3 Army Soldiers Feared Dead in Tragic Collision with Passenger Plane Near DC Airport

Yahoo

30-01-2025

This is a developing story and will be updated.
Three unidentified Army soldiers have likely died after their Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger flight over Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night during an annual training exercise, according to the Pentagon.
The UH-60 helicopter was from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Heather Chairez, a Joint Task Force North-National Capital Region spokesperson, told Military.com. It collided with American Eagle Flight 5342, which was en route from Wichita, Kansas, to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 p.m. and had 60 passengers and four crew members on board.
Rescue efforts began immediately with first responders and the Coast Guard. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told reporters Thursday morning that "at this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident."
Read Next: VA Says 44 Programs Will Continue After Review Required by Trump Federal Funding Freeze
Wednesday's crash between the passenger flight and the Army helicopter marks the first major U.S. commercial aircraft crash in nearly 16 years. Deadly training crashes stateside with the UH-60 Black Hawk have happened several times in recent years, including two incidents in 2023 alone that led to 11 deaths.
The 12th Aviation Battalion paused flights in the wake of the deadly incident.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a recorded statement Thursday morning that next-of-kin notifications for the soldiers aboard the helicopter were still ongoing. They were doing mandatory training at the time of the incident.
"It was a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation," Hegseth said. "They did have night vision goggles."
Hegseth said that the 12th Aviation Battalion is taking a "48-hour operational pause on contingency missions" as officials probe the circumstances behind the crash.
It's unclear whether the Department of Defense will order any service- or military-wide flying pauses for the Black Hawk helicopter following the tragedy.
Military.com reported that the Army temporarily grounded all its aircraft following a spate of deadly crashes in 2023. In March of that year, two Black Hawk helicopters collided in Kentucky, claiming the lives of nine soldiers with the 101st Airborne. That same year, in February, two Tennessee National Guardsmen died in a Black Hawk crash in Alabama.
A Black Hawk from the 12th Aviation Battalion, the same unit in Wednesday's collision, was involved in an April 2017 crash that claimed the lives of one soldier and injured two others, Military.com reported at the time. The helicopter crashed on the grounds of a golf course in Leonardtown, Maryland.
Donnelly told reporters Thursday morning that 27 bodies had been recovered from the airplane and one from the helicopter.
Related: Army Grounds All Aircraft Following 2 Deadly Helicopter Crashes