A passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 people on board. Recovery crews are searching the river for remains and wreckage. The incident is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Officials gather at the end of runway 33 near the wreckage site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in Arlington, Va.
No one survived the Wednesday night collision. The remains of 41 people had been pulled from the river as of Friday afternoon, including 28 that had been positively identified, investigators said. They expect to recover all of the remains, though the wreckage of the plane’s fuselage will probably have to be pulled from the water to get all the bodies, Washington, D.C., Fire Chief John Donnelly Sr. told reporters.
Other possible factors in the crash, including the helicopter’s altitude and whether the crew was using night vision goggles, are still under investigation, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News Channel.More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at a given time, officials said. After a rainy Friday, clear skies and warmer temperatures made for better conditions Saturday for workers in the field.
In Washington, the Federal Aviation Administration heavily restricted helicopter traffic around the airport on Friday, hours after President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post that the helicopter had been flying higher than allowed. But on Friday, one day after he questioned the helicopter pilot’s actions and blamed diversity initiatives for undermining air safety, Trump said the helicopter was “flying too high.”
AIRPLANE CRASH HELICOPTER WASHINGTON D.C. NTSB INVESTIGATION AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
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