A PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while it was nearing the runway at Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) around 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday. The plane, with 60 passengers and four crew members onboard, fell into the Potomac River near the airport after the crash.
All takeoffs and landings were subsequently halted at the airport for the remainder of the evening.
Authorities held a news conference later and informed that the airport would be closed until at least 11 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Mayor of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser said in a statement that both aircraft are in the water. There are three people in the military helicopter, she said.
There are no updates on any survivors as of now. However, authorities also did not provide a death toll from the accident.
President Donald Trump on Thursday termed the air accident near Washington DC involving an American Airlines AAL plane and another army helicopter on Wednesday night a "bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented."
“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. 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!!!,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that PSA was operating Flight 5342 for American Airlines, and it had departed from Wichita, Kansas. United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed that the helicopter involved in the accident was an Army UH-60 helicopter from Bravo Company, 12th aviation battalion out of Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir during a training flight. Hegseth added that both the Army and the Department of Defense have launched an investigation into the accident.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said in a statement that it is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the accident. Isom said that he himself is departing to Washington DC.
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