Washington DC plane crash: What we know so far about the mid-air collision near Reagan Airport
Washington DC plane crash: What we know so far about the mid-air collision near Reagan Airport
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Questions remain over the mid-air collision between a jet, which was carrying 67 passengers, and a military helicopter. Law enforcement officials scrambled Wednesday night after a jet with 64 civilians collided with an Army helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington D.C.
A massive search-and-rescue operation for survivors, involving multiple agencies, was launched in the nearby Potomac River, where the temperature was 42 degrees Fahrenheit. President Donald Trump said he had been “fully briefed on this terrible accident" and, referring to the passengers, added: “May God Bless their souls.”.
![[Aircraft Down]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/30/03/APTOPIX_Aircraft_Down_52773.jpg)
While questions remain, including how the horrific incident could have occurred in the heavily monitored air space so close to the Pentagon, here’s what we know so far:. Reports of a crash outside the Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington D.C. emerged shortly after 9.30 p.m. ET on Wednesday night. Initial accounts suggested that a small aircraft had collided with a helicopter.
![[A search and rescue boat searches the waters of the Potomac River near the site of the crash after American Airlines flight 5342 collided with a helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/30/4/59/washington-plane-crash-1-4239oas5.jpeg)
All takeoffs and landings at the airport were halted as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors. Inflatable rescue boats were launched into the Potomac River from a point near the airport along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport.
Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with separate aircraft appearing to conjoin in a large fireball. The Federal Aviation Administration later confirmed that a commercial flight had collided with a helicopter that was later revealed to be a black hawk helicopter piloted by the Army.
