Bombardier CRJ700, which can seat about 70 people, is a workhorse of regional commercial aviation. There are about 260 of the aircraft in service, according to Cirium, an aviation data company.
- The plane involved in the collision was registered N530EA and manufactured in 2010, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. There were 60 passengers and four crew members onboard, American Airlines said. The jet was registered to American Airlines but operated by its wholly owned subsidiary, PSA Airlines.
- Bombardier sold the CRJ700 program to a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries subsidiary in 2019. Production of new aircraft ceased in 2020. – Reuter
Congested air space
The mid-air crash has highlighted issues around the congested air space shared by civilian and military aircraft over the US capital.
Military helicopters are a common sight in the Washington region that is home to numerous military bases.
Over a three-year period ending in 2019, there were 88,000 helicopter flights within 48km (30 miles) of Reagan National Airport, including about 33,000 military and 18,000 law enforcement flights, the Government Accountability Office said in a 2021 report.
There have been several near-miss incidents at Reagan National Airport that have sparked alarm, including a near-collision in May 2024 between an American Airlines jet and a small airplane and one in April 2024 between Southwest and JetBlue airplanes.
A shortage of air traffic controllers has delayed flights and raised safety concerns across the United States. The FAA in October opened an audit into runway incursion risks at the 45 busiest US airports after a series of near-miss incidents.
The Washington region has three major airports, but Reagan National is closest to the capital. Because of the short length of its runways, over 90 per cent of flights use its main runway, making it the busiest in the US, with over 800 daily takeoffs and landings.
That effectively means a takeoff or landing every minute during much of the day. Reagan is the 24th-busiest US airport by passengers. – Reuters
A dive team has recovered one of the two data recorders – the so-called black boxes – from the American Airlines regional passenger’s plane that crashed near Reagan Washington National Airport, CBS News reported.
Here’s the Washington, DC, crash location – over the Potomac River and close to Ronald Reagan airport
A statement from the national US figure skating governing body confirmed athletes, coaches, and family members were on the crashed plane.
It said: “These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the national development camp held in conjunction with the US figure skating championships in Wichita, Kansas. We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”
Washington mayor Muriel Bowser gave a press briefing early on Thursday:
‘Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three’
Air traffic control audio recorded the final moments before and after the crash.
Audio from LiveATC.net, a respected source for in-flight recording, captured the final communications between the three crew members of the helicopter – call sign PAT25 – before it collided with the CRJ700 Bombardier jet carrying 64 passengers and crew.
“PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,” an air traffic controller said at 8.47pm local time on Wednesday.
Seconds later, another aircraft called in to air traffic control, saying, “Tower, did you see that?” – apparently referring to the crash. An air traffic controller then redirected planes heading to runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport to go around.
“Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three,” one of the air traffic controllers can be heard saying in the audio from around the time of the crash.
“I don’t know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach into 33. We’re going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future,” another controller remarked.
“Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river,” a third air traffic controller can be heard saying.
“It was probably out in the middle of the river,” the controller said. “I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river. But it was a CRJ and a helicopter that hit.”
The crash was caught on a webcam at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The clip shows the aircraft exploding in flames and plummeting to earth after it is struck by the helicopter. – Reuters
US Figure Skating said several members of its skating community were on the American Airlines plane. Earlier, Russian state-run Tass news agency reported former world champion Russian figure skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on the aircraft.
A regional jet flown for American Airlines Group carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with a Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night in Washington, DC, American Airlines confirmed.
At least 18 bodies have been recovered, CBS News reported on Wednesday, citing a police official. Some 300 emergency responders are searching the waters.
The aircraft had departed from Wichita, Kansas.
The crash halted operations at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and prompted a search-and-rescue operation in the Potomac River. The plane, operated by subsidiary PSA Airlines, hit a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Reagan airport at around 9pm local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement Wednesday night.
“While we don’t yet know how many on board were lost, we know there are fatalities,” said senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FAA. The aircraft involved was a Mitsubishi CRJ-700 jet, which typically seats 65 people and is generally used for shorter trips.
Reagan Airport has suspended all aircraft take-offs and landings in response to the incident, the airport operator said in a post on X.
The DC fire and emergency teams said they responded to multiple calls that were received reporting an aircraft crash in the Potomac River in the vicinity of the airport.
The wrecked fuselages of both the US military helicopter and the commercial jet are lying in the water, Washington mayor Muriel Bowser said early on Thursday. Divers have made their way inside the helicopter, reports NBC News.
The operations were made more difficult by strong gusts of wind as well as the cold. Washington DC fire and emergency medical services chief John Donnelly said: “The challenges are access ... there is wind, there [are] pieces of ice out there, so it’s just dangerous and hard to work in.”
Former world champion Russian figure skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the plane, Russian state-run Tass news agency reported on Thursday. The pair, who were married, won the world championship in pairs figure skating in 1994.
President Donald Trump has been made aware of this situation, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News.
“Tragically, it appears that a military helicopter collided with a regional jet at DCA airport right here in Washington, DC. That’s all I can confirm at this point in time,” she said.
New defence secretary Pete Hegseth announced the military has begun an investigation into the cause of the mid-air collision.
The army said the UH-60 Black Hawk was on a training mission along the Potomac River, an area where similar military helicopters fly frequently and close to planes taking off and landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. An Army official said three aircrew were aboard.
The crash revived memories of an air disaster in January 1982 when an Air Florida Boeing Co. 737 struggled for altitude after taking off with ice in it engines and on the wings, struck the 14th Street bridge and then crashed into the frozen Potomac. Seventy four people who were aboard the plane were killed, and another four on the ground. – Agencies
