Horror Flight: Plane and Helicopter Crash Mid-Air, No Survivors- Updated

Update: There are no survivors, and the rescue is now a recovery effort.

Original Story

The PSA Airlines jet plunged into the Potomac River after the midair collision. Sixty-four people were on the plane, including U.S. and Russian figure skaters returning from a camp in Kansas.

The exchange between the air traffic control tower and the helicopter in an audio recording posted by LiveATC.net. A controller is heard asking the helicopter if it has the plane in sight and telling it to pass behind. Then someone gasps in the background, followed by another pilot comes on, saying, “Tower, did you see that?”

Key clips:

https://www.independentsentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Many-Deaths-Feared-After-Plane-Crashes-Into-Helicopter-Near-Wash.mp4?_=1

Report from the NY Times at 6:49 a.m.

Rescuers were searching the frigid waters of the Potomac River early Thursday after a commercial jet carrying 64 people collided in midair with a U.S. Army helicopter and crashed into the water near Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C.

The authorities have not given an official count of casualties or bodies recovered.

However, some aboard the plane were figure skaters flying from Wichita, Kan., which had hosted the national figure skating championships this month. Russian figure skaters were also among the passengers, the Kremlin said.

“When one person dies, it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die, it’s an unbearable sorrow,” Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas said at a news conference.

About 300 emergency responders were working in dangerous conditions, said John Donnelly, the chief of Washington’s fire department.

The waters are frigid.

American Airlines said in a statement that 60 passengers and four crew members had been onboard its plane, a Bombardier CRJ700.

An Army official said that the helicopter, a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, was flying with three crew members, whose condition he could not confirm.

The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said on social media that the Army and the Department of Defense would investigate the crash.

The PSA Airlines plane, part of the American Eagle network, operates under an agreement with American. It departed Wichita at 6:20 p.m. ET and collided in midair with the helicopter at about 9 p.m.

The plane was a Bombardier CRJ700. According to F.A.A. records, it was built about 20 years ago. The helicopter was a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, the Army said in a statement. It was unclear whether it was departing from or returning to Fort Belvoir.

It’s Sean Duffy’s first day on the job and Pete Hegseth’s first week.  It’s also Donald Trump’s first disaster.

PowerInbox