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67 people killed as American Airlines plane, army helicopter collide near Washington

A passenger jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided in midair with a military helicopter late Wednesday while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Virginia, near Washington, D.C., officials transitioned from a rescue effort to recovering bodies.

The U.S. army described the helicopter as a UH-60 Black Hawk based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia. A crew of three soldiers were on board the helicopter, an army official said. The helicopter was on a training flight.

“At this point we don’t believe there are any survivors,” said John Donnelly, chief of Washington DC Fire and EMS Department, at a Thursday morning news conference. He said responders were switching to a recovery mission.

President Donald Trump, at the White House, also said none survived the crash.

WATCH | Rescuing survivors unlikely, official says:

‘We don’t believe there are any survivors’ of midair collision, Washington official says

John Donnelly, fire and EMS chief in Washington, D.C, says officials are shifting from rescue to recovery after a deadly collision between a passenger plane and an army helicopter.

First responders have recovered the bodies of 28 people from the aircraft, from the American Airlines jet that collided with the helicopter, officials said.

Some 300 first responders were on scene. Inflatable rescue boats were being launched into the river from a point along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport, and first responders set up light towers from the shore to illuminate the area near the site of the collision. 

Global Affairs Canada, in a response to CBC News, said it “is not aware of any Canadians onboard flight AA 5342 which departed from Wichita, Kansas.”

Officials puzzled by what went wrong

Conditions were clear at the time of the crash, new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.

“We will not rest until we have answers for the families and the flying public,” he said.

The body of the plane was found inverted, in three sections, in waist-deep water. The wreckage of the helicopter was also found. Donnelly said first responders on Thursday were searching an area of the Potomac River that spanned about five kilometres. 

“At this time, we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path of the … aircraft.” said American Airlines CEO Robert Isom. He expressed “deep sorrow” for the crash and said the company was focused on the needs of passengers, crew, first responders and families and loved ones of those involved.

WATCH | Caution: Video shows moment of impact:

CCTV footage captures Washington-area plane, helicopter collision

Footage from a CCTV camera caught the moment of impact as a passenger plane and a U.S. Army helicopter collided. Audio from air traffic control, meanwhile, captures some of the immediate aftermath of the collision.

Trump, at the White House, said it was a “time of anguish” for the nation and that the casualties included people from multiple countries.

But the U.S. president then launched into extended remarks speculating about the cause of the crash without evidence, and appearing to blame, at various point, air traffic controllers, the helicopter pilots and Democratic policies at federal agencies.

Without evidence, Trump posited that diversity hiring efforts at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had undermined the agency.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Trump’s comments about the crash “turns your stomach.”

“It’s one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracy theories, it’s another for the president of the United States,” Schumer said.

Figure skating community devastated

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.

“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement.

A small boat is shown in a body of water, near to fusillage wreckage.
Plane wreckage is shown in the Potomac River near Arlington, Va., on Thursday morning. The National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Army are all involved in the investigation of the collision. (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press)

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to reporters Thursday that former Russian figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on the plane. Shishkova and Naumov, who are now coaches in Boston, won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships as well as Skate Canada in 1995.

Their son, Maxim Naumov, is a competitive figure skater. He was not on the flight, having flown from Kansas on Monday.

“Folks are just stunned by this,” said Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston, where they were employed. “They are like family to us.” Zeghibe said six people associated with the club were killed — including 16-year-olds Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, and the mothers of both of those skaters.

In Russia, Peskov said “there were other fellow citizens” there without specifying.

“We are sorry and send condolences to the families and friends who lost those of our fellow citizens who died in the plane crash,” he said.

‘Tower did you see that?’

Investigators will try to piece together the aircrafts’ final moments before their collision around 9 p.m. ET, including contact with air traffic controllers as well as a loss of altitude by the passenger jet. American Airlines Flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan National at an altitude of about 120 metres and a speed of about 225 km/h 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 was manufactured in 2004 and can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers.

The National Transportation Safety Board, FAA and U.S. army are all investigating, with the NTSB taking the lead role.

WATCH | Passenger planes and military aircraft often cross paths in D.C., pilot says:

Eyewitness describes hearing collision at D.C airport

Abadi Ismail heard the collision of an American Airlines regional passenger jet and a U.S. army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport and says it was like something out of a war zone.

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 to do so. Controllers then cleared the plane to land on Runway 33. Flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.

In audio from the air traffic control tower around the time of the crash, a controller is heard asking the helicopter, “PAT25 do you have the CRJ in sight,” in reference to the passenger aircraft.

“Tower did you see that?” another pilot is heard calling seconds after the apparent collision.

The tower immediately began diverting other aircraft from the airport.

Few U.S.-based air disasters in recent years

Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.

Ronald Reagan National Airport was set to reopen by midday Thursday, though the airport advised passengers to check their flight status as some flights would be delayed or cancelled.

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. In 2023, nine soldiers were killed when two U.S. army Black Hawk medical evacuation helicopters crashed during a nighttime training exercise near Fort Campbell in Kentucky.

The last major fatal crash involving a U.S. commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, N.Y. Everyone aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane was killed, including 45 passengers, two pilots and two flight attendants. Another person on the ground also died, bringing the total death toll to 50. 

Television screens are shown in an airport terminal with the message 'Due to an emergency situation, Reagan National Airport is currently closed.
Signs displaying the closure of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport are shown early Thursday in Arlington, Va. (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press)

The deadliest American Airlines crash this century took place on Nov. 12, 2001, when an Airbus plane crashed shortly after takeoff in New York City. All 260 people on board the flight en route to Dominican Republic were killed. 

On Jan. 13, 1982, an  Air Florida flight plummeted into the Potomac, killing 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.

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