INVESTIGATORS are desperately searching for answers around the doomed Washington DC aircraft crash that is feared to have killed 67. An aviation expert told The Sun he believes several scenarios could be behind the deadly helicopter and plane collision - from a training mishap to a disastrous tech failure.
![[Emergency responders at the scene of a plane crash in the Potomac River.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/97658b90-25a3-48c3-b1cc-9a4c01618e8a.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The official reason is still a "mystery" with all the black box data from both the passenger plane and the Black Hawk military helicopter yet to be recovered and decoded. Aviation security expert Julian Bray says the crash "defies explanation" with a number of concerning and tragic possibilities running through his head.
![[Search and rescue operation underway after a plane and helicopter crash into a river.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/5342-military-helicopters-lie-ruin-967830833.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
He gave his initial predictions on what may have caused the fatal crash - citing several likely causes. He told The Sun: "This should not have happened and we don't know why [it happened]. "We're looking at something that defies explanation at the moment.".
![[Search and rescue boats at a plane wreckage site.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/284ccd1f-abf9-45e5-9db3-aad2253933b8.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
It was revealed after the collision that the packed plane was hit by a US Army Black Hawk helicopter as it was coming into land at Ronald Reagan National Airport. Three soldiers were inside the chopper, which was on a training flight at the time, a US official confirmed.
![[Illustration of a plane crash timeline showing the events leading up to and following a mid-air collision between an American Airlines plane and a US Army helicopter over the Potomac River.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/TOB-MAP-WASHINGTON-CRASH-v10.jpg?strip=all&w=638)
Horror CCTV from the Kennedy Center showed the moment the aircraft burst into flames after being hit in the air - before plunging into the Potomac River. Radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk show that the helicopter crew were aware that the twin-engine passenger plane was in the nearby vicinity.
![[Bright orange light in the night sky.]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/image_27900a.jpeg?strip=all&w=719)
