The midair collision in Washington, D.C.: What we know
An American Airlines regional jet carrying 64 passengers and crew collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River around 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday, according to…

An American Airlines regional jet carrying 64 passengers and crew collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River around 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
The wire service reports that members of the U.S. and Russian figure skating community were among the passengers on the airliner.
The skaters were returning to D.C. from an event in Wichita, Kansas.
Washington, D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly said he believes all 64 airline passengers and the three crew of the Blackhawk helicopter are dead, according to the Associated Press (AP). He said Thursday morning that the 300 emergency responders, who have been working in frigid and icy conditions, have switched from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.
So far, the emergency team has collected the remains of 27 people from the American Airlines jet and one body from the U.S. Army helicopter.
“We will continue to work to find all the bodies and collect them and reunite them with their loved ones,” Donnelly told reporters.
A bipartisan group of federal legislators has cautioned against jumping to conclusions and instead asked people to focus on the victims of the tragedy.
“We are continuing to monitor this evening’s accident at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and we are in contact with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board,” said a joint statement of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves, R-Missouri, who was joined by his Democrat colleagues. “As we await more information from the ongoing response, our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, and their families, and the first responders on the scene.”
The newly minted head of the Department of Transportation, Secretary Sean Duffy, said he agreed with President Trump’s suggestion earlier that the midair collision was preventable.
“To back up what the president said, from what I’ve seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely,” Duffy told the press in a briefing carried by the AP.
Previously, Trump had signed an executive order that requires the Federal Aviation Administration to hire more qualified air-traffic controllers and end all diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in hiring and promotion at the agency.
“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,” the president said on Truth Social about the accident. “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!!!.”
Videos posted on X of the midair collision show several jets in the vicinity just prior to the accident.
A commercial pilot who posted one video said the cause of the crash was most likely human error from the helicopter pilot who misidentified which commercial jet was in his flight path.
Just moments before the collision, air traffic control asked whether the helicopter pilot saw the jet in his path.
The Trump administration seems intent on getting as many officials as possible front-facing on the tragedy, marking a contrast with the previous administration, which had been criticized, even by allies, for hiding from the press.
In addition to comments from Trump and Transportation chief Duffy, newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted a statement via the Department of Defense’s X account addressing the tragedy.
Hegseth said the military unit involved was Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort. Belvoir, but identification of military members is waiting on the notification of next of kin.
Hegseth said the flight was an annual proficiency training flight. He said the flight was a “fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation.”
Trump’s National Security advisor, Mike Waltz, also weighed in, sending a senior official from his staff to the accident command center to assure “state, local and federal resources are all integrated and are coordinating and doing the best we can to recover this site,” reported the Daily Caller.
What is known is that the helicopter was flying without the ADS-B surveillance system that electronically notifies other aircraft of its location. But Geoffrey Ingersoll, editor-in-chief at Daily Caller and a former Marine with experience reporting on defense for military trade publications, said the practice is “routine” for military aircraft.
“Political points are the ugliest reaction to these events,” writes Ingersoll, agreeing with the statement by Missouri’s Graves. “They are the lowest form of thought. First, who was affected? Second, how did this happen and how can we prevent it from happening again? That’s all that matters.”