A plane carrying 60 people and four members of the crew collided with a US Army aircraft as it approached Washington, DC’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.
On Wednesday, the collision occurred about 9 p.m. ( local time ) in a location with restricted airspace about three miles from the US Capitol and White House. By Thursday night, the search-and-rescue activity had shifted to a healing energy. The cause of the collision is still undetermined.
Aircraft black box recovered
Officials from the American Airlines plane have recovered the trip data microphone and cockpit voice recorder, which are known as “black boxes,” according to CBS News.
These aircraft recorders might reveal more about what transpired during the trip. The National Transportation Safety Board did examine them at a facility close to the crash site, according to CBS.
Information of the Accident
A local flight from Wichita, Kansas, which was about to land, and a military aircraft carrying three troops on a coaching exercise were involved in the collision, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration. Weather circumstances were pleasant.
Air traffic controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could get on a shorter airport as the jet approached the airport, and the aircraft agreed. The aircraft adjusted its method, and devices cleared it to get.
A joystick asked the aircraft crew if they could see the helicopter less than 30 seconds before the effect. A second text sent a few moments afterward to the helicopter to let the aircraft pass. Before the aeroplane collided, there was no reply.
The plane’s transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the airport, almost in the middle of the Potomac River, according to flight tracking data. Authorities found the flight upside-down in three areas in waist-deep water. The pilot’s wreckage was likewise recovered from the valley.
Data recording devices are being worked on by investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB ) on both aircraft.
Reason and worries
US National authorities will verify connections between the aircraft and air traffic controllers, captain steps, and flight altitudes.
According to an FAA document, just one controller was currently in charge of handling aircraft and airport transportation, according to the news company Associated Press. Generally, two controllers are assigned, but workstations are often combined during transition changes, breaks, or when weather traffic is reduced.
The collapse appeared to be unavoidable, according to President Donald Trump, transport secretary Sean Duffy, and military candidate Daniel Driscoll.
Trump blames diversification hiring
Trump attributed the FAA’s variety efforts to lowering standards for air traffic controllers. He blamed the Obama management, claiming it had determined that the FAA labor was” to light”.
He blamed the Biden administration, also, and its director of travel, Pete Buttigieg.
” That man is a real champion”, Trump said, bitterly. ” He’s a devastation”.
Donald Trump, the US senator, disputed the actions of a US Army helicopter pilot who was involved in the air incident with a corporate jet and claimed, without any proof, that diversity initiatives had weakened weather protection.
Trump acknowledged that it was too early to make inferences despite the fact that the cause of the accident has not yet been determined. He also questioned the event and made political statements, as presidents are typically expected to give comfort and scientific updates, while also urging the nation to beg for the victims.
Trump said from the White House lecture room, which is a few miles from the accident page,” Some really bad things happened and some stuff happened that shouldn’t have happened.”
He attributed the administration of former US President Joe Biden’s leadership to encouraging the FAA to get employees in accordance with diversity and inclusion laws. He claimed this led to the selecting of people with intellectual disabilities, medical conditions, hearing and vision difficulties, seizures, paralysis, and malnutrition.
Trump did not provide any evidence that incompetent people were hired for posts like air traffic control. He also acknowledged that there was no proof that Reagan National Airport’s consoles had erred.
When asked why he was blaming variety plans, Trump responded, “because I have popular feeling, and however a lot of people don’t”.
The patients
The most deadly US heat crash in virtually 24 years was this one. 28 systems have been recovered therefore much, including those of the three men on the plane.
People of the Boston Skating Club who had recently returned from a growth tent after the 2025 US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita were among the people. Teen figure skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, their mother, and two instructors, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who were earth leaders in 1994, were on the plane with 14 other people from the skating community.
Three students and six parents from Fairfax County, Virginia, were also on board.
The helicopter crew, according to Army Aviation Chief Jonathan Koziol, had flying experience and knowledge of Washington’s crowded airspace. Their names have not been released.
Air traffic and Reagan airport issues
Reagan National Airport is located along the Potomac River, southwest of Washington. Due to its close proximity to the city, it is a preferred airport. Operations were halted following the crash, and operations resumed on Thursday.
According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the two aircraft’s flight paths were typical for the area prior to the collision.
” I would just say that everyone who flies in American skies anticipates that we will fly safely,” he said. ” That when you depart an airport, you get to your destination. That didn’t happen last night, and I know that President Trump, his administration, the FAA, the DOT, we will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public”.
Federal authorities and aviation experts have expressed concern about more frequent close calls between aircraft. An American Airlines plane at Reagan aborted takeoff in May to avoid colliding with another plane as it made its way onto a shaky runway. In the past six weeks, there has been a second incident at the airport.
The aircraft
The military helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
The jet was a Bombardier CRJ-701, built in Canada in 2004. It had twin engines and could carry up to 70 passengers.
Past fatal air crashes
In the US, it’s uncommon to have fatal commercial plane crashes. The last major incident occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York, when a Bombardier DHC-8 crashed into a house, killing all 45 passengers, four crew members, and one person on the ground.
A flight from American Airlines crashed shortly after taking off from Kennedy Airport in a New York neighborhood in November 2001, killing all 260 passengers on board.
The crash on Wednesday was similar to the 1982 Air Florida disaster, where a plane crashed into the Potomac River, killing 78 people. That crash was caused by bad weather.
