How did Washington DC plane crash unfold? A visual guide
How did Washington DC plane crash unfold? A visual guide
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More than 60 people are believed to have died after an American Airlines regional passenger jet collided with a US army helicopter. An American Airlines jet with 60 passengers and four crew members onboard collided with an army helicopter carrying three soldiers while landing at Reagan National airport in Washington DC on Wednesday evening.
![[File photo of a CRJ700]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a4351fa0ed0ab16852c8ef92898b0705247c7ad1/0_981_4901_1358/master/4901.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Footage from a security camera at the airport shows the moment of the collision. Both aircraft fell into the Potomac River. Emergency responders said they did not believe there were any survivors. American Eagle Flight 5342 was operated by PSA Airlines, an Ohio-based regional subsidiary of American Airlines. The plane was a CRJ700, the airline said, from a line of regional jets made by Canada’s Bombardier, later sold to Mitsubishi.
![[File photo of a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0dc137b6cf4d668759c2de3f92324385683b46fe/0_451_3426_1453/master/3426.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
It was flying from Wichita, Kansas, and its passengers included ice skaters, family and coaches returning from events in the city. The helicopter was a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk. It had been on a military training flight and was operating out of Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, south of Washington DC.
A few minutes before the jet was due to land, air traffic controllers asked the pilots if they could land on a shorter runway than the north-south runway it was originally heading for, and the pilots agreed. Controllers cleared the jet to land and the plane adjusted its approach to the new runway, as seen in this view:.
Less than 30 seconds before 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 helicopter moments later, calling on its pilot to “pass behind” the jet. There was no reply. Seconds after that, the two aircraft collided.
