"We don't believe there are any survivors": Military helicopter slams into passenger jet outside DC
The search for survivors of a Wednesday night plane crash outside Washington, DC, has turned into a recovery operation, with authorities saying that all 64 people believed on board the American Airlines flight from Kansas were killed just before landing.
Around 9 p.m. local time, video shows that a U.S. Army helicopter collided in midair with the full-capacity passenger jet as it descended in Arlington, Virginia. The plane subsequently crashed into the Potomac River, breaking into three parts. First responders, dealing with icy conditions and low visibility, have since recovered more than two dozen bodies, including one of the three military personnel believed to have been on board the Black Hawk helicopter.
It is the first fatal plane crash in the United States since 2009, when 50 people were killed in an incident near Buffalo, New York.
The plane, a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jet, had departed from Wichita, Kansas, earlier Wednesday. It was transporting 60 passengers and four employees, American Airlines said in a statement.
By Thursday morning, first responders had lost hope that they would pull anyone alive from the murky, frigid water.
'We are now at a point where we're switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation," DC Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly told reporters at a press briefing Thursday. "At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident."
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane, operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines, "collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport." The National Transportation Safety Board will be leading the investigation, the agency said.
An FAA spokesperson did not address Salon's question as to whether the agency currently has an acting director. Previous FAA Director Mike Whitaker resigned when President Donald Trump took office; his resignation came after Elon Musk last year called for him to step aside after he proposed fines of more than $630,000 on the latter's aviation company, SpaceX.
NTSB did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump, upon being sworn into office, signed an executive order requiring the FAA to end diversity initiatives and another imposing a freeze on federal spending, which Democrats criticized as potentially worsening a national shortage of air traffic controllers. The president also effectively dissolved the Aviation Security Advisory Committee at the Department of Homeland Security, saying in a statement that he was committed "to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security." The committee was created by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 Lockerbie bombing, per the Associated Press.
Trump addressed the crash in a post on Truth Social just after midnight Thursday, saying it appeared as if the tragedy could 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," he posted, asking "why didn't the helicopter go up or down, or turn" and "[w]hy didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane."
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was confirmed two days ago, echoed that sentiment Thursday morning, saying that the military helicopter "was aware that there was a plane in the area."
"We're going to wait for all the information to come in from this vantage point but to back up what the president said and what I've seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely," Duffy said at a press conference.
The helicopter was carrying three U.S. Army personnel. It is not known why it was in the plane's flight path, but the area, a short distance from the Pentagon, is heavily trafficked.
The crash is also being investigated by the Department of Defense, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was confirmed on a party-line vote last week. In a video statement Thursday, Hegseth said the helicopter involved in the incident was taking part in an "annual proficiency training flight."
Among those on board the flight were members of the U.S. Figure Skating team. "These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas," according to a statement. "We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Plane lands safely in Honolulu despite gear failure
HONOLULU (KHON2) — A Transair aircraft experienced a landing gear collapse while landing at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on Wednesday morning, according to state transportation officials. Traffic closures planned for King Kamehameha Day Parade The incident occurred around 9 a.m. when the Short SD3-60 aircraft landed on Runway 4R with five people on board. No injuries were a statement from the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT), Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting crews responded to the scene, and the aircraft is being removed from the runway. Flights have been redirected to Runway 8L, and there are no disruptions to airport operations. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rattlesnake bites teen on southern state fishing trip
Officials executed a dramatic rescue last week after a teenager on a fishing trip was bitten by a rattlesnake "deep in the woods" of the western North Carolina mountains. The State Emergency Operations Center dispatched a North Carolina National Guard Black Hawk helicopter to the scene in Avery County with rescue technicians from the Charlotte Fire Department. "The hiker was successfully rescued and was receiving medical treatment at the hospital," North Carolina Emergency Management said in a June 5 Facebook post. The snake bite victim, Zain Shah, thanked first responders in the comments section. I'm From Appalachia And My Christmas Visit After Hurricane Helene Revealed What Dc Really Thinks Of Us "Thank you all for rescuing me! I recognize the man in yellow on the far right from when he took me up on the cable to the helicopter. I cannot express my gratitude enough!" he wrote. Read On The Fox News App Shah's father, Inman Shah, also explained in the comments section that "[w]hat started as a fun end-of-high-school fishing trip" for his son, Zain, "and his buddy in the WNC mountains turned deadly when he was bitten by a timber rattlesnake deep in the woods." Retired Georgia News Anchor Falls Into Ravine, Rescued By Helicopter In Elaborate Rescue: Report "I'm beyond grateful for the incredible NCHART and Linville-Central Rescue teams, who got to them in the middle of nowhere and saved his life!" Inman Shah wrote. "He was air-lifted to and treated at Johnson City Medical Center, TN, and is now recovering at home. We are forever in your debt." Python Escapes North Carolina Woman's Car At Chili's The timber rattlesnake is a pit viper that is gray in color, sometimes with a pinkish hue, with black and brown diamond-like shapes across its back. It also has a stripe that runs down its back, which can be orange, yellow or pinkish in color, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo. North Carolina Man Sleeping In Tent After Hurricane Helene Had To Rebury Father's Casket On Property A timber rattlesnake will prop itself upright and make a rattling noise with its tail when threatened – a warning that it is about to strike. They range in size from about 2.5 to 5 feet on average. The pit vipers can be found across the eastern United States, with sightings ranging from Texas to Iowa to the Carolinas and north to Pennsylvania and New England, according to the National article source: Rattlesnake bites teen on southern state fishing trip
Miami Herald
5 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Could you land a plane in an emergency? 40% of young men say yes, poll finds
The next time you fly, take a look at your seatmates. There's a good chance that one of them believes they can successfully pilot the plane, according to new polling. In the latest Cygnal survey, 25% of respondents said they think they could safely land a large passenger plane if something happened to the pilot — a finding that may strike some as comforting, and others as concerning. However, the majority, 66%, said they do not think they could steer the aircraft to safety in this scenario. That said, responses varied significantly based on gender, age and partisan affiliation. In a sign of high-flying confidence, 36% of men believed they could land a large plane in an emergency, and 40% of men under age 55 said the same. By comparison, just 16% of women — and 23% of women under 55 — trusted themselves to land a large aircraft. When broken down by partisan affiliation, 30% of Republicans said they think they could touch down an aircraft without harm, while 20% of Democrats said the same. Independents fell in the middle, with 25% expressing confidence in themselves to land a plane. The poll sampled 1,500 Americans June 3-4 and has a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points. The findings are similar to those from a 2023 YouGov survey of 20,063 U.S. adults, which found 32% of respondents were very or somewhat confident they could 'safely land a passenger airplane in an emergency situation, relying only on the assistance of air traffic control.' Here, again, men were far more assured of their abilities than woman. Nearly half of men, 46%, said they were confident they could land the plane, while 20% of women said the same. Despite the widespread belief that untrained professionals can fly planes in an emergency, aviation experts have doubts. Writing in The Conversation, five aviation experts argued that flying large aircraft is much harder than steering small planes and that landing is one of the most difficult tasks to perform. 'Both takeoff and landing are far too quick, technical and concentration-intensive for an untrained person to pull off,' the authors wrote in 2023. 'They also require a range of skills that are only gained through extensive training, such as understanding the information presented on different gauges, and being able to coordinate one's hands and feet in a certain way.' Speaking to The Washington Post the same year, some pilots were more definitive in their assessment. 'There is a zero percent chance of someone pulling that off,' Patrick Smith, a commercial air pilot, told the outlet, referring to the possibility of an untrained individual landing a plane. 'Do people think they can perform transplant surgery? No. Then why do they think they can land a plane?' Echoing this sentiment, Brett Venhuizen, the chair of the aviation department at the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota, told the outlet, 'I think they would have a very difficult time.'
