Over 60 killed in US midair collision
   Date :31-Jan-2025

A helicopter uses its searchlight as it flies above the Potomac
 
 
ARLINGTON :
 
Passenger jet with 64 aboard collides with Army helicopter carrying 3 soldiers while landing at Reagan Airport 
 
ALL 64 people aboard an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter were feared dead in what was likely to be the worst US aviation disaster in almost a quarter century, officials said on Thursday. At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the midair collision on Wednesday night when the helicopter apparently flew in the path of the jet as it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, officials said. Rescuers were still searching for any sign of the 60 passengers and four crew members, but they did not believe there were any survivors, which would make it the deadliest US air crash in nearly 24 years. “We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital. “We don’t believe there are any survivors.” The body of the plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water.
 
The wreckage of the helicopter was also found. Donnelly said first responders on Thursday were searching an area of the Potomac River as far south as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, roughly 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) south of the airport. There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision, but officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet coming from Wichita, Kansas, with US and Russian figure skaters and others aboard, was making a routine landing when the helicopter flew into its path. “On final approach into Reagan National it collided with a military aircraft on an otherwise normal approach,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said. “At this time, we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path of the ... Aircraft.”
 
Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter during a training flight, an Army official said. Images from the river showed boats around the partly submergedwingandthemangled wreckage of the plane’s fuselage. Investigators will try to piece togetherthe aircraft’s final moments before the collision, including its contact with air traffic controllers as well as a loss of altitude by the passenger jet. What happened: The FAA saidthemidair crashoccurred before9pm ESTinsomeofthe most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over 3 miles south of the White House and the Capitol. American Airlines Flight 5342 was inbound to ReaganNational at an altitude of about 400 feet (122 metres) and a speed of about 140 mph (225 kph) when it rapidly lost altitudeoverthePotomacRiver, accordingtodatafromitsradio transponder.
 
The Canadianmade Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-enginejet,manufactured in 2004, can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers. A few minutes before landing,airtrafficcontrollersasked the arriving commercial jet if it could land on the shorter Runway33atReaganNational 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 than30 secondsbefore the crash, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight.
 
The controller made another radio call to the helicoptermoments later:“PAT 25 passbehind theCRJ.” Seconds afterthat, the two aircraft collided.Theplane’s transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet (732 metres) short oftherunway,roughlyoverthe middle of the river. Video from an observation camera at thenearbyKennedy Centre showed two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball. The US Army described the helicopter as a UH-60 Blackhawk based at Fort BelvoirinVirginia.Militaryaircraft frequently conduct such training flights in and around the nation’s capital. Reagan Airport was toreopenat11am on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced. The FAA previously said it would be closed until 5 am on Friday.