WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — An American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided at an altitude of a few thousand feet above ground level just after sunset Wednesday evening near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 people on the two planes, officials said.
The incident occurred as Flight 5342, Bombardier CRJ700, arrived from Wichita, Kansas. At the same time, the Black Hawk helicopter was conducting a routine training exercise. Both aircraft crash-landed into the Potomac River below.
Emergency responders quickly responded to the crash site. However, a search of the jet, crewed by 60 passengers and four people, as well as three military personnel in the helicopter revealed no survivors.
Fortunately, investigators were able to obtain the flight data recorder from both planes, commonly known as black boxes. That’s supposed to yield important information about what led to the collision.
The National Transportation Safety Board, working in conjunction with officials of the FAA and the military, has conducted a thorough investigation into the accident. They will determine what happened in the series of events that led to this tragic event.
This is one of the deadliest air accidents in recent times in the United States. The Washington D.C. skies are some of the most densely populated in the country, so the coordination required between civilian and military aircraft here is pretty rigorous. According to the NTSB, the preliminary report of the incident would be issued a few weeks down the line while the full probe could take even months.
