What we know about the DC plane accident

Arlington, go. (AP) – A jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an army helicopter Wednesday while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington. The plane dropped in the Potomac river. Everyone on board was feared that officials said officials on Thursday.

The accident occurred in some of the most closely controlled and monitored air spaces in the world, just over 3 miles (5 kilometers) south of the White House and the American Capitol.

Here are some things to know about the collision:

The accident

The outdoor accident occurred around 9 p.m. when a regional jet at the end of a Wichita flight, in Kansas, collided with a military helicopter on a training exercise, according to the Federal Aviation Administration .

A few minutes before the jet, the air traffic controllers asked the American Airlines Flight 5342 flight if he could land on a shorter track, and the pilots agreed. The controllers cleared the jet on land and flight tracking sites have shown that the plane adjusts its approach to the new track.

Less than 30 seconds before the accident, an air traffic controller asked a helicopter if he had the plane arriving in sight. The controller made another radio call to the helicopter a few moments later: “Pat 25 passing behind the CRJ.” There was no answer. A few seconds after that, the two planes collided.

The plane radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet less from the track, roughly in the middle of the potomac.

The body of the plane was found upside down in three sections in the water to the waist, said officials. The helicopter wreck has also been found.

Emergency response

The authorities carried out a massive research and rescue operation. Inflatable boats were launched in the river and the first speakers installed light towers of the shore to light the area. The helicopters of the law enforcement agencies of the region also flew over the scene in a methodical research of bodies and survivors.

“We are now to the point where we are moving from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” said Washington firefighters John Donllly said at a press conference on Thursday morning. “We don’t think there are survivors.”

Passengers and death

At least 28 bodies were taken from the frozen waters of the Potomac river.

The officials said they were still looking for other victims but did not think there were survivors, which would make them the most deadly air accident in the United States in almost 24 years.

The Russian artistic skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Nanov were aboard the plane, as well as other Russian nationals, according to the Kremlin. The coaches, skaters and others had been in Wichita for the American artistic skating championships of 2025, who concluded on Sunday and a development camp.

Shishkova and Naumov were married and won a 1994 world championship in artistic skating pairs.

Airport

Located along the Potomac river, just southwest of Washington, Reagan National is a popular choice because it is much closer to the city than the largest Dulles International Airport.

All takeoff and landing from Reagan airport have been interrupted. He will reopen Thursday at 11 a.m., the Federal Aviation Administration announced.

Investigation

Investigators will try to reconstruct the last moments of the plane before their collision, including contact with air controllers as well as loss of altitude by jet of passengers.

Avions involved

The helicopter was a Blackhawk UH-60 based in very Belvoir in Virginia, according to the American army. A crew of three soldiers was aboard the helicopter, said an army official.

The other plane was a bizographic jet of the Canadian manufacturing bomber CRJ-701 and was manufactured in 2004. It can be configured to transport up to 70 passengers.

History of accidents of mortal aircraft

Mortal crashes of commercial aircraft In the United States, has become a rarity. The last was in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. The 45 passengers and the four crew members were killed when the propeller plane of the DHC-8 Bombardier crashed into a house. A person in the field was also killed.

The incident on Wednesday recalled the accident of an air flight in Florida which dropped in the Potomac on January 13, 1982, killing 78 people. This crash was attributed to bad weather.