Not much information yet. Prayers for all
Helicopter(possibly military) and an American Airlines CRJ have collided near Ronald Reagan near D.C.
- Thread starter crawfords corner
- Start date
OH5342 (JIA5342) PSA Airlines Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware
Track PSA Airlines (OH) #5342 flight from Wichita Eisenhower to Reagan National
www.flightaware.com
This is saying it was a police helicopter and plane with 60 people on board.
First major plane crash in this country in a long time that I can recall. Terrible.
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/29/g-s1-45449/plane-helicopter-crash-d-c-airport-potomac
Looks like a really bad accident happened with an AA flight on approach to Reagan Int'l tonight. Seems like a UH-60 Blackhawk flew right into the flight path of the AA/PSA Flight.
First responders are doing a water search, rescue and recover in the Potomac. The Potomac is currently around 42 degrees Fahrenheit tonight. 38 Degrees Fahrenheit for the ambient air temperature; wind chill is right at freezing. At those temperatures, hypothermia will set in with 30-60 minutes.
Prayers for everyone involved.
Looks like a really bad accident happened with an AA flight on approach to Reagan Int'l tonight. Seems like a UH-60 Blackhawk flew right into the flight path of the AA/PSA Flight.
First responders are doing a water search, rescue and recover in the Potomac. The Potomac is currently around 42 degrees Fahrenheit tonight. 38 Degrees Fahrenheit for the ambient air temperature; wind chill is right at freezing. At those temperatures, hypothermia will set in with 30-60 minutes.
Prayers for everyone involved.
2009 the longest period of no commercial aviation crashes in US history.
This looks bad.
The insinuation is very troubling:
President Donald Trump aired his thoughts about Wednesday night's plane collision near Reagan National Airport in a candid Truth Social post.
Writing early Thursday morning, Trump said that the crash "should have been prevented," and expressed concern over the incident.
"The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport," Trump wrote. "The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time."
"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!!!"
President Donald Trump aired his thoughts about Wednesday night's plane collision near Reagan National Airport in a candid Truth Social post.
Writing early Thursday morning, Trump said that the crash "should have been prevented," and expressed concern over the incident.
"The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport," Trump wrote. "The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time."
"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!!!"
Not going down a conspiracy rabbit hole, but one question that came to my mind once the official statements came out, is why are they doing military*training* flights in congested civilian airspace?
And anyone who's flown into or out of Reagan knows that takeoff and landing are a bit more involved than most U.S. airports.
And anyone who's flown into or out of Reagan knows that takeoff and landing are a bit more involved than most U.S. airports.
In a thread that already has said there were survivors and it was a police helicopter, we learn the value of only trusting respectable news services. Should only pay attention to aviation officials with first hand knowledge of what happened. Not randos screaming questions on the internet.
This is incorrect, there was a Southwest flight into LaGuardia from Nashville in 2013 that crashed. A few injuries but thankfully no fatalities. That's still 11 years which is amazing.
When information is trying to be gained real time, there will always be some poorly sourced info making its way into legitimate news sources. It’s the nature of the immediate Information age.
Always a ton of helicopters in that area. Extremely common.
Those river approaches into Reagan were the most fun of any approaches on the east coast.
I'd be going through that helicopter pilot's past with a fine toothed comb -- especially after this New Year.
Yea, the Blackhawks are flying up and down the river all day/night. You get used to it when you live in that area. That plane was also flying into the lesser used, shorter runway at Reagan. Regardless, I don’t know how the Blackhawk pilot didn’t avoid this. Reagan is absurdly busy so it’s not like they aren’t trained to avoid the air traffic there.
Likely just human incompetence, but it’s hard to imagine f*cking up that badly in that area.
The top comment was very informative as to what could have possibly occurred
Why would you run training flights in the vicinity of a commercial runway?
If we are going to start point out dumb things that happen in DC, might as merge this with the Political Thread now.
NBC first reported they had rescued 4 survivors last night.
So are you saying NBC is not a trusted news source? I'm sure several people will agree with you on that.
OK, I'll speculate:
- I bet the helicopter pilot screwed up. Many more military crashes than commercial despite many more commercial flights. Hell, could have been intentional.
- air traffic control mistake. I doubt. Heard recording of ATC telling helicopter to go behind plane. It was clear.
- airplane pilot fault. Next to zero chance at 300' altitude with clearance to land.
- I bet the helicopter pilot screwed up. Many more military crashes than commercial despite many more commercial flights. Hell, could have been intentional.
- air traffic control mistake. I doubt. Heard recording of ATC telling helicopter to go behind plane. It was clear.
- airplane pilot fault. Next to zero chance at 300' altitude with clearance to land.
It has been confirmed that several of the passengers were connected with U.S. Figure Skating.
The Kremlin confirmed that former Pair Champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on the flight. Their son, Maxim, is a competitor for U.S. Figure Skating, but it's unclear if he was also on this flight. The U.S. Championships were held in Wichita this past weekend and there was a development camp afterward that kept some people in Wichita for a few extra days.
Whenever I hear that a Russian was killed in a plane crash, then it's always very suspicious. But, it appears to be coincidental here.
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/43621460/figure-skaters-onboard-plane-crash-washington-dc
The Kremlin confirmed that former Pair Champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on the flight. Their son, Maxim, is a competitor for U.S. Figure Skating, but it's unclear if he was also on this flight. The U.S. Championships were held in Wichita this past weekend and there was a development camp afterward that kept some people in Wichita for a few extra days.
Whenever I hear that a Russian was killed in a plane crash, then it's always very suspicious. But, it appears to be coincidental here.
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/43621460/figure-skaters-onboard-plane-crash-washington-dc
Not always. And legitimate sources like CNN, AP, and Reuters are going to be more careful than RealNewX.twitter or whatever.
And also, you're right. There might be some. So don't start insinuating there's more to story and spreading poorly sourced news.
Thats how murdered judges get their names drug through the mud with vile accusations.
There is a VFR corridor along the east side of the river for VFR helicopters to pass through the bravo airspace. Altitude restrictions are 200 feet and below. So it’s normal for a helicopter to be passing through there.
Listening to ATC, everything is normal. Controller alerts the helicopter way in advance of the traffic and its location. Helicopter confirms they have the traffic in sight and requests visual separation, meaning they will take on the responsibility of maintaining separation. ATC tells helicopter is pass behind the traffic.
Hate to put blame on someone not even 24 hours after the incident occurred, but this is very obviously on the pilot of the helicopter.
Maybe the helicopter identified the wrong plane when alerted of the traffic. We likely will never know. Unfortunately the most info we will probably find out is the helicopter claimed to have the CRJ in sight, was instructed to fly behind it, and instead flew into its approach path.
Listening to ATC, everything is normal. Controller alerts the helicopter way in advance of the traffic and its location. Helicopter confirms they have the traffic in sight and requests visual separation, meaning they will take on the responsibility of maintaining separation. ATC tells helicopter is pass behind the traffic.
Hate to put blame on someone not even 24 hours after the incident occurred, but this is very obviously on the pilot of the helicopter.
Maybe the helicopter identified the wrong plane when alerted of the traffic. We likely will never know. Unfortunately the most info we will probably find out is the helicopter claimed to have the CRJ in sight, was instructed to fly behind it, and instead flew into its approach path.
Sad story regardless.
Also creepy that is flew probably over many of our homes on the way to DC. Looked at Flight tracker last night and zoomed in on the flight path and flew directly over my childhood home last night.
Also creepy that is flew probably over many of our homes on the way to DC. Looked at Flight tracker last night and zoomed in on the flight path and flew directly over my childhood home last night.
33 is a very common runway for RJs. We used to have fun and keep it really tight over the water, but you’re allowed to be more conservative.
Definitely a chance the Helo guy had the wrong plane in sight to avoid. It was on him to stay out of the approach path.
The river visual for runway 19 is a really cool approach. Especially if you are sitting on the left side of the aircraft. You join the approach up the Potomac and follow it till your wheels are on the ground. Takes you right by all the monuments, followed by a low altitude turn to the right that lines you up with runway 19.
I don’t think they were looking at that other flight that had just taken off. It was flying north after taking off from the north side of the main runway and would essentially be behind and to the right of the helicopter (that was toward the center or south side of the runway, based on flight path of incoming plane). Maybe they were looking at the next plane lined up on the main runway, but I doubt they were thinking it was the one that had already taken off on the other side of the airport.
Oh not saying it’s not used, as I’ve landed on it many times, just that the other runway is the more common one, by a pretty decent clip.
