At least 19 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River after a passenger jet carrying 64 people collided mid-air with a helicopter and crashed into a river in Washington DC.
A search and rescue operation is underway after the plane struck a Black Hawk helicopter as it was approaching Ronald Reagan Airport at around 9pm (2am GMT) on Wednesday, causing it to plunge into the near-freezing water.
American Airlines said there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the flight from Wichita, Kansas, while three soldiers were in the military helicopter.
World champion Russian figure skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were reportedly on board, as well as several members of the US figure skating community.
Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to collide in a fireball.
In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump claimed the collision “should have been prevented” and suggested the helicopter flew into the plane’s path.
Before Wednesday, there had not been a fatal commercial plane crash in the US for almost 16 years.
The Washington Post said multiple bodies had been pulled from the water. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said on social media that "we know there are fatalities." Cruz did not say how many.
An American Airlines source told Reuters that 60 passengers, along with two pilots and two crew members were scheduled to be on the flight. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter, a U.S. official said.
NBC reported that four people had been pulled alive from the Potomac River.
A web camera shot from the Kennedy Center in Washington showed an explosion mid-air across the Potomac around 2047 ET with an aircraft in flames crashing down rapidly.
Police said multiple agencies were involved in a search and rescue operation in the Potomac River, which borders the airport.
Dozens of police, ambulance, and recuse units, some ferrying boats, staged along the river and raced to positions along the tarmac of Reagan Airport. Live TV images showed several boats in the water, flashing blue and red lights.
The airport said late on Wednesday that all takeoffs and landings had been halted as emergency personnel responded to an aircraft incident.
Three U.S. Army soldiers were onboard a BlackHawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
(AP) — A jet with 60 passengers and four crew members aboard collided Wednesday with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.
There was no immediate word on casualties or the cause of the collision, but all takeoffs and landings from the airport near Washington were halted as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors. Inflatable rescue boats were launched into the Potomac River from a point near the airport along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport.
President Donald Trump said he had been “fully briefed on this terrible accident” and, referring to the passengers, added, “May God Bless their souls.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair crash occurred around 9 p.m. EST when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military Blackhawk helicopter while on approach to an airport runway. 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.
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.
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 was manufactured in 2004 and 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 adjust its approach to the new runway.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asks the helicopter if it has the arriving plane in sight. The controller makes another radio call to the helicopter moments later: “PAT 25 passes behind the CRJ.” Seconds after that the two aircraft collide.
The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the river.
The tower immediately began diverting other aircraft from Reagan.
Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center showed two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.
The crash is serving as a major test for two of the Trump administration’s newest agency leaders. Pete Hegseth, sworn in days ago as defense secretary, posted on social media that his department was “actively monitoring” the situation that involved an Army helicopter. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, just sworn in earlier this week, said in a social media post that he was “at the FAA HQ and closely monitoring the situation.”
Reagan 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.
Depending on the runway, flights into Reagan can offer passengers spectacular views of landmarks like the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall, and the U.S. Capitol. It’s a postcard-worthy welcome for tourists visiting the city.
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 pilot,s 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.
The crash of the jet that departed from Wichita occurred on a notable day in Kansas history. Jan. 29 is celebrated as Kansas Day, marking the anniversary of Kansas’ admission as the 34th state in 1861.
🚨 #BREAKING: A plane has crashed into a helicopter while landing at Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 30, 2025
Fatalities have been reported, a MASSIVE search & rescue operation is happening in the Potomac River
Witnesses reported seeing a “massive crash” and hearing a loud… pic.twitter.com/GtSiWjUWn0
The last fatal crash involving a U.S. commercial airline occurred in 2009 in New York, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
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.