World
Multiple fatalities in midair collision between passenger jet and Army helicopter at Reagan Airport
A passenger jet collided Wednesday with a military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.
There were multiple fatalities after the midair collision, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Authorities are still conducting a search-and-rescue operation in an attempt to find survivors in the water and around the crash site. Inflatable rescue boats have been launched into the Potomac River from a point near the airport along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair collision occurred around 9 p.m. EST when American Airlines 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, smashed into a military Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to an airport runway.
According to data from its radio transponder, the Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet was at an altitude of about 400 feet and a speed of about 140 miles per hour when it rapidly lost altitude over the Potomac River.
A spokesperson for American Airlines said 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the flight.
The U.S. Army said a crew of three soldiers were onboard the helicopter which was on a training flight.
Military aircraft frequently conduct training flights in and around the congested and heavily-restricted airspace around the nation’s capital for familiarization and continuity of government planning.
Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.
In audio from the air traffic control tower around the time of the crash, a controller is heard asking the helicopter, “PAT 25 do you have the CRJ in sight,” in reference to the passenger aircraft. The controller makes another radio call to the helicopter moments later: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.” Seconds after that the two aircraft collide.
“Tower, did you see that?” another pilot is heard calling seconds after the apparent collision.”
The tower immediately began diverting other aircraft from Reagan.
Multiple helicopters, including those from the U.S. Park Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. military, were flying over the scene of the incident in the Potomac River. D.C. Fire and EMS said on X that fireboats were on the scene.
The National Transportation Safety Board says it will lead the investigation, along with the FAA. Investigators will try to piece together the aircraft’s final moments before their collision, including contact with air traffic controllers as well as a loss of altitude by the passenger jet.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says President Donald Trump has been briefed on the crash.
The incident recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on January 13, 1982, that killed 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.
The last fatal crash involving a U.S. commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. Everyone aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane was killed, including 45 passengers, 2 pilots and 2 flight attendants. Another person on the ground also died, bringing the total death toll to 50. An investigation determined that the captain accidentally caused the plane to stall as it approached the airport in Buffalo.
Reagan Washington National is located along the Potomac River, just southwest of the city. It’s a popular choice because it’s much closer than the larger Dulles International Airport, which is deeper in Virginia.