To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. The harrowing 30 seconds before a Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines plane crashed in Washington DC was captured on radar. Both aircraft collided near Ronald Reagan National Airport before crashing into the Potomac River at 8.47pm local time (1.47am GMT) on Wednesday.

The Bombardier CRJ7000 plane, which was coming into land, split in three with 64 people on board when it was struck by the Sikorsky H-40 helicopter. The state’s emergency chief John Donnelly said in a press conference on Thursday that it’s unlikely there are any survivors. Chilling air traffic control commentary, which can be heard in the radar video above, says ‘did you see that?’ at the moment of impact.

Follow the latest updates on the Washington plane crash on Metro’s live blog. Here’s what we know about the crash so far. The American Airlines flight AA342, operated by PSA, was travelling from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington DC. It was carrying 60 passengers and four crew. The US military H60 Black Hawk helicopter based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, had three people on board. When making its final approach for runway 33 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the two aircraft crashed mid-air at an altitude of about 300 feet, according to Flightradar24.

The authorities said they don’t ‘believe there are any survivors from this accident.’. At least 28 bodies have reportedly been recovered so far, making it the deadlines US air disaster in almost 24 years. The search is focusing on the Potomac River – a 400-mile waterway that has an average depth of 24 feet. Ronald Reagan National Airport is at the doorstep of the White House – less than four miles south of the Capitol.

The collision into the freezing water reportedly happened at about 8.47pm local time. To make matters worse for rescuers, temperatures were set to drop below freezing by 6am local time today along with wind gusts. The cause of the mid-air crash has not been confirmed yet, but the black box of the passenger jet is expected to reveal more of what happened inside the aircraft in the moments leading up to the crash.

But an air traffic control recording has now revealed there was no response from the helicopter to warnings from the ATC tower, asking ‘PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight’ less than 30 seconds before the crash. The helicopter was not showing its ADS-B data, according to Flightradar24. The broadcast system transmits aircraft position, altitude, identity and other information automatically. Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has launched its investigation.

An eyewitness said he saw a ‘stream of sparks’ when the aircraft smashednear the airport. Ari Schulman told CNN he was driving near the George Washington Parkway when he saw what happened. He said: ‘Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine. Normal. It was right about to head over land, maybe 120 feet above the water. It looked like a fairly small end but normal sized passenger jet.’. However, just seconds later the plane was ‘banked all the way to the right’ and beyond a 90-degree angle,’ he said.

He continued: ‘I could see the underside of it. It was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it.’. ‘I didn’t see any helicopter. It’s a very, very dark night out tonight. So anything that’s not illuminated, you can’t really see. So I didn’t see the other aircraft, but I saw the plane banking at an angle that a plane shouldn’t bank. And I saw sparks flying.’.

American Airlines said earlier it is ‘aware’ of one of its planes being involved in ‘an incident,’ CNN reports. US President Donald Trump has said it looks like the crash ‘should have been prevented.’. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump questioned why the air control tower didn’t take action. He wrote: ‘The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn.

‘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!!!’. Ronald Reagan National Airport has been shut and is expected to remain closed until at least 11am local time today (4pm GMT). The busy airport’s schedule has been changed and flights have been diverted to other airports.

At the time of the crash, there were around 19 planes in the air which were all diverted to Dulles International Airport. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page. Arrow MORE: Countdown to disaster – How the Washington plane crash unfolded over eight minutes. Arrow MORE: Donald Trump fuels conspiracy theories over Washington plane crash.