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31-01-2025
WASHINGTON: Officials believe that all passengers and crew onboard American Eagle Flight 5342, which collided midair Wednesday evening with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport, were killed, and are pivoting search-and-rescue teams to recovery operations. “At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident,” D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly said Thursday at a news conference, adding that rescue teams have recovered 27 bodies from the plane and one body from the helicopter.
The PSA Airlines-operated American Airlines aircraft was flying from Wichita to National Airport with 60 passengers and four crew members, and the helicopter was on a training flight with three service members on board.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) arrived at Reagan National Airport on Thursday morning to consult with officials about the crash investigation, canceling a news briefing he had planned for later in the day to talk about efforts to halt human trafficking, his office said.
Virginia state officials are cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board on the crash investigation, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said Thursday on X.
“Emergency personnel from across the region continue their recovery efforts this morning,” Youngkin wrote. “We are lifting-up in prayer the families of the passengers and crews.”
Youngkin said he was briefed Wednesday night by state police and emergency management officials and has been monitoring the situation.
While the cause of the collision between the American Airlines passenger plane and Army Black Hawk helicopter remains unknown, an aviation expert said that a breakdown in procedure was “almost certainly” behind it.
Guy Gratton, an associate professor of aviation and the environment at Britain’s Cranfield University, told The Washington Post that while he did not want to speculate, “it’s clear two aircraft were in the same place at the same time and they shouldn’t have been.”
The debris field from the plane crash has spread into neighboring National Harbor, acting Prince George’s County Executive Tara Jackson said in a post on X.
“We’re closing the plaza and piers at National Harbor today to further assist the search and recovery efforts,” Jackson wrote.
Shortly after reporters were addressed by officials in Washington DC, we’re now hearing from Wichita authorities.
The American Airlines flight that crashed took off from Wichita, Kansas.
You can follow along by pressing watch live at the top of the page and we’ll also bring you the key news lines here.
We have verified two pieces of audio from the control tower overseeing air traffic at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The timing of the audio – uploaded to a website which logs air traffic control communications matches the timing of the collision at about 01:48 GMT (20:48 ET local time).
In one clip you hear what appears to be an air traffic controller say: “PAT 2-5 (helicopter) CRJ [passenger aircraft] in sight… PAT 2-5 responding CRJ.”
This is followed by what appears to be the helicopter pilot saying: “The aircraft is in sight, requesting visual separation.”
About 15 second later in the clip you can hear what appears to be someone in the background say “ooh”.
In a separate recording from the control tower, you can hear additional dialogue in the moments before the crash. What appears to be a flight controller says: “PAT 2-5 CRJ in sight….PAT 2-5 pass behind CRJ?” (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
