A jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., sending the two aircraft plummeting into the Potomac River and killing everyone on board.
The collision occurred at around 9 p.m. Wednesday in one of the world’s most tightly controlled airspaces, just over 3 miles (5 kilometers) south of the White House and U.S. Capitol. A search-and-rescue effort launched overnight turned into a recovery operation by mid-Thursday morning. The cause was not immediately clear.
Here are some things to know about the collision:
The crash
The collision involved a regional jet out of Wichita, Kansas, that was preparing to land and a military helicopter carrying three soldiers that was on a training exercise, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Skies were clear at the time.
A few minutes before the jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could do so on a shorter runway, and the pilots agreed. Controllers cleared the jet to land and flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.
Less than 30 seconds before the collision, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had the plane in sight. The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later, saying “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ” — apparently telling the copter to wait for the Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet to pass. There was no reply, and the aircraft collided seconds later.
The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet (732 meters) short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the Potomac. The body of the plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water, officials said.
The helicopter’s wreckage was also found in the river.
NTSB officials said they were working to recover the data recording equipment from both aircraft.
The investigation and questions
Federal investigators will try to piece together the moments before the collision, including any communication between the two aircraft and air traffic controllers, as well as other pilot actions and the altitude of both aircraft.
Air traffic control staffing was “not normal” at the time of the crash, according to an FAA report obtained by The Associated Press. One air traffic controller was doing work normally assigned to two people in the tower at Reagan Airport when the collision happened, the report said.
President Donald Trump, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Secretary of the Army nominee Daniel Driscoll said it appeared that the crash could have been avoided.
At a news conference, Trump — without evidence — cast blame on the helicopter pilots and baselessly alleged that diversity initiatives had undermined air safety.
Later Thursday, Trump signed a presidential memorandum on aviation safety that he said will undo “damage” done to related federal agencies by the Biden administration. Trump again criticized policies meant to promote diversity and inclusion — drawing criticism from Black lawmakers.
The victims
It was the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly 24 years. At least 28 bodies have been pulled from the icy waters, including the bodies of the three soldiers who were on the helicopter.
Among the passengers were members of the Skating Club of Boston who were returning from a development camp that followed the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.
They included teenage figure skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, the teens’ mothers and two highly regarded Russian-born coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won a 1994 world championship in pairs skating. Other Russians were also on the jet, according to the Kremlin.
Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation, said the helicopter crew was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying that occurs daily around Washington.
The airport
Located along the Potomac just southwest of Washington, Reagan Airport is a popular choice because it’s much closer to the city than the larger Dulles International Airport. It reopened Thursday morning after all takeoffs and landings were halted.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a news conference that prior to the collision, the plane and helicopter flight paths “were not unusual for what happens in the D.C. airspace.”
“I would just say that everyone who flies in American skies expects that we fly safely,” he said. “That when you depart an airport, you get to your destination. That didn’t happen last night, and I know that President Trump, his administration, the FAA, the DOT, we will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public.”
Federal authorities and aviation experts have expressed concerns about an increase in close calls between planes. At Reagan in May, an American Airlines plane rolling down the runway canceled its takeoff to avoid colliding with another plane that was landing on an intersecting runway. It was the second close call at the airport in six weeks.
The aircraft
The helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, according to the Army.
The plane was a Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet and was manufactured in 2004. It can carry up to 70 passengers.
History of fatal aircraft crashes
Fatal crashes of commercial aircraft in the U.S. are rare. The last major crash was in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. All 45 passengers and the four crew members were killed when the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane crashed into a house. One person on the ground was also killed.
In November 2001, an American Airlines flight crashed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard.
The collision Wednesday recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on January 13, 1982, killing 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.
