BREAKING: Military Helicopter Collides With Regional Jet in D.C. [UPDATED]

[TBoneTX 46,119]

Three debris fields, no survivors, and 18 bodies found as of midnight EST.  Tragic.

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BREAKING:  Military Helicopter Collides With Regional Jet in D.C. [UPDATED]

 

SEE BELOW FOR UPDATES

Incoming American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan., collided with a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night just before 9 p.m.  [...]

 

https://pjmedia.com/sarah-anderson/2025/01/29/breaking-military-helicopter-collides-with-regional-jet-in-dc-n4936498

[Dashinka 24,793]

Very sad to hear, and thoughts and prayers to the families of those affected as there appears to be no survivors.  I will be curious in the future as to why a military aircraft was so close to the approach pattern of a major airport, and the NTSB will find that out.  It is also reported that there were some young figure skating athletes and their families and coaches on board, some of them from Russia.

[mam521 2,208]

The military base is across the river from Reagan.  I don't fully understand why the airport is there considering so is the Pentagon.  It's still an awful situation.  I just hope the people onboard didn't suffer.  

[yuna628 9,713]

Seems clear that the Blackhawk was at fault and when they confirmed with the ATC they had visual, they had actually sighted the wrong plane. That airplane didn't even have a chance...

 

3 hours ago, mam521 said:

The military base is across the river from Reagan.  I don't fully understand why the airport is there considering so is the Pentagon.  It's still an awful situation.  I just hope the people onboard didn't suffer.  

It did not come from that base. It came from Fort Belvoir.

 

[mam521 2,208]

7 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

It did not come from that base. It came from Fort Belvoir.

It doesn't matter whether it was that base or Ft. Belvoir.  The point is the radio communications systems are different and sharing airspace can become complicated. The potential lack of familiarity with the civilian flight paths by the helicopter crew highlights the complexities of sharing said space and the demonstrated hazard of having them in such close proximity. 

 

In general, it seems like a potential national security issue to have a civilian airport so close to the Pentagon and White House.  

[yuna628 9,713]

38 minutes ago, mam521 said:

It doesn't matter whether it was that base or Ft. Belvoir.  The point is the radio communications systems are different and sharing airspace can become complicated. The potential lack of familiarity with the civilian flight paths by the helicopter crew highlights the complexities of sharing said space and the demonstrated hazard of having them in such close proximity. 

 

In general, it seems like a potential national security issue to have a civilian airport so close to the Pentagon and White House.  

 

Well I mean Dulles and BWI is also not very far from these places and flights are restricted from going into certain areas. On 9/11 the attackers chose a Dulles flight. Any plane anywhere at any time can be a security risk. Last year there were several close calls at Reagan, owing to the lack of ATC personnel and distracted pilots - that doesn't seem to be the case here. This Blackhawk was familiar with the route, it's a published route for helicopters and the ATC staff seem genuinely shocked by what the helicopter did. Flying into this airport it's very common to see Blackhawks right from your aircraft windows coming in to land. Training at night with no lights in this area seems to be too risky for any big city like this. I live close to a military base so the daily annoyance of explosions and low flying military aircraft intersecting with commercial craft are common. Initially I wondered if this was intentional.. but it seems they were confused about which craft they had visualized.

[Ban Hammer 13,548]