Passenger jet collides with Army helicopter at Reagan Airport

Editor’s notice: This can be a creating story. This report was up to date Thursday, Jan. 29, 2025, at 1:10 a.m. EST to incorporate further particulars of the collision.

A jet carrying 60 passengers and 4 crew members collided Wednesday with an Military helicopter whereas touchdown at Ronald Reagan Nationwide Airport close to Washington, prompting a big search-and-rescue operation within the close by Potomac River. There have been a number of fatalities, based on an individual conversant in the matter, however the exact variety of victims was unclear as rescue crews hunted for any survivors.

An Military official confirmed three service members had been aboard the helicopter. The standing of these service members is unknown. No VIPs had been aboard.

“We are able to verify that the plane concerned in tonight’s incident was an Military UH-60 helicopter out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia,” the Military stated in a press release. “We’re working with native officers and can present further info as soon as it turns into obtainable.”

The helicopter was on a coaching flight. Navy plane steadily conduct coaching flights in and across the congested and closely restricted airspace across the nation’s capital for familiarization and continuity of presidency planning.

There was no instant phrase on the reason for the collision, however all takeoffs and landings from the airport had been halted whereas helicopters from legislation enforcement companies throughout the area flew over the scene. Inflatable rescue boats had been launched into the Potomac River from a degree alongside the George Washington Parkway, simply north of the airport, and first responders arrange gentle towers from the shore to light up the realm close to the collision web site. Not less than a half-dozen boats are scanning the water utilizing searchlights.

President Donald Trump stated he had been “totally briefed on this horrible accident” and, referring to the passengers, added, “Could God Bless their souls.”

The Federal Aviation Administration stated the midair crash occurred round 9 p.m. EST when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a navy helicopter on a coaching flight whereas on method to an airport runway. It occurred in a few of the most tightly managed and monitored airspace on the planet, simply over three miles south of the White Home and the Capitol.

Investigators will attempt to piece collectively the aircrafts’ ultimate moments earlier than their collision, together with contact with air site visitors controllers in addition to a lack of altitude by the passenger jet.

American Airways Flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan Nationwide at an altitude of about 400 toes and a pace of about 140 miles per hour when it suffered a fast lack of altitude over the Potomac River, based on knowledge from its radio transponder. The Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet, manufactured in 2004, may be configured to hold as much as 70 passengers.

A couple of minutes earlier than touchdown, air site visitors controllers requested the coming industrial jet if it may land on the shorter Runway 33 at Reagan Nationwide and the pilots stated they had been ready. Controllers then cleared the airplane to land on Runway 33. Flight monitoring websites confirmed the airplane alter its method to the brand new runway.

Lower than 30 seconds earlier than the crash, an air site visitors controller requested the helicopter if it had the coming airplane in sight. The controller made one other radio name to the helicopter moments later: “PAT 25 go behind the CRJ.” Seconds after that, the 2 plane collided.

The airplane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 toes in need of the runway, roughly over the center of the river.

Video from an remark digital camera on the close by Kennedy Heart confirmed two units of lights in step with plane showing to hitch in a fireball.

The collision occurred on a heat winter night in Washington, with temperatures registering as excessive as 60 levels Fahrenheit, following a stretch days earlier of intense chilly and ice. On Wednesday, the Potomac River was 36 levels Fahrenheit, based on the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Nationwide Climate Service reported that wind gusts of as much as 25 mph had been doable within the space all through the night.

The crash is serving as a significant check for 2 of the Trump administration’s latest company leaders. Pete Hegseth, sworn in days in the past as protection secretary, posted on social media that an investigation has been “launched instantly” by the Military and the Protection Division. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, simply sworn in earlier this week, stated in a social media publish that he was “on the FAA HQ and carefully monitoring the scenario.”

The airport was to stay closed till 5 a.m. Friday.

Positioned alongside the Potomac River, simply southwest of town, Reagan Nationwide is a well-liked selection as a result of it’s a lot nearer than the bigger Dulles Worldwide Airport, which is deeper in Virginia.

Relying on the runway getting used, flights into Reagan can supply passengers spectacular views of landmarks just like the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Nationwide Mall and the U.S. Capitol. It’s a postcard-worthy welcome for vacationers visiting town.

The incident recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on Jan. 13, 1982, that killed 78 folks. That crash was attributed to unhealthy climate.

The final deadly crash involving a U.S. industrial airline occurred in 2009 close to Buffalo, New York. Everybody aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller airplane was killed, together with 45 passengers, two pilots and two flight attendants. One other particular person on the bottom additionally died, bringing the full dying toll to 50. An investigation decided that the captain unintentionally triggered the airplane to stall because it approached the airport in Buffalo.

Related Press writers Zeke Miller, Meg Kinnard, Chris Megerian and Michael Biesecker in Washington contributed to this report.