(Headline USA) Two former Fox News hosts—newly appointed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—faced the first tests of their mettle after an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington.
Three soldiers were onboard the UH-60 Blackhawk based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia while on a training flight, an Army official said.
Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center showed two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.
🚨 #BREAKING: The military Blackhawk that crashed into an American Airlines flight in Washington, DC was reportedly “FLYING DARK,” per ADSBexchange
The chopper was NOT broadcasting an ADSB signal at the time.
It has just been found submerged in the Potomac River, and first… pic.twitter.com/Ei74STsV1T
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 30, 2025
As of Thursday morning, at least 27 had been confirmed dead following a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River, but the precise number of victims was unclear as rescue crews hunted for any survivors.
“May God Bless their souls,” President Donald Trump said in a statement late Wednesday.
“Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders,” he added. “I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
There was no immediate word on the cause of the Wednesday collision, but all takeoffs and landings from the airport were halted as dive teams scoured the site and helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in a methodical search for bodies.
Images from the river showed boats around the partly submerged wing and what appeared to be the mangled wreckage of the plane’s fuselage.
#BREAKING at 1048 pm Eastern: NBC Washington's Mark Segraves, citing two sources, said the crash scene on the Potomac is closer toward the shore of Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling and the American Airlines plane "split in two and is in about 7 feet of water…[T]he helicopter is… pic.twitter.com/rBZ8m7I0hQ
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 30, 2025
“We are going to recover our fellow citizens,” District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a somber news conference at the airport in which she declined to say how many bodies had been recovered.
The regional flight was reportedly inbound from Kansas. Passengers included a group of figure skaters, their coaches and family members who were returning from a development camp that followed the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.
“When one person dies it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die it’s an unbearable sorrow,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said he expected that many people in Wichita would know people who were on the flight.
“I know that flight. I’ve flown it several times myself,” he said. “This is a very personal circumstance.”
Two of those coaches were identified by the Kremlin as Russian figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships and competed twice in the Olympics. The Skating Club of Boston lists them as coaches and their son, Maxim Naumov, is a competitive figure skater for the U.S.
U.S. figure skating championships in Wichita, Kansas just a few days ago.
Team USA figure skaters and coaches were reportedly on the flight from Kansas to D.C. which crashed pic.twitter.com/ZlZlBTWP1D
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 30, 2025
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair crash occurred before 9 p.m. in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.
Military aircraft frequently conduct training flights in and around the congested and heavily-restricted airspace around the nation’s capital for familiarization and continuity of government planning.
Investigators will try to piece together the aircrafts’ final moments before their collision, including contact with air-traffic controllers, as well as a loss of altitude by the passenger jet.
American Airlines Flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan National at an altitude of about 400 feet and a speed of about 140 miles per hour when it suffered a rapid loss of altitude over the Potomac River, according to data from its radio transponder. The Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet, manufactured in 2004, can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers.
A few minutes before landing, air-traffic controllers asked the arriving commercial jet if it could land on the shorter Runway 33 at Reagan National and the pilots said they were able. Controllers then cleared the plane to land on Runway 33. Flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.
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: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.” Seconds after that, the two aircraft collided.
The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the river.
Trump questioned the unusual circumstances, including the decisions made by the helicopter pilots and the air-traffic controllers in a post via Truth Social.
Donald Trump weighs in on the military helicopter and airplane crash, stating it was the "helicopter going straight at the airplane."
He questions why the helicopter didn’t move, noting the plane’s lights were blazing.
Trump also challenges the control tower, asking why they… pic.twitter.com/1Jr5fSQOlQ
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) January 30, 2025
The collision occurred on a warm winter evening in Washington, with temperatures registering as high as 60 degrees Fahrenheit, following a stretch days earlier of intense cold and ice.
On Wednesday, the Potomac River was 36 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The National Weather Service reported that wind gusts of up to 25 mph were possible in the area throughout the evening.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom expressed “deep sorrow” for the crash and said the company was focused on the needs of passengers, crew, first responders and families and loved ones of those involved.
Some 300 first responders were on scene. Inflatable rescue boats were launched into the Potomac River from a point along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport, and first responders set up light towers from the shore to illuminate the area near the collision site. At least a half-dozen boats were scanning the water using searchlights.
“It’s a highly complex operation,” said D.C. fire chief John Donnelly. “The conditions out there are extremely rough for the responders.”
Hegseth, sworn in days ago as defense secretary, posted on social media that an investigation has been “launched immediately” by the Army and the Defense Department.
Latest below. Absolutely tragic. Search and rescue efforts still ongoing. Prayers for all impacted souls, and their families.
Investigation launched immediately by Army & DoD. pic.twitter.com/WdUnYV4UJz
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) January 30, 2025
Duffy, just sworn in earlier this week, said at a somber news conference at the airport early Thursday that his agency would provide all possible resources to the investigation.
The last major fatal crash involving a U.S. commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. Everyone aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane was killed, including 45 passengers, 2 pilots and 2 flight attendants. Another person on the ground also died, bringing the total death toll to 50. An investigation determined that the captain accidentally caused the plane to stall as it approached the airport in Buffalo.
Reagan Airport will reopen at 11 a.m. Thursday, the FAA announced. It had previously said the airport would be closed until 5 a.m. Friday.
Located along the Potomac River, just southwest of the city, Reagan National is a popular choice because it’s much closer than the larger Dulles International Airport, which is deeper in Virginia.
Depending on the runway being used, flights into Reagan can offer passengers spectacular views of landmarks like the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall and the U.S. Capitol. It’s a postcard-worthy welcome for tourists visiting the city.
The collision recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on January 13, 1982, that killed 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
