Plane crashes in D.C.’s Potomac River with 64 on board after midair collision with Army helicopter — live updates

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both aircraft were on their respective flight paths before the incident, and noted that a crowded airspace is not uncommon in the Washington, D.C., area. 

“Prior to the collision, the flight paths that were being flown, from the military and from American, that was not unusual for what happens in the D.C. airspace,” Duffy said. 

He said that he would not go into too much detail, since the investigation is still ongoing, but said that military helicopters often fly over the river and noted that “everything was standard in the lead-up to the crash.” 

“This happens every day,” Duffy said. “Something went wrong here.” 

He also said investigators have “early indicators of what happened here.” 

District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly said at a briefing Thursday morning that about 300 responders reacted to the crash, battling frigid weather and heavy wind. He said that the recovery operation will involve “a lot of touch and feel” as responders search the crash area. 

“The crash area is a little spread out, so we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Donnelly said. He said the high winds overnight caused some debris to move downstream. 

District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services 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.

Sixty-seven people were on the two aircraft in all — 64 aboard the plane and three on the helicopter.

“We don’t believe there are any survivors,” he said, adding that the efforts at the scene have switched from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.

An Army spokesperson issued a statement Thursday morning confirming the helicopter involved in the collision was on a training mission and said, “The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and the United States Army will investigate. The NTSB will lead the investigation.

“We are working with local officials and will provide any additional information once it becomes available.”

A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CBS News at least 30 bodies had been recovered by 6:45 a.m. ET.

The source added: “Investigators are focusing on why the helicopter was flying at that location and altitude at that moment.”

Search efforts continued through the night and into Thursday morning.

A man who says his wife was on the ill-fated American Eagle flight told CBS Washington, D.C. affiliate WUSA-TV he was texting with her while he waited for the plane to land but became concerned when his messages stopped going through.

Hamaad Raza says the last text he received from her was, “We’re landing in 20.”

Raza said he tried to reply but none of his messages were delivered.

“That’s when I realized something might be up,” Raza said.  

Raza said his wife, 26, had traveled to Wichita for work and that she always had a fear of flying. They’ve been married slightly more than two years. 

“I’m just praying that somebody’s pulling her out of the river as we speak,” Raza said. “That’s all I can pray for.”

The county executive of Erie County, N.Y., which includes Buffalo, told CBS Wichita affiliate KWCH-TV he happened to be waiting to catch a flight back to Buffalo when he saw through a terminal window that some emergency vehicles were moving around outside.

“It didn’t seem anything too strange at that point,” Mark Poloncarz said. “And then about a minute or so after that, there was an announcement of a full-ground stop, that there would be no flights landing and no flights taking off. And then we started to see a lot of emergency vehicles heading towards the river.”

Poloncarz and others soon saw reports on social media of a plane crash even as rumors began to swirl.

“When flights get delayed, people get aggravated and upset. But there was no one getting aggravated or upset because I think we all realized pretty quickly the magnitude of what occurred,” Poloncarz said. “The terminal grew pretty quiet. There was a lot of sadness.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who’s only had the job since Saturday, said in a post on X that the collision between the Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Eagle jet was “absolutely tragic.”

“Search and rescue efforts still ongoing,” he said, adding, “Prayers for all impacted souls, and their families.”

U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement overnight that “several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342.

” … 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.

“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts.”

Earlier, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, citing a source, said Russian figure skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on the plane, according to Reuters, which said they “had reportedly lived in the United States since at least 1998, where they trained young ice skaters.”

CBS News senior transportation and national correspondent Kris Van Cleave says the American Eagle jet was only “a few hundred feet off the ground” when it collided with the Army helicopter.

“It was very close to touching down,” Van Cleave said. “It was in the final steps of its final approach. … It is possible, depending upon where the two aircraft struck, that the pilots of the airplane never even saw the helicopter coming.”

CBS News transportation safety expert and analyst Robert Sumwalt agreed. Sumwalt, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said that, in radar data, it appeared the plane “was making a left turn to line up with runway 33. It was below 300 feet when all of a sudden the data from the radar feed just quit. So that tells us that this happened at a relatively low altitude. 

” … (The plane’s pilots) would have already been making the turn to line up with that runway. They’re focused on the runway. I was an airline pilot for 24 years. I’ve landed on that runway many times. You’re in the turn. You’re looking to line up with that runway.”

Turning his head both ways, Sumwalt said, “You’re not looking out here for other traffic at that point. So I think that really is where their focus was. Now the real question is where was the focus of that helicopter crew?”

As the search for bodies and any possible survivors continued overnight, human remains and debris were washing up on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, reports CBS News senior transportation and national correspondent Kris Van Cleave.

He said the plane broke into multiple pieces that are sitting in 5-8 feet of water. 

A dive team found what appears to be one of the plane’s two data recorders — the so-called black boxes. It wasn’t clear whether it was the cockpit voice recorder or the one that stores data about the plane’s performance.

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 adds. 

Kansas’ two U.S. senators were among the officials who briefed media members at Reagan National Airport about the crash early Thursday.

Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican who chairs the aviation subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said he’s “praying that our responders are safe and that the folks who were on that flight are recovered.”

Fellow Sen. Roger Marshall, also a Republican, said, “When one person dies, it’s a tragedy but when many, many, many people die, it’s an unbearable sorrow. It’s a heartbreak beyond major. … I want the folks back home to just know that we care, that we love them and that this is a time when we will have to join arms together and help each other out.

“We’ve been through things like this before — through tornadoes and floods and things, but it’s really hard when you lose probably over 60 Kansans simultaneously. I don’t wan to forget the pilots and the flight attendants who were doing their jobs, and the military personnel we lost. All those lives are so valuable,   and it is such a tragedy that we lost them.” 

The Reuters news agency reported that Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, citing a source, said Russian figure skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on the plane.

They won the world championship in pairs figure skating in 1994, Reuters noted, and got married the following year.

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 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. 

District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly told reporters in a news briefing early Thursday that state and federal agencies were taking part in search and rescue operations, operating under a unified command.

“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.  

He later noted the water is dark, “murky,” about 8 feet deep, and contains “pieces of ice.”

“It’s just dangerous and hard to work in. And because there’s not a lot of lights, you’re out there searching every square inch of space.”  

Reagan National Airport will remain closed until at least 11 a.m. Thursday, Jack Potter, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, told reporters early Thursday morning.

“That’s when the first flights will take off,” Potter said, later adding that the time was “fluid” and could change. 

Flights at Reagan National have been grounded since the collision occurred at about 9 p.m. Eastern Time Wednesday. 

Potter said flights at Dulles International Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Airport were not being impacted by the incident. 

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said in a video statement, “First and most importantly, I’d like to express our deep sorrows about these events.”

“This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines, and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, partners, first responders, along with their families and loved ones,” Isom said. 

Isom said American Airlines is cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation and that he and members of their “go-team” would be heading to Washington, D.C., shortly.

“We understand and appreciate the people are eager for information, please know that we will continue to share accurate and timely information as soon as we can, but anything we must report, must be accurate,” he said, adding that, “We owe that to everyone involved.”

Isom said the airline has set up a helpline and those who had friends or loved ones on the flight can call 1-800-679-8215.

A law enforcement source told CBS News at least 19 bodies had been recovered as of 2:50 a.m. ET. A police official at the scene told CBS News that no survivors had been found as of 11:30 p.m. ET.

Following the crash, all flights were grounded Wednesday night at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), which is located in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. An announcement at the airport said it will not reopen before 5 a.m. Thursday. All passengers with grounded flights have been directed to rebook.

The White House released a statement from President Trump Wednesday night.

He said: “I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport. May God Bless their souls. 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.”

Later he posted on Truth Social: “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. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”

The Army said the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter involved in the crash was based out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

The helicopter was on a training flight at the time of the accident, a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force-National Capitol Region, Heather Chairez, told CBS News. Chairez said the chopper belonged to the B Company, 12th Aviation Battalion.

A Defense Department official told CBS News that three soldiers were aboard the helicopter, with no senior officials on board.   

Search and rescue efforts were underway in the Potomac River following the crash. A police official at the scene told CBS News there were three debris fields in the water.

“The accident happened in the river,” a dispatcher said in scanner audio obtained from air traffic control. “Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river.” 

American Eagle flight 5342, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers Wednesday night while trying to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport outside Washington, D.C. 

“A PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 p.m. local time,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. 

The plane, operated by American Airlines, had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, the FAA said.