American Airlines jet crashes after midair collision with military helicopter near Washington DC

Rescuers search Potomac river after flight from Kansas with 64 onboard collides with Black Hawk helicopter while coming in to land

A regional American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members has crashed after a midair collision with a US army Black Hawk helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan national airport near Washington DC, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the Potomac river.

All takeoffs and landings from the airport near the capital were halted as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter, a US official said. Multiple bodies have been pulled from the Potomac, according to media reports. US senator Ted Cruz said “we know there are fatalities” but did not provide further details.

The helicopter involved in the crash was participating in a training flight, NBC and Reuters reported. “We can confirm that the aircraft involved in tonight’s incident was an Army UH-60 helicopter from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir during a training flight,” a military official told NBC, adding that it would provide more details once available.

President Donald Trump said in a statement that he had been “fully briefed on this terrible accident” and, referring to the passengers, “May God Bless their souls.” He subsequently added in a social media post that the crash “should have been prevented”.

Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said “every available” coast guard resource has been deployed to help with rescue efforts.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair crash occurred around 9pm when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with the military 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 aircrafts’ 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 an 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 pass 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.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom released a statement providing a toll free numbers for relatives who believe they may have lost ones one on board the flight.

“Our concern is for the passengers and crew on board the aircraft,” he said. “We are in contact with authorities and assisting with emergency response efforts.”

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 south-west of the city. It’s a popular choice because it’s much closer than the larger Dulles international airport, which is deeper in Virginia.

Erie county executive Mark Poloncarz was waiting to catch his flight back to Buffalo, New York, when he saw through the terminal window some emergency vehicles moving out below.

“When flights get delayed, people get aggravated and upset. But there was no one getting aggravated or upset because I think we all realized pretty quickly the magnitude of what occurred,” he said.

“The terminal grew pretty quiet. There was a lot of sadness.”

The incident recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on 13 January 1982, killing 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.

The last fatal crash involving a US commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. 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. An investigation determined that the captain accidentally caused the plane to stall as it approached the airport in Buffalo.

(Source: The Guardian)