By Associated Press’s LOLITA C. BALDOR, TARA COPP, and ERIC TUCKER
Arlington, Virginia (AP) A massive search and rescue effort was launched in the nearby Potomac River after an American Airlines aircraft carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport close to Washington. According to a person with knowledge of the situation, there were several fatalities, but it was unclear how many people died as rescue workers searched for survivors.
According to an Army spokesman, the chopper carried three men.
The cause of the Wednesday collision was not immediately known, but all airport takeoffs and landings were suspended while dive teams searched the area and law enforcement helicopters from all over the region swept over the scene in a systematic search for remains.
Images taken from the river revealed what seemed to be the twisted wreckage of the plane’s fuselage, as well as boats around the partially submerged wing.
At a gloomy news conference at the airport, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser stated, “We are going to recover our fellow citizens.” She declined to disclose the number of bodies discovered.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the individual who informed The Associated Press that there had been several fatalities was not permitted to publicly discuss specifics of the inquiry.
“When one person dies, it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die, it’s an unbearable sorrow,” stated Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas.
Regarding the passengers, President Donald Trump remarked, “May God bless their souls,” adding that he had received a thorough briefing on this horrific catastrophe.
A group of figure skaters, their coaches, and family members returning from a development camp held after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita were among the passengers on the flight.
In a statement, U.S. Figure Skating said, “We are deeply saddened by this unimaginable tragedy and hold the families of the victims close to our hearts.”
The Kremlin recognized two of those coaches as Russian figure skaters Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, who competed twice in the Olympics and won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships. Their son, Maxim Naumov, competes in figure skating for the United States, and they are listed as coaches by the Skating Club of Boston.
Before 9 p.m. EST, a regional jet that had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military helicopter on a training mission as it approached an airport runway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It took place just over three miles south of the Capitol and the White House in some of the world’s most closely monitored and controlled airspace.
The last minutes of the aircraft’s flight, including interaction with air traffic controllers and a loss of altitude by the passenger jet, will be pieced together by investigators.
According to data from its radio transponder, American Airlines Flight 5342 experienced a sudden loss of altitude over the Potomac River when it was its route to Reagan National at a speed of around 140 miles per hour and an altitude of approximately 400 feet. The 2004 Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine aircraft, built in Canada, has a maximum capacity of 70 people.
The pilots of the approaching commercial jet responded that they could land on the shorter Runway 33 at Reagan National when air traffic authorities questioned them a few minutes prior to arrival. After that, controllers gave the aircraft the all-clear to land on Runway 33. The plane’s approach to the new runway was adjusted, according to flight tracking websites.
An air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it could see the approaching airliner less than 30 seconds before the tragedy. Shortly after, the controller radioed the helicopter again to let it know that PAT 25 was passing behind the CRJ. The two planes crashed into each other a few seconds later.
About 2,400 feet short of the runway, or about over the center of the river, the plane’s radio transponder stopped working.
Two sets of aircraft-like lights appeared to merge into a fireball on video captured by an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center.
That flight is familiar to me. “I have personally flown it multiple times,” Kansas Senator Jerry Moran stated. “I expected a lot of people in Wichita to know people on the flight,” he added.
He added, “This is a very personal situation.”
The incident happened on a warm winter evening in Washington, where it reached 60 degrees Fahrenheit. This came after several days of extreme cold and ice. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the temperature of the Potomac River was 36 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday. The area might see wind gusts of up to 25 mph throughout the evening, according to the National Weather Service.
Robert Isom, the CEO of American Airlines, conveyed the company’s profound sadness over the accident and stated that it was concentrating on the needs of the passengers, crew, emergency personnel, and the families and loved ones of those involved.
There were about 300 first responders present. First responders positioned light towers from the beach to illuminate the area close to the collision site, and inflatable rescue boats were sent into the Potomac River from a location along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport. At least half a dozen boats were using searchlights to scour the water.
John Donnelly, the fire chief for D.C., described the operation as extremely difficult. For the responders, the conditions out there are very difficult.
The helicopter was identified by the U.S. Army as a UH-60 Blackhawk, which is stationed in Virginia’s Fort Belvoir. It was a training flight for the helicopter. For familiarization and continuity of government planning, military planes regularly fly training sorties in and around the nation’s capital’s crowded and severely restricted airspace.
Two of the newest agency heads in the Trump administration are being put to the test in a big way by the crash. Days after taking office as defense secretary, Pete Hegseth said on social media that the Army and the Defense Department have promptly begun an investigation. At a solemn news conference held at the airport early Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was sworn in earlier this week, stated that his agency will offer the probe every resource it could.
Near Buffalo, New York, in 2009, there was the most recent significant deadly crash involving a commercial aircraft in the United States. Everybody on board the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane—two pilots, two flight attendants, and forty-five passengers—died. The death toll now stands at 50 as another person on the ground passed away. According to an investigation, the pilot unintentionally caused the aircraft to stall as it got closer to Buffalo’s airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday at 11 a.m. Reagan Airport will reopen. In the past, the FAA has stated that it will remain closed until Friday at 5 a.m.
Situated southwest of the city, along the Potomac River. Reagan National is a well-liked option because it’s somewhat closer than the larger, farther-flung Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
Flights into Reagan can provide passengers with breathtaking views of the U.S. Capitol, the National Mall, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument, depending on the runway being used. For visitors to the city, it is a picture-perfect welcome.
The incident brought to mind the January 13, 1982, disaster of an Air Florida plane that crashed into the Potomac, killing 78 people. The weather was blamed for that crash.
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This article was written in Washington by Zeke Miller, Meg Kinnard, Chris Megerian, and Michael Biesecker of the Associated Press.
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