DCA - American Airlines passenger plane collides with Blackhawk over the Potomac River, all 67 on both dead, 29 Jan 2025

[MrsWatson]

Guardian live stream

Washington DC officials say no survivors in jet collision with military helicopter – latest

Officials say 27 bodies recovered from plane and one from helicopter as rescue mission turns into recovery effort

www.theguardian.com

 

[IceIce9]

That poor ATC too. Assuming he did what he was supposed to do, but even if he made a mistake ... Imagine what he is going through and will be facing now.

And the responders on the scene as well.

 

[PayrollNerd]

No survivors expected after plane collides with helicopter over Potomac River

American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, collided midair with an Army helicopter, carrying three people, near Reagan Washington National Airport last night.

www.nbcnews.com

So incredibly sad. Those athletes work so hard to train, they’re dedicated to their sport, their families make sacrifices….

Snip

• American figure skaters, coaches and family members who had been at camp in Wichita were among the passenger jet passengers, according to U.S. Figure Skating.
• Russian state media confirmed that Russian figure skaters and coaches were also on board.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

And the responders on the scene as well.

Fully agree. They aren't going to be facing blame and accusation, though. I just hope the AT- controller's identity doesn't reach the Internet.

 

[IceIce9]

Fully agree. They aren't going to be facing blame and accusation, though. I just hope the AT- controller's identity doesn't reach the Internet.

I just meant that their lives will never be the same after this. The ATF person as well.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Tracking the American Airlines plane moments before collision with military helicopter near Reagan National Airport

The National Investigative Unit tracked the American Airlines plane moments before it collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport.

www.wesh.com

Snip
A few minutes before landing, air traffic controllers asked the pilot if they could land on a shorter runway, to which the pilot agreed.

Controllers then cleared the plane to land.

The National Investigative Unit tracked the adjusted final approach, showing the plane's path east of the main runways and over the river.

 

[IceIce9]

There was no change of approach on the American Airlines let so i think there were totally unaware of the close proximity of the Blackhawk. Military aircraft often do not have transponders aboard. If the Blackhawk had had a transponder on board, it should have alerted an emergency warning to the American Airlines jet.

All JMO

 

[DS2021]

Im pretty sure this is the deadliest domestic plane crash since American Airlines Flight 11. Which resulted in 92 deaths

American Airlines Flight 11 - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

simple.m.wikipedia.org

The other 3 planes had a smaller death toll than this one.

Ofc, people could be found alive

 

[Justice101]

Air traffic control asked the Blackhawk to confirm visibility of the CRJ which they did. Then 13 seconds later the collision.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/29/us/plane-crash-potomac-river-dc-hnk/index.html

The controller then said, “PAT 2-5 pass behind the CRJ.”

Additional air traffic control audio shortly before the collision captures the helicopter pilot saying, “PAT 2-5 has aircraft in sight, request visual separation.”

What does the PAT 205 pass behind the CRJ" mean? Which is which?

 

[DS2021]

PAT 205 pass behind the CRJ" mean

Crj is the jet, so im assuming pat 205 is the helicopter

 

[IceIce9]

Tracking the American Airlines plane moments before collision with military helicopter near Reagan National Airport

The National Investigative Unit tracked the American Airlines plane moments before it collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport.

www.wesh.com

Snip
A few minutes before landing, air traffic controllers asked the pilot if they could land on a shorter runway, to which the pilot agreed.

Controllers then cleared the plane to land.

The National Investigative Unit tracked the adjusted final approach, showing the plane's path east of the main runways and over the river.

I was recently on a Delta flight that was landing at an East Coast airport, and air traffic control had requested that our pilot change to a different runway while he was on approach. Our pilot refused, saying that it was too short of notice of a runway change, and he didn’t think it was safe so he circled around a few more times before landing.

The only reason we knew that this happened, the pilot made an announcement to the passengers that he was aborting his landing and going to circle because air traffic control had asked him to change runways, and he didn’t think it was safe on such short notice.

He said it was up to the pilot to refuse such a request if he didn’t think it was safe. He explained all of this to us in great detail, which I thought was unusual for the pilot to give so much information to passengers, But quite a few of us had noticed that he had pulled up out of his landing pattern.

 

[IceIce9]

What does the PAT 205 pass behind the CRJ" mean? Which is which?

PAT 205 is Blackhawk, and they acknowledged “We see it” CRJ is the American Airline passenger jet.

CRJ = Canadian Regional Jet

 

[Elley Mae]

“We can confirm that the aircraft involved in tonight’s incident was an Army UH-60 helicopter from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir during a training flight,” an Army spokesperson told Fox News.

US Army Black Hawk that collided with American Airlines passenger plane was on ‘training flight’

The military chopper had three soldiers on board and was not carrying any VIPs.

nypost.com

…

The crash occurred Wednesday night at around 9pm while the commercial plane was approaching the runway of Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, to land. Because of the time and conditions of the flight both aircrafts were "flying dark".

MSN

 

[DS2021]

Im pretty sure this is the deadliest domestic plane crash since American Airlines Flight 11. Which resulted in 92 deaths

American Airlines Flight 11 - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

simple.m.wikipedia.org

The other 3 planes had a smaller death toll than this one.

Ofc, people could be found alive

I was wrong this crash occured in Nov 2001, which resulted in 260 fatalities.

American Airlines Flight 587 - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Deleted member 39678]

Good video of ATC communications and ADS-B data from before and after the crash.

There's was some confusion of what happened after the collision. JMO.

 

[Deleted member 39678]

Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS–B) is an advanced surveillance technology that combines an aircraft’s positioning source, aircraft avionics, and a ground infrastructure to create an accurate surveillance interface between aircraft and ATC. ADS–B is a performance–based surveillance technology that is more precise than radar and consists of two different services: ADS–B Out and ADS–B In.

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/afx/afs/afs400/afs410/ads-b

 

[Dotta]

"Emergency services in the city are searching the nearby Potomac River
after the jet plummeted into the water just before 9pm on Wednesday night.

Officials have not said how many people died in the accident
but have suggested that there may be no survivors.

It is the first major commercial air crash in the US in 16 years.

Among the dead are several members of the US figure skating community, including athletes, coaches and their family members,
the sport's governing body has said.

Rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River for survivors after the deadly plane crash.

Defense officials have confirmed that the Black Hawk was an Army chopper that was carrying three soldiers at the time who were on a training flight."

American Airlines jet crashes in Washington DC after midair collision

The American Airlines passenger jet crashed into a military helicopter while attempting to land at Reagan National Airport in Washington on Wednesday night.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Elley Mae]

Video of crash

Video captures moment American Airlines flight collides with Black Hawk helicopter

Search and rescue operations are currently underway and there is no word on casualties at this time.

www.wusa9.com

 

[kuromiiiilove]

Officials say ‘no survivors’ expected after crash at Reagan Washington National Airport

Officials said there were no survivors after a regional jet and military helicopter collided Wednesday evening over the Potomac River. Washington Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said Thursday morn…

thehill.com

“Washington Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said Thursday morning at a press conferencethat operations were beginning to switch from a rescue mission to a recovery mission…“At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident, and we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter,” Donnelly said.”

 

[Deleted member 39678]

TCAS II design progressively inhibits Resolution Advisories (RAs) depending on the height Above Ground Level (AGL) provided by the radio altimeter as follows:

• “Increase Descent” RAs are inhibited below 1,550 ft AGL (± 100 ft)
• “Descend” RAs are inhibited below 1,100 ft AGL (± 100 ft)
• All RAs are inhibited below 1,000 ft AGL (± 100 ft).

This collision took place at low altitude so the aircraft's TCAS would not have given the pilots a resolution advisory. JMO.

TCAS II RA at Very Low Altitude | SKYbrary Aviation Safety

EUROCONTROL Mode S & ACAS Programme Reminder Recently, a report has been received of a case where a Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) II Resolution Advisory was posted at approximately 100 feet AGL. The technical cause appears to be related to a radio altimeter data malfunction. Radio...

skybrary.aero