Sixty-seven people were killed Wednesday, January 29, after a passenger plane, on approach to Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC, collided with a US Army helicopter midair, sending both aircraft into the Potomac River below, officials said.
There were 64 people on board the plane and three soldiers in the Army helicopter.
“This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital and in our nation’s history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions,” President Donald Trump said in a news conference the next day. “As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly.”
The passenger plane was American Airlines Flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines, traveling from Wichita, Kansas, to Reagan National, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet was due to land at the airport Wednesday night when it collided midair with the US Army helicopter as it approached Runway 33, according to the FAA and defense officials.
The US Army Black Hawk helicopter was conducting a routine training for pilots who take part in “continuity of government” missions, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the collision. The crash is the deadliest aviation disaster in the United States since November 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight crashed in New York, killing all 260 people on board.
