ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — A massive search and rescue effort was launched in the surrounding Potomac River after a plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter during Wednesday’s landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington.
While helicopters from law enforcement agencies in the region flew over the site in search of survivors, all takeoffs and landings from the airport near Washington were halted. There was no immediate word on the number of casualties or the cause of the collision. From a location close to the airport on the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport, inflatable rescue boats were lowered into the Potomac River.
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 regional plane that had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, crashed with a military Blackhawk helicopter as it approached an airport runway at approximately 9 p.m. EST, 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.
Investigators will attempt to piece together the last minutes of the aircraft’s flight, including contact with air traffic controllers and the passenger jet’s loss of altitude.
According to data from its radio transponder, American Airlines flight 5342 experienced a sudden loss of altitude over the Potomac River as it was its route to Reagan National at a speed of approximately 140 miles per hour and an altitude of approximately 400 feet. Built in Canada, the Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine aircraft was produced in 2004 and has a maximum capacity of 70 passengers.
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 asks the helicopter if it can see the approaching airliner less than 30 seconds before the crash occurs. Shortly after, the controller radios the helicopter again to report that PAT 25 has passed behind the CRJ. The two planes crash 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.
At once, the tower started rerouting other planes away from Reagan.
Two sets of aircraft-like lights appeared to merge into a fireball on video captured by an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center.
The Kennedy Center’s webcam captured an explosion over the Potomac in midair.HInYdhBYs5: https://t.co/v75sxitpH6pic.twitter.com
Two of the newest agency heads in the Trump administration are being put to the test in a big way by the crash. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who took office a few days earlier, stated on social media that his department was keeping a close eye on the Army helicopter incident. Just sworn in earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on social media that he was visiting the FAA headquarters and keeping a close eye on the situation.
Just southwest of the city, along the Potomac River, is Reagan National. Because it’s considerably closer than the larger Dulles International Airport, which is located farther in Virginia, it’s a popular alternative.
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 tragedy brought to mind the January 13, 1982, disaster of an Air Florida jet that killed 78 passengers when it crashed into the Potomac. The weather was blamed for that crash.
In 2009, a U.S. commercial airline crashed fatally close to Buffalo, New York. 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.
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By TARA COPP, ERIC TUCKER, and LOLITA C. BALDOR The Associated Press
This article was written in Washington by Chris Megerian, Zeke Miller, and Meg Kinnard for the Associated Press.
