More than 60 feared dead after jet collides with Black Hawk helicopter near Washington airport

Approximately 60 people were killed, according to some incoming reports.

How horrible. Prayers for all involved.

Terrible news Indeed, I pray that the number of fatalities does not turn out as everyone expects.

This sounds horrific. Mid-air does not give much hope for survivors.

There is a video showing the Black Hawk crashing into the airliner with 64 on board.

https://youtu.be/j6HNiZrrB04?si=i0mQW4JEJDi7ErG2

Both crashed into the river.

TERRIBLE NEWS! So many people actually died. I will pray for them all. R.I.P

There was a 40 degree angle difference concerning the flight path, seems like the tower told the helicopter the wrong info and wrong aircraft to look at.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-aviation-safety-tsa-coast-guard_n_67912023e4b039fc12780c73

No guarantee of cause and effect, but not a good look.

In the video, the airliner is in the same position while the Black Hawk is moving left to right and into the airliner.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-aviation-safety-tsa-coast-guard_n_67912023e4b039fc12780c73

Utter media politicized garbage to the core!

the airliner is in the same position

Because a plane is a fixed-wing

while the Black Hawk is moving left to right and into the airliner.

It has a rotary propeller

I wonder if anyone took a video from inside the plane. Most people use social media for these events. Hopefully most people could escape safely before the crash.

18 bodies recovered so far.

Reagan Airport is closed to traffic.

Wallace

There's no way yet to tell conclusively which aircraft flew into which aircraft from the only video that's been made public. It only looks like the helo flew into the airliner because of the camera vantage point. Offset the camera 90 degrees to either side and it would look just as much as if the airliner had flown into the helo.

NBC news Reporting 4 people have been rescued.

A plane coming in for landing would be more 'nose up' than normal, making for a larger blindspot ahead and down.

Biggest blind spot for most helicopters is behind and up.

Many commercial airliners have a collision warning system that uses on board radar and/or transponder reader that helps cover such a blindspot, but the helicopter being military complicates that and other traffic control/conflict alert systems.

All in all, the Why's of this crash will be difficult to determine.

Media reports showing wreckage of the plane in the river. Live press conference.

Now it’s a recovery operation.

I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to have survived that kind of impact or even the fridgid waters which was reported to be about 2.5 m deep

Readers, please do not try to turn this tragedy into a political debate.

We dunno, none of them were in the same position, person carrier was landing on a controlled? path , whirly bird (pls pardon my cantonese) was doing what the pilot had been directed to do. We dunno, my trace says few survivors. pray,mourn. wish or assist the survivors and their families? sad sad

The first question should be... Why is a military helicopter flying so low in the flight path of a major airport? It was literally flying across the path of a landing aircraft at the altitude the plane would be for landing. This surely can't be normal procedure.

A deliberate action will be something the investigators will be looking at.

Family and friends are at the airport wanting some little news in their tragic hour of loss.

Human error? May they all find peaceful rest.

the aa flight was on a visual approach where you fly north along the river toward one runway, then do a side step to the right then back left to the shorter of the two runways. the aircraft was 400' or less. it's a high focus approach for the crew.

radio transmissions were the tower asking if the helicopter had the aa aircraft in sight, the helicopter replied affirmative and requesting a visual separation, passing behind the aa aircraft. the helicopter would do the visual separation on their own. helicopter collided with aa aircraft immediately after that radio transmission.

They will definitely need forensic experts at this point. This is just so, so very sad.

Praying for the victims and their families.

the helicopter was given instruction to pass behind the aa aircraft.

USNinJapan2

Wallace

There's no way yet to tell conclusively which aircraft flew into which aircraft from the only video that's been made public. It only looks like the helo flew into the airliner because of the camera vantage point. Offset the camera 90 degrees to either side and it would look just as much as if the airliner had flown into the helo.

The Airliner was on final approach so it will have been right where is was supposed to be. I think it is very clear who flew into who but as yet we can not point the finger on who was in the wrong. It will either be the Helicopter Pilot or the Control tower.

Tragic accident. As others have posted, The airliner seems to be exactly on glide slope for landing as any CRJ pilot would. Bombardier CRJ-700 is a small regional jet with an excellent safety record, FWIW. 68 passengers would be the maximum seating. A full plane. I don't see how the CRJ pilot could be the cause of this accident from the video.

Alongfortheride

Oh I agree. With the information that's available now it's most likely that the Blackhawk pilots failed to see the CRJ and was the cause of the collision, maybe with some culpability on the part of ATC. However back when Wallace commented, "There is a video showing the Black Hawk crashing into the airliner with 64 on board." there was only the one video from Kennedy Center camera that had been released and based on it there was no way to visually tell which aircraft flew into the other, i.e. whether the Blackhawk T-boned the CRJ or vice versa. That's why I took issue with his comment prematurely assigning blame on the Blackhawk.

"There is a video showing the Black Hawk crashing into the airliner with 64 on board." there was only the one video from Kennedy Center camera that had been released and based on it there was no way to visually tell which aircraft flew into the other, i.e. whether the Blackhawk T-boned the CRJ or vice versa. That's why I took issue with his comment prematurely assigning blame on the Blackhawk.

When you watch the video, you really have to squint to see the collision. It looks so tiny until you see how big both aircraft were. I wonder if the pilots in the Blackhawk were alive in the end or saw the imminent threat.

The figure skaters were on the aircraft. Young lives we know where cut short. Terrible for the sport and their families. Every person killed was a tragic loss to their families. Doesn't matter who they represented. Americans care whenever any life ends accidentally. These kids and their families, regardless of nationality, were in our collective care. It isn't like they were in Ukraine shooting civilians.

Poor passengers. Rest in Peace.

The recovery effort is going to be difficult, the divers have to deal with that cold, all the wreckage and sadly body parts and the twisted metal, debris will be floating around, and they could get injured easily if they're not careful, I have to give it to these people that chose to do this kind of work, hats off to these brave people.

30 bodies recovered so far.

human error by the helicopter flight crew will end up as the cause.

there’s no systemic problem. the helicopter was flying vfr on a clear night. the procedure to cross the potomac and the ils for the airport has been used for 60+ years without incident.

the tcas system in both aircraft does not give a resolution to each aircraft below 1,000’. the warning is displayed on the hsi and the pilots are aware of the location of the other aircraft. the cj was on a controlled and stable approach, it was up to the helicopter crew to do the avoidance.

hasn’t been an airline crash in the u.s. in 16 years. human error cannot be eliminated. the atc system and pilot training does a good job in the goal of reducing human error.

there are over 4 million auto accidents in the u.s. per year. virtually all from human error.

Sad news. I use this airport often

Such a tragic accident. My heart goes out to those victims and their families. I can't even imagine how their families must feel and be so worried.