BREAKING: DCA Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport helicopter crash: All takeoffs and landings halted
BREAKING: DCA Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport helicopter crash: All takeoffs and landings halted
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Dozens of people are feared to have been killed after a Blackhawk military helicopter crashed with an American Airlines passenger plane above a major airport last night. All runways have been shutdown and all departures and landings halted at the DCA Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, near Washington DC. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has confirmed American Airlines Flight 5342 operated by PSA Airlines collided mid-air with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter on approach to the runway of the Reagan National Airport.
Donald Trump has suggested the accident "should have been prevented". He wrote: "Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!".
A US Army official has confirmed to reporters that an Army Blackhawk was involved in the crash. An official said it was on a training flight. It has occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, around three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.
It is reported 18 bodies have been pulled from the water so far and the death toll is all but certain to rise. Earlier US Senator Ted Cruz has said: "While we don’t yet know how many on board were lost, we know there are fatalities." It is uncertain if there have been any survivors.
NBC is reporting an estimated 60 passengers and four crew were on the American Airlines passenger plane. They report it is split in two and is in about seven feet of water while the helicopter is upside down and not stable, bobbing up and down in the water where divers have not yet been able to make entry to it.
