What we know about the American Airlines plane and Army helicopter crash over D.C.'s Potomac River

CBS News

31-01-2025

A passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter collided in midair Wednesday and crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. President Trump confirmed Thursday that there were no survivors. Many of the victims have yet to be publicly identified.
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.
At least 40 bodies had been recovered as of Thursday evening, a law enforcement source told CBS News.
District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly earlier said that efforts at the scene had switched from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.
Here's what we know so far about the crash:
What happened?
American Eagle Flight No. 5342, which was operated by PSA Airlines, collided midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter at around 9 p.m. Wednesday while approaching a runway at Reagan National Airport, the FAA said. The plane had taken off from Wichita, Kansas.
American Eagle and PSA Airlines are subsidiaries of American Airlines.
The helicopter involved in the collision was on a training flight and had belonged to B Company, 12th Aviation Battalion out of Fort Belvoir in Virginia, Joint Task Force-National Capitol Region media chief Heather Chairez told CBS News.
A livestream camera at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., captured the moment of the collision. The video, which has been verified by CBS News, shows an explosion in the area of the Potomac River at 8:47 p.m. Eastern.
What we know about the the search operation
D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told reporters in a news briefing Thursday morning that 27 bodies had been recovered from the plane and one from the helicopter.
He said, "We don't believe there are any survivors," adding that the efforts at the scene have switched from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.
"It's a highly complex operation, the conditions out there are extremely rough for the responders. It's cold. They're dealing with relatively windy conditions," Donnelly said.
CBS News senior transportation and national correspondent Kris Van Cleave reported that human remains and debris were washing up on the Virginia side of the Potomac River.
He said the plane broke into multiple pieces that were sitting in 5-8 feet of water.
The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, commonly known as black boxes, have been recovered from the crashed plane, the NTSB confirmed. They will be analyzed at the NTSB lab, which is located about a mile from the crash site.
Divers have had some access to the aircraft's cabin. Luggage is among items divers have recovered.
The helicopter is upside down but appears to be mostly intact, Van Cleave added.
What we know about the plane crash victims
Top figure skaters from Russia and the United States — including 6 people with ties to the Skating Club of Boston — were among the victims. Athletes Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, their mothers Jin Han and Christine Lane, and skating coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were all on board the flight, said Doug Zeghibe, the skating club's CEO and executive director. They were returning home from the National Development Camp, which was held in connection with the recent U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.
Spencer Lane's father, Rhode Island resident Douglas Lane, told CBS affiliate WPRI his 16-year-old son was a "force of nature" who picked up figure skating just three years ago and progressed rapidly. Douglas Lane described his wife, Christine, as a caring and creative person who excelled in graphic design, photography and quilting.
Naumov and Shishkova, a couple, are Russian-born figure skaters who won the 1994 World Figure Skating Championship and had been coaching at the club. They shared a son, Maxim Naumov, who is a competitive skater on Team USA. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed earlier that Naumov and Shishkova were on the flight along with other Russian nationals.
Another victim in the crash, Asra Hussain Raza, had recently relocated to Washington, D.C., for a consulting position and was traveling home from a work trip when the collision occurred, her father-in-law, Hashim Raza, told CBS News. The 26-year-old was a graduate of the University of Indiana and Columbia University, her father-in-law said.
Four members of a Maryland-based labor union, the Steamfitters United Association Local 602, were also on the flight, union leaders said in a social media post Thursday. The union represents heating, air conditioning, refrigeration and process piping industries in the D.C. Metro area.
The crew chief of the helicopter was identified as 29-year-old Ryan O'Hara, CBS News learned Thursday. O'Hara was a husband and father to a 1-year-old son, his local Reserve Officers' Training Corps program said in a social media post about his death.
Politicians react to the crash
President Trump addressed the crash during a briefing at the White House Thursday morning, where he confirmed that there were no survivors.
"I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation," Mr. Trump said.
He also criticized the Biden administration and attacked diversity initiatives but offered no evidence linking the former president's policies to the crash.
Mr. Trump, who claimed that he had increased standards for those who work within the aviation industry, announced he'd appointed Christopher Rocheleau as acting commissioner of the FAA. Mr. Trump said the investigation into the collision is ongoing and "we have some pretty good ideas" about what caused it.
In an earlier statement, the president said, "Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise."
And in a Truth Social post, he questioned what led up to the crash, writing, "This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!"
Newly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media that the Pentagon was actively monitoring the situation and "poised to assist if needed."
Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall said in a statement, "Tonight, we received devastating news of what can only be described as nothing short of a nightmare ... My prayer is that God wraps his arms around each and every victim, and that he continues to be with their families."
Alexandria, Virginia, Mayor Alyia Gaskins said on social media, "Earlier this evening, we were devastated to learn of a tragic aviation incident near DCA. Our prayers are with everyone affected. Our fire, police, and emergency personnel are assisting in the regional response." Alexandria is just south of Reagan Washington National Airport.
Sen. Tim Kaine, of Virginia, acknowledged "there's a lot of questions" about the deadly collision in its aftermath.
"You can't tell a lot from video footage taken at night, but the footage raises a lot of questions about how this happened," Kaine told "CBS Mornings" Thursday.
The first major U.S. commercial crash in almost 16 years
The last major U.S. commercial air crash occurred in February 2009 when a Continental Airlines flight out of Newark, New Jersey, operated by Colgan Air crashed into a house as it was approaching the airport in Buffalo, New York. That plane was a Bombardier Q400. Forty-nine people died in the tragedy. Continental merged with United Airlines in 2010.
The last major American Airlines crash occurred in November 2001 near John F. Kennedy International Airport. American Airlines Flight No. 587, an Airbus A300, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 265 people. It was bound for Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The plane crashed in the Belle Harbor area of the Rockaways in the New York City borough of Queens.