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An Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter with the 12th Aviation Battalion out of Fort Belvoir collided with a civilian passenger plane carrying 64 people as it approached Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., Wednesday evening.
First responders do not expect that anyone survived the crash, Washington D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told reporters on Thursday. He added that the remains of 27 people aboard the passenger plane and one person aboard the helicopter have been recovered so far.
The Black Hawk helicopter had three crew members aboard and was conducting a training flight at the time of the incident, a source with knowledge of the matter told Task & Purpose.
Recovery efforts are currently underway active in the Potomac River. The plane, an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, had 60 passengers and four crew members. The crash happened just before 9 p.m. local time, with the plane, a Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, on its approach into the airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Our concern is for the passengers and crew on board the aircraft,” American Airline CEO Robert Isom said in a statement on Wednesday. “We are in contact with authorities and assisting with emergency response efforts.”
The U.S. Army confirmed the Black Hawk’s involvement in the collision, with Joint Task Force-National Capital Region adding that the helicopter flew out of nearby Fort Belvoir. Army aviation units in the area regularly fly on training missions around the Washington, D.C. airspace. It’s unclear if it took off from Fort Belvoir or from another location in the D.C. area.
“While performing a training mission a United States Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir, Va., collided in midair with an American Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet Flight 5342 last night at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport,” Ron McLendon, a spokesman for Joint Task Force – National Capital Region, said on Thursday. “The FAA, NTSB 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.”
Reagan National Airport is closed until Thursday morning, the FAA said.
Both the Army and Defense Department are investigating the collision, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X.
“Prayers for all impacted souls, and their families,” Hegseth wrote.
Both the passenger plane and Black Hawk helicopter were flying standard flight patterns prior to the collision, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters during a Thursday news conference.
“Obviously, it is not standard to have aircraft collide, let me be clear on that,” Duffy said. “But, again, I think whether it was air traffic control, whether it was military aircraft helicopters or the American [Airlines] flight, everything was standard in the lead up to the crash.”
The fuselages of both the passenger plane and Black Hawk helicopter have been located, Duffy said. The American Airlines plane is inverted, broken into three sections, and is in water that is about waist-deep, he said.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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