On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, January 30, a passenger plane with 60 passengers on board collided with a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (USA). No passengers survived the tragedy.
More than 60 people are presumed dead after an American Airlines regional jet and a military helicopter crashed into the icy Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night, making it the worst U.S. air crash in more than two decades. U.S. President Donald Trump, who was inaugurated early last week for a second term, said Thursday that there were “no survivors.”
Earlier in the day, the District of Columbia fire chief said at a news conference that “at this point, we do not believe there are any survivors.” John Donnelly said 28 bodies had been recovered from the river so far. “We will work to recover all the bodies and return them to their loved ones,”, he added. American Airlines said the plane, a Bombardier CRJ-700 operated by PSA Airlines, the airline's regional subsidiary, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members.
The helicopter was carrying three military personnel who were on a training flight, authorities said. Reuters has learned from an official source that helicopter flights have been suspended for the Army unit involved in the crash. Ronald Reagan International Airport, which was closed following the incident, resumed operations late Thursday morning. Some flights were postponed or canceled. Among the passengers on the airliner were skaters, their coaches and relatives, returning from a competition in Wichita, Kansas, including former Russian-born world figure skating champions Evgenia Chichkova and Vadim Naumov. “We've been informed that there are no survivors,” Wichita Mayor Lily Wu told reporters.
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Trump questions air traffic controllers
The collision occurred at medium altitude while the civilian aircraft was on approach to Ronald Reagan Airport. Radio communications show that the crew of the BlackHawk helicopter knew that the plane was in the area. According to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, both the helicopter and the plane were flying a normal route and communications were not lost. “Everything was standard” in the moments leading up to the crash, he said, while adding that he believed the collision was “preventable”. The airspace in the Washington area is busy, with three commercial airports and several major military installations.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Officials have expressed concerns in the past about aircraft traffic at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Several near misses, including one in May, have raised concerns. Daniel Driscoll, Donald Trump’s pick for Army secretary, has said the military may change its training in the area. “It appears to be preventable,” he said of Wednesday’s incident during his Senate nomination hearing. Speaking from the White House, Trump said he did not know what caused the collision, “but we have very strong opinions and ideas.”, he added. The Republican president has criticized his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden for loosening air traffic control standards too much and has also complained about the former administration's efforts at inclusion and diversity. “We need to get our smartest people,”, Donald Trump said of air traffic controllers. “They have to be geniuses, naturally gifted,” he added, after questioning potential errors by the helicopter crew and air traffic controllers.
According to information from the New York Times, the staffing of the control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington International Airport was “not” at its “normal” level on Wednesday night when the disaster occurred. This staffing of air traffic controllers in particular “was not normal for this time of day and this volume of traffic” air traffic, criticized in a preliminary report the American aviation regulator (FAA) quoted by the daily.
Cold and wind
The final radio exchanges from the control tower with the helicopter, codenamed PAT25, before the collision with the plane identified as a CRJ were published by the website liveatc.net. “PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, go behind the CRJ”, an air traffic controller said at 8:47 p.m. (0147 GMT), according to a recording. Seconds later, another plane called the control tower, saying: “Control tower, do you have this?”, apparently referring to the collision, and a controller ordered all aircraft to delay landing. The crash was captured on a webcam at the nearby Kennedy Center. A ball of fire is seen upon impact and the burning plane plunges into the Potomac.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to the families of the dead Russian nationals, the Kremlin said. The work of rescue teams is“extremely difficult,” John Donnelly said, “because of the cold and the wind.” Glenn Youngkin, governor of Virginia, which borders the capital and the Potomac River, told Reuters that the bodies of most of those involved in the crash had been recovered. “Everything was routine, until the accident,” he said. “Something went wrong.” Ronald Reagan International Airport’s main runway is the busiest in the United States, with more than 800 takeoffs and landings daily.
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The airport is located about two miles from the White House and right next to the Pentagon. It is expected to be the deadliest air disaster in the United States since November 2001, when an American Airlines plane crashed after takeoff from JFK Airport in New York, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground. In 1982, an Air Florida plane crashed into a bridge and into the Potomac River, killing 74 people. Only four passengers and one crew member survived.