Over 60 feared dead in Washington after jet hits helicopter, crashes into river

(Reuters) – More than 60 people were feared dead after an American Airlines regional passenger jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday and crashed into the frigid Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport.

“At this point we do not believe there were any survivors,” District of Columbia fire chief John Donnelly said at a Thursday press conference.

Donnelly said 28 bodies had been recovered from the river so far, in what was shaping up to be the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than a decade. “We will work to find all the bodies and reunite them with their loved ones,” he said.

American Airlines confirmed 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the jet, while U.S. officials said the helicopter was carrying three soldiers on a training flight. Officials told Reuters that helicopter flights had been paused for the Army unit involved in the incident.

Passengers on the flight included ice skaters, family and coaches returning from events in Wichita, Kansas, including Russian-born former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.

“We have been told that there are no survivors. We mourn with all those who have been impacted,” Wichita mayor Lily Wu said at a news conference.

CBS News reported that a dive team had recovered one of the two data recorders, the so-called black boxes, from the plane.

The midair collision occurred as the passenger jet was approaching to land at Reagan. Radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk showed the helicopter crew knew the plane was in the vicinity.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both the helicopter and the airplane had been flying standard flight patterns, and there had been no breakdown in communication.

“Everything was standard in the lead-up to the crash,” he said. “Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely.”

Airspace is frequently crowded in the U.S. capital region, home to three commercial airports and several major military facilities, and officials have raised concerns about busy runways at Reagan National Airport, just across the river from Washington. There have been several near-miss incidents that have sparked alarm, including a near-collision in May 2024.

The helicopter was flown by a “fairly experienced crew” that was wearing night-vision goggles on an annual proficiency training flight, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a video statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump will hold a briefing about the crash at 11 a.m. Eastern time (1600 GMT), the White House said. In an earlier post on Truth Social, Trump questioned the actions of the helicopter crew and air traffic controllers.

“This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!,” he wrote.

American Eagle Flight 5342 was operated by PSA Airlines, an Ohio-based regional subsidiary of American Airlines. The plane was a CRJ-700, the airline said, from a line of regional jets made by Canada’s Bombardier, later sold to Mitsubishi. American Airlines (AAL.O), CEO Robert Isom said the pilot had about six years of flying experience.

He said the company was cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates accidents.

Air traffic control recordings appear to capture the final attempted communications with the helicopter, call sign PAT25, before it collides with the CRJ jet.

“PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,” an air traffic controller says at 8:47 p.m. (0147 GMT) on Wednesday, according to a recording on liveatc.net.

Seconds later, another aircraft calls in to air traffic control, saying, “Tower, did you see that?” – apparently referring to the crash. An air traffic controller then redirects planes heading to runway 33 to go around.

Webcam video of the crash showed the collision and an explosion lighting up the night sky.

“I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river,” an air traffic controller was heard saying over the radio.

John Potter, head of the regional airport authority, said flights would resume at Reagan National at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time (1600 GMT).

RESCUE EFFORTS

The skaters on board were returning from a camp following an event in Wichita, governing body U.S. Figure Skating said.

“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” it said.

Russian media said Shishkova and Naumov, who were married and working as coaches, were returning from Wichita with a group of young skaters. Russia’s Mash news outlet published a list of 13 skaters, many of them the children of Russian emigres to the U.S., who it said were believed to have been on the plane.

The Kremlin offered condolences to the families of Russians killed and said there were no plans for contacts for now between President Vladimir Putin and Trump.

Washington DC fire chief Donnelly said conditions were cold and windy, making the operation “extremely rough” for the 300 responders on the scene.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin told Reuters that the bodies of most of those involved in the collision had been recovered. “Everything was routine up to the point of the accident,” he said. “Something went wrong.”

In 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River, killing 70 passengers and four crew members. Only four passengers and one crew member survived.

The National Transportation Safety Board has investigated nine accidents or incidents at Reagan National airport this century, including two that were fatal, records show.

The last deadly major crash involving a commercial airliner in the U.S. was in 2009, when all 49 people aboard a Colgan Air flight died when the plane crashed in New York state. One person was also killed on the ground.