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Lights from emergency vehicles flash Wednesday night at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., following a midair collision involving an American Airline flight and a helicopter. Ting Shen/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
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Ting Shen/AFP via Getty Images
A commercial airplane collided in midair with a Blackhawk helicopter as the jet was approaching a runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night, according to federal aviation officials.
The accident happened as the jet, operated by regional carrier PSA Airlines on behalf of American Airlines, was attempting to land just before 9 pm local time.
There was no immediate word on fatalities. But the incident could be the most significant disaster in U.S. airspace in at least 15 years.
A webcam at the nearby John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts showed a small aircraft, presumably the helicopter, colliding with the passenger jet at a low altitude, followed by a bright explosion. Radar tracking sites show the passenger jet appears to have fallen into the frigid Potomac River.
The jet, operating as flight 5342 for American Airlines, had departed from Wichita, Kansas, and was attempting to land on Runway 33 at Reagan airport (DCA).
DC Fire and EMS confirmed that a small aircraft crashed into the Potomac River near the airport, as helicopters and fireboats rushed to the scene to search for survivors.
The passenger jet — a Bombardier CRJ-700 — has a maximum capacity of 70 people. It has a typical crew of two pilots and two flight attendants.
The airspace in and around DCA is complicated due to challenging approaches into the airport as well as flight restrictions above government buildings. It's particularly busy airspace too with an influx of police and military helicopters operating in the area.
The last major commercial airplane accident in the United States occurred in 2009, when a Colgan Air flight crashed near Buffalo killing a total of 50 people (49 passengers and crew, and one person inside a house).
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
