An American Airlines jet crashed into a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, resulting in multiple fatalities. Rescue efforts are underway in the Potomac River, but officials say there are likely no survivors.
An American Airlines jet carrying 64 people collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington on Wednesday, authorities said. Three soldiers were onboard the helicopter, an Army official said. The collision prompted a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River, which resulted in dozens of fatalities.
During a briefing on Thursday morning, officials said they did not believe there were any survivors and noted how it had turned into a 'recovery operation.' At least 27 people had been recovered from the plane, and one from the helicopter. Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight. The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later: 'PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.' Seconds after that, the two aircraft collided.'Yep, we saw it. Everybody just hold your positions please on the field right now,' an air traffic controller can be heard saying after the collision.The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the river. Video from the observation camera EarthCam at the nearby Kennedy Center showed two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.The crash happened before 9 p.m. EST when the regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with the military helicopter on a training flight while on approach to an airport runway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and the Capitol. Passengers on the flight included a group of figure skaters, their coaches and family members who were returning from a development camp that followed the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.The exact number of victims was unclear as rescue crews hunted for any survivors in the frigid water. There was also no immediate word on the cause of the collision. American Airlines Flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan National at an altitude of about 400 feet and a speed of about 140 miles per hour when it suffered a rapid loss of altitude over the Potomac River, according to data from its radio transponder. The Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet, manufactured in 2004, can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers. A few minutes before landing, air traffic controllers asked the arriving commercial jet if it could land on the shorter Runway 33 at Reagan National, and the pilots said they were able. Controllers then cleared the plane to land on Runway 33. Flight tracking sites showed the plane adjusting its approach to the new runway.
AIRPLANE CRASH HELICOPTER COLLISION WASHINGTON D.C. RONALD REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT FATALITIES RESCUE OPERATION FIGURE SKATERS
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