The search for survivors of a Wednesday night plane crash outside Washington, DC, has turned into a recovery operation, with authorities saying that all 64 people believed on board the American Airlines flight from Kansas were killed just before landing.
Around 9 p.m. local time, video shows that a U.S. Army helicopter collided in midair with the full-capacity passenger jet as it descended in Arlington, Virginia. The plane subsequently crashed into the Potomac River, breaking into three parts. First responders, dealing with icy conditions and low visibility, have since recovered more than two dozen bodies, including one of the three military personnel believed to have been on board the Black Hawk helicopter.
It is the first fatal plane crash in the United States since 2009, when 50 people were killed in an incident near Buffalo, New York.
The plane, a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jet, had departed from Wichita, Kansas, earlier Wednesday. It was transporting 60 passengers and four employees, American Airlines said in a statement.
By Thursday morning, first responders had lost hope that they would pull anyone alive from the murky, frigid water.
“We are now at a point where we’re switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation," DC Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly told reporters at a press briefing Thursday. "At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident."
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane, operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines, "collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport." The National Transportation Safety Board will be leading the investigation, the agency said.
An FAA spokesperson did not address Salon's question as to whether the agency currently has an acting director. Previous FAA Director Mike Whitaker resigned when President Donald Trump took office; his resignation came after Elon Musk last year called for him to step aside after he proposed fines of more than $630,000 on the latter's aviation company, SpaceX.
NTSB did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump, upon being sworn into office, signed an executive order requiring the FAA to end diversity initiatives and another imposing a freeze on federal spending, which Democrats criticized as potentially worsening a national shortage of air traffic controllers. The president also effectively dissolved the Aviation Security Advisory Committee at the Department of Homeland Security, saying in a statement that he was committed "to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security." The committee was created by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 Lockerbie bombing, per the Associated Press.
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Trump addressed the crash in a post on Truth Social just after midnight Thursday, saying it appeared as if the tragedy could have been prevented. "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," he posted, asking "why didn't the helicopter go up or down, or turn" and "[w]hy didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane."
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was confirmed two days ago, echoed that sentiment Thursday morning, saying that the military helicopter "was aware that there was a plane in the area."
"We’re going to wait for all the information to come in from this vantage point but to back up what the president said and what I’ve seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely," Duffy said at a press conference.
The helicopter was carrying three U.S. Army personnel. It is not known why it was in the plane's flight path, but the area, a short distance from the Pentagon, is heavily trafficked.
The crash is also being investigated by the Department of Defense, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was confirmed on a party-line vote last week. In a video statement Thursday, Hegseth said the helicopter involved in the incident was taking part in an "annual proficiency training flight."
Among those on board the flight were members of the U.S. Figure Skating team. "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," according to a statement. "We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts."
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