Sixty-seven people are dead after a regional jet collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday, Jan. 29, over Washington, D.C.
The crash involved a military-operated helicopter on a routine training mission and an American Airlines plane about to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport from Whichita, Kansas. This awful plane crash is said to be the nation’s first major commercial airline crash since 2009. After the mid-air collision, the aircraft went down into the frigid Potomac River, breaking into multiple pieces.
The plane, American Eagle Flight No. 5342, a regional jetliner, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members on a flight from Wichita, Kansas. There were three soldiers aboard the U.S. Army’s Sikorsky H-60, a Defense Department official told CBS News. A livestream camera at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., captured the moment of the collision. The remains of all 67 victims of the collision have been recovered. The National Transportation Safety Board reported on Feb. 8, that all “major pieces” of both the Bombardier and the Black Hawk helicopter had been recovered and taken to a “secure airport facility for further examination and documentation.” A lidar survey found multiple areas underwater which could still have additional aircraft debris. Over the course of 12 days, starting on Jan. 29, 2025, a total of 85 people have died in four major U.S. aviation incidents. The most recent crash was on Feb. 10. A plane veered off the runway and crashed into a parked plane at Scottsdale Airport in Arizona. One person was killed and four others were injured.
