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A 64 passenger plane aboard an army helicopter while landing at Reagan Airport near DC – Winston -salem Journal

A 64 passenger plane aboard an army helicopter while landing at Reagan Airport near DC – Winston -salem Journal

By Lolita C. Baldor, Tara Copp and Eric Tucker – Associated Press

Arlington, Washington (AP)-US Airlines Samoolet, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, collided on Wednesday with an army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, which caused a large search and saving operation The Potomak River. According to many casualties, according to a person familiar with the question, but the exact number of victims was unclear as the rescue crews hunt for survivors.

Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter, an army official said.

There was no immediate word about the cause of the collision, but all the take -offs and landings from the airport were stopped, as the diving teams shook the site and helicopters from the law enforcement agencies throughout the region flew over the stage in a methodical search for bodies.

“We will restore our fellow citizens,” said Colombia Mayor Muriel Bowser at a gloomy press conference at Thursday morning, in which she refused to say how many bodies were restored.

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Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas said, “When a person dies, it is a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die, it is an unbearable grief.”

President Donald Trump said he was “fully informed of this horrible incident” and, referring to passengers, added: “May God bless their souls.”

Passengers in the flight included a group of figure skaters, their coaches and family members who returned from a development camp, which followed the US Figure Skating Championship in Wichita.

“We are devastated by this indescribable tragedy and hold the victims of the victims closely in our hearts,” says the US figure skating in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the crash in the middle took place before 9 pm EST when a regional aircraft that had deviated from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military helicopter in a training flight while he was near the airport airport. This happened in some of the most seated and observed airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and Capitol.

Investigators will try to gather the last moments of the aircraft before their collision, including contact with air traffic controllers, as well as loss at altitude from the passenger aircraft.

The American Airlines 5342 flight was inlet 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 at altitude over the Potomak River, according to radio stations. The Canadian manufactured Bombardier CRJ-701 Twin-Engine Jet, manufactured in 2004, can be configured to wear up to 70 passengers.

A few minutes before landing, the air traffic controllers asked the arriving sales plane if it could land on the short runway 33 in Reagan National and the pilots said they were able. The controllers then cleared the track for the track 33. The flight tracking sites showed that the aircraft was adjusting its approach to the new track.

Less than 30 seconds before the crash, the air traffic controller asked the helicopter if there was an arrival aircraft. The controller made another radio call on the helicopter after moments: “Pat 25 passes behind CRJ.” Seconds afterwards, the two aircraft collided.

The airplane transponder stopped handing over 2400 feet less than the track, approximately above the middle of the river.

Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy center showed two sets of lights corresponding to the aircraft that appear to join a fiery ball.

“I know this flight. I have flew it several times, “said Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas. He said he expects many people at Wichita will know people who are in the flight.

“This is a very personal circumstance,” he said.

The collision happened on a warm winter evening in Washington, with temperatures registering up to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, after stretching days earlier than intense cold and ice. On Wednesday, the Potomak River was 36 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Ocean Administration and the atmosphere. The National Meteorological Service has announced that wind gusts up to 25 miles / h are possible in the area throughout the evening.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom expressed a “deep grief” for the crash and said the company focused on the needs of passengers, crew, first answers and families and relatives of participants.

About 300 first responders were on stage. The inflatable rescue boats were fired into the Potomak River from a point along the George Washington parking lot, right north of the airport, and the first reacting ones create light towers from the shore to illuminate the area near the collision site. At least half a dozen boats scanned the water with the help of spotlights.

“This is an extremely complicated operation,” said DC fire chief John Donelli. “The conditions there are extremely rough for respondents.”

The US Army described the helicopter as the UH-60 Blackhawk, based on Fort Belvoire in Virginia. The helicopter was on a training flight. Military aircraft often conduct training flights in and around overloaded and severely limited airspace around the capital of the nation to get acquainted with and continuity of governmental planning.

The crash serves as a major test for two of the highest leaders of the Trump Administration Agency. Pete Heget, sworn a few days ago as Minister of Defense, published on social media that the investigation was “started immediately” by the army and the Ministry of Defense. Transport secretary Sean Duffy, just sworn in the earlier this week, told a gloomy airport at the beginning of Thursday that his agency would provide all possible resources for the investigation.

The latest fatal disaster, including an American trade airline, happened in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. Everyone aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 Propeller the aircraft was killed, including 45 passengers, 2 pilots and 2 flight attendants. Another person on Earth is also killed, leading to the total number of deaths up to 50. Investigation has determined that the captain accidentally caused the aircraft to stop when he approached Buffalo Airport.

Reagan Airport will reopened at 11am on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration reported. The FAA said it would be closed by 5am on Friday.

Situated along the Potomak River, just southwest of the city. Reagan is a popular choice as it is much closer than the Dulles International Airport, which is deeper in Virginia.

Depending on the track used, flights in Reagan can offer passengers incredible sights such as Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, US National Mall and Capitol. This is welcome worthy of a postcard for tourists visiting the city.

The incident recalled the Air Florida flight crash, which fell in the Potomak on January 13, 1982, killing 78 people. This catastrophe is attributed to bad weather.

Associated Press Writers Zeke Miller, Meg Kinard, Chris Megerian and Michael Biesecker in Washington have contributed to this report.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material cannot be published, emitted, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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