All 67 aboard a commercial plane and an Army helicopter are feared dead after a midair collision late Wednesday evening near Reagan Washington National Airport, the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster since November 2001.
“At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident,” D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services chief John Donnelly told reporters Thursday morning, adding, “We are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.”
The American Eagle flight, operated by PSA Airlines, was en route from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., carrying 60 passengers and 4 crew members. The Black Hawk helicopter had flown out of Davidson Air Base at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and was on a training mission with three soldiers on board. Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River following the midair collision, officials said.
First responders have recovered 27 bodies from the American Airlines passenger jet and one from the military helicopter as of Thursday morning. Frigid temperatures and strong currents in the Potomac River are hampering recovery efforts.
Newly confirmed transportation secretary Sean Duffy called the collision “absolutely” preventable, telling reporters that “everything was standard in the lead-up to the crash.” Both the helicopter and civilian jet were following a “standard pattern” and maintaining “standard communication” with air traffic control, Duffy said. The military helicopter had a “fairly experienced” crew, according to a senior defense official.
“Certainly, I speak for the people of Washington, 700,000 of us, who are extremely sorry for the families who are experiencing loss tonight,” D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser said.
Reagan National Airport is set to reopen at 11 a.m. Thursday, as recovery crews continue retrieving bodies and aircraft wreckage from the Potomac River. The Wednesday night collision marks the deadliest aviation disaster in the United States since November 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight crashed in New York, killing all 260 on board.
