A jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with a US Army helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC Both aircraft fell into the Potomac River, and no one survived.
The collision took place around 9 pm (local time) on Wednesday, in an area with restricted airspace about three miles from the White House and US Capitol. By Thursday morning, the search-and-rescue operation had shifted to a recovery effort. The cause of the crash is still unknown.

Flight black box recovered

Officials have retrieved the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, commonly known as black boxes, from the American Airlines plane, CBS News said.
These recorders could provide insights into what happened during the flight. According to CBS, the National Transportation Safety Board will analyze them at a lab near the crash site.

Details of the Crash

The US Federal Aviation Administration reported that the crash involved a regional jet from Wichita, Kansas, preparing to land, and a military helicopter carrying three soldiers on a training exercise. Weather conditions were clear.
As the jet neared the airport, air traffic controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could land on a shorter runway, and the pilots agreed. The plane adjusted its approach, and controllers cleared it to land.
Less than 30 seconds before impact, a controller asked the helicopter crew if they could see the plane. Moments later, another message instructed the helicopter to let the jet pass. There was no response before the aircraft collided.
Flight tracking data indicated that the jet’s transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the runway, roughly above the middle of the Potomac River. Officials found the jet upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water. The helicopter’s wreckage was also recovered from the river.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are working to retrieve data recording devices from both aircraft.

Cause and concerns

US Federal investigators will examine communications between the aircraft and air traffic controllers, pilot actions, and flight altitudes.
News agency Associated Press, quoting an FAA report, said that only one controller was handling helicopter and airplane traffic at the time. Usually, two controllers are assigned, but workstations are sometimes combined during shift changes, breaks, or when air traffic is low.
President Donald Trump, transportation secretary Sean Duffy, and secretary of the Army nominee Daniel Driscoll said the crash appeared preventable.

Trump blames diversity hiring

Trump blamed diversity efforts at the Federal Aviation Administration for lowering standards for air traffic controllers. He blamed the Obama administration, claiming it had determined that the FAA workforce was “too white.”
He blamed the Biden administration, too, and its secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg.
“That guy is a real winner,” Trump said, sarcastically. “He’s a disaster.”
US President Donald Trump claimed, without evidence, that diversity initiatives had weakened air safety and questioned the actions of a US Army helicopter pilot involved in the midair collision with a commercial jet.
Officials have not yet determined the cause of the crash, and Trump acknowledged it was too early to draw conclusions. However, while calling on the country to pray for the victims, he also speculated on the incident and made political statements, a time when presidents are usually expected to provide reassurance and factual updates.
“Some really bad things happened and some things happened that shouldn’t have happened,” Trump said from the White House briefing room, located a few miles from the crash site.
He blamed former President Joe Biden’s administration for pushing the FAA to hire workers under diversity and inclusion policies. He claimed this led to the hiring of people with intellectual disabilities, psychiatric conditions, hearing and vision impairments, epilepsy, paralysis, and dwarfism.
Trump did not provide any proof that unqualified individuals were placed in key positions like air traffic control. He also admitted there was no evidence that controllers at Reagan National Airport had made any errors.
When asked why he was blaming diversity policies, Trump responded, “because I have common sense, and unfortunately a lot of people don’t.”

The victims

This was the deadliest US air crash in nearly 24 years. 28 bodies have been recovered so far, including those of the three soldiers on the helicopter.
Among the passengers were members of the Skating Club of Boston returning from a development camp following the 2025 US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita. Fourteen members of the skating community were on the plane, including teenage figure skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, their mothers, and two coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who were world champions in 1994.
Three students and six parents from Fairfax County, Virginia, were also on board.
Army aviation chief Jonathan Koziol said the helicopter crew was experienced and familiar with flying in Washington’s congested airspace. Their names have not been released.

Reagan airport and air traffic issues

Reagan National Airport is located along the Potomac River, southwest of Washington. It is a preferred airport due to its proximity to the city. Operations resumed on Thursday after being halted following the crash.
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the flight paths of both aircraft before the crash were typical for the area.
“I would just say that everyone who flies in American skies expects that we fly safely,” he said. “That when you depart an airport, you get to your destination. That didn’t happen last night, and I know that President Trump, his administration, the FAA, the DOT, we will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public.”
Federal authorities and aviation experts have raised concerns about rising close calls between planes. In May, an American Airlines plane at Reagan aborted takeoff to avoid a collision with another aircraft landing on an intersecting runway. This was the second such incident at the airport in six weeks.

The aircraft

The military helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
The jet was a Bombardier CRJ-701, built in Canada in 2004. It had twin engines and could carry up to 70 passengers.

Past fatal air crashes

Fatal commercial plane crashes in the US are rare. The last major incident occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York, when a Bombardier DHC-8 crashed into a house, killing all 45 passengers, four crew members, and one person on the ground.
In November 2001, an American Airlines flight crashed in a New York neighborhood shortly after taking off from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people on board.
The crash on Wednesday was similar to the 1982 Air Florida disaster, where a plane crashed into the Potomac River, killing 78 people. That crash was caused by bad weather.