An American Airlines jet collided with a Black Hawk helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday night, causing one of the most harrowing plane crashes in the U.S. in recent memory and launching a massive, overnight emergency response in the Potomac River.

Live coverage: No survivors expected from airplane, helicopter crash above Potomac River, officials say

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, American Airlines flight No. 5342 departed from Wichita, Kansas, earlier in the evening and crashed in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while approaching runway 33 at the airport before 9 p.m. Both aircraft fell into the water below.

American Airlines confirmed to The Banner there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft. Officials said three soldiers were aboard the military helicopter.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

(AP)

The International Skating Union said early Thursday that officials there learned that figure skaters, along with their coaches, friends and family, “are understood to be among those on board” the flight from Wichita.

Although officials had not confirmed any casualties as of a 1 a.m. news conference Thursday, some elected officials spoke of the incident with grave tones.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she couldn’t talk about the “rescue operation” at an early morning press conference, and Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly said officials “don’t know yet” if there were survivors.

View post on X

“When one person dies it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die, it’s an unbearable sorrow,” Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall said. “It’s a heartbreak beyond measure.”

Reagan Airport halted takeoffs and landings after the aircraft went down in the Potomac River. As of 5:30 a.m. Thursday, flights were still halted at the airport, though terminals were open. Airport officials said they did not expect flights to resume until 11 a.m. at the earliest.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

“We are deploying every available U.S Coast Guard resource for search and rescue efforts in this horrific incident at DCA,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on social media.

D.C. Fire and EMS, the Metropolitan Police Department and other agencies responded to an alert at 8:48 p.m. about the crash. About 300 emergency personnel have responded to the scene, according to Donnelly.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 29: Emergency response units conduct search and rescue operations in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on January 29, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. An American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas collided with a helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)
Emergency response units conduct search-and-rescue operations in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday. (Al Drago / Getty Images)

The National Transportation Safety Board, which will lead the investigation into the disaster, expected that investigators would soon arrive.

In a statement shared to social media Wednesday night, Gov. Wes Moore said Maryland State Police have deployed divers to the scene and that Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police also responded to the incident.

Bowser said during a news conference that rescue efforts were continuing “diligently in very dark and cold conditions.”

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

A spokesperson for Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport said Wednesday they were monitoring the situation at Reagan National Airport.

“We do expect a number of airline diversions tonight,” the spokesperson said.

View post on X

Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to conjoin in a fireball.

Heather Chairez, spokesperson for the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region, said the Army helicopter was from the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir and was on a training flight.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said an investigation has been “launched immediately” by the Army and the Defense Department.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

Emergency equipment stages at Gravelly Point, north of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, along the Potomac River, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Arlington, Va.
Emergency equipment stages at Gravelly Point, north of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, along the Potomac River, Wednesday. (Mark Schiefelbein / AP)

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said he was heading to Washington. The airline said in a statement that its “concern is for the passengers and crew on board the aircraft.”

“We are in contact with authorities and assisting with emergency response efforts,” the statement continued. “If you believe you may have loved ones on board Flight 5342, call American Airlines toll-free at 800-679-8215. Those calling from outside the U.S. can visit news.aa.com for additional phone numbers. Family members in Canada, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands can call 800-679-8215 directly.”

In a video posted to the airline’s website, Isom said the airline was coordinating with local, state and federal authorities and “cooperating fully” with the NTSB investigation.

“Anything we can do, we are doing,” Isom said.

Less than 30 seconds before the collision, air traffic recordings show that controllers asked the helicopter if it had the plane in sight and instructed it to pass behind the landing aircraft, according to The Associated Press.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

A crew member on the helicopter replied that “the aircraft is in sight” and requested “visual separation” with the incoming plane, allowing it to fly closer than may otherwise be allowed if the pilots didn’t see the plane. The controllers approved the request. About 20 seconds later, a commotion could be heard on the audio, and seconds after that, according to the AP, controllers began diverting aircraft away from the disaster scene.

Some people had arrived at Reagan National Wednesday evening to pick up loved ones who were slated to arrive on the flight from Kansas, officials said. American Airlines has converted an airport lounge to a gathering space for those people.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority sent warming buses to support rescue teams, according to a post on X by the the authority’s CEO Randy Clarke. The authority will also assist Washington Dulles International Airport with diverted flights by running extra Silver Line trains and keeping the line open later for people trying to get downtown, the post said.

Witnesses describe the chaos

Ashlyn Finch said she was at home near the Potomac River when she heard two booms. Finch said in a Facebook message to the AP that her 12-year-old son “came running down saying he saw a plane crash and the lights go into the water.”

When they opened the back door, they were hit with the smell of jet fuel, she said. Within a few minutes, they saw police officers arrive by the water, followed by helicopters and boats in the river.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 29: Emergency response units conduct search and rescue operations in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on January 29, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. An American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas collided with a helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)
Emergency responders conduct search-and-rescue operations in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday. (Al Drago / Getty Images)

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.

“It didn’t seem anything too strange at that point,” Poloncarz told the AP. “And then about a minute or so after that, there was an announcement of a full-ground stop, that there would be no flights landing and no flights taking off. And then we started to see a lot of emergency vehicles heading towards the river.”

Poloncarz and others soon saw reports on social media of a plane crash, while rumors began to swirl.

“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.”

Trump questions flight, Vance asks for prayer

In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump questioned the tactics of the military helicopter and the air traffic controllers — both agencies that report to him as the president.

Writing that the “airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach for an extended period of time” on a “CLEAR NIGHT,” Trump questioned, “why didn’t the helicopter go up or down or turn,” and “why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane.”

“What a terrible night this has been. God Bless you all!” he added in a subsequent post.

Sean Duffy, confirmed as secretary of the Department of Transportation on Tuesday, was on-site Wednesday night. Asked what could be done to prevent similar incidents between helicopters and airplanes, Duffy said in a news conference: “Obviously, there will be a review of what happened here tonight.”

View post on X

Vice President JD Vance asked everyone to pray.

“I’m deeply saddened to learn about the horrific tragedy at Reagan National Airport,” he wrote on X. “Please join me in praying for everyone involved as well as our first responders.”

Other plane crashes

The crash comes after multiple recent close calls at the airport. In April 2024, a JetBlue flight and a Southwest flight were taking off from Reagan National when they nearly collided on the ground.

Then, the following month, an American Airlines flight was ordered to stop before taking off when air traffic controllers realized its path may intersect with a smaller aircraft that was landing at the same time.

Last year, Congress passed a bill funding the Federal Aviation Administration that included provisions regarding airline safety. But it also added five additional round trip flights at Reagan National, which drew criticism, at the time, from Virginia Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine and Maryland Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin.

The group of senators called Reagan National “overburdened” and warned against adding more air traffic.

“The runway at DCA is already the busiest in our nation and the addition of these 10 flights jeopardizes both its safety and operations,” Van Hollen said in a May 2024 statement.

Commercial airplane crashes are rare. But Wednesday’s tragedy immediately drew comparisons to a similar incident 43 years ago.

On a chilly January day, an Air Florida flight departed Washington National Airport, bound for Tampa. However, the plane was weighed down by ice and quickly crashed into a bridge over the Potomac River. In that crash, 78 people were killed.

The last crash involving a U.S. commercial airline with multiple fatalities occurred in 2009 in New York, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Everyone aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane was killed, including 45 passengers, 2 pilots and 2 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.

The Associated Press and Baltimore Banner reporter Cody Boteler contributed to this story.