The air visitors management at Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport is pictured, within the aftermath of the collision of American Eagle flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River, with the Capitol dome within the background, as seen from Virginia, U.S., January 30, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
How an Military Black Hawk helicopter collided into an American Airways jetliner in a lethal crash over the Potomac River Wednesday evening continues to be unknown, however questions are rising, together with the altitude of the navy helicopter.
Investigators are nonetheless pulling proof from the Potomac and taking a look at the whole lot from newly pulled flight knowledge and cockpit voice recorder data. All 64 individuals on American Airways Flight 5342 and the three aboard the helicopter had been killed within the fireball collision close to the Washington, D.C.’s Reagan Nationwide Airport, marking the deadliest U.S. air crash since 2001.
The PSA Airways Bombardier CRJ-700 plane was flying at about 300 ft on last method into Reagan Nationwide’s Runway 33 shortly earlier than 9 p.m. ET Wednesday when it collided with the Black Hawk helicopter.
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned the helicopter was on an annual proficiency coaching flight.
Based on Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, helicopters, which frequently cross via and round Washington, between navy bases, the Pentagon and different areas, should fly within the space near the airport at a most of 200 ft.
“In DC, it is form of a novel surroundings,” Nationwide Transportation Security Board member Todd Inman mentioned at a briefing on Thursday afternoon. He famous that there are helicopter zones, or tracks, in Washington. “This one was transitioning from monitor one to 4 as a part of their regular process. In case you reside in DC, you see lots of helicopters happening into this space. So there is a very properly outlined system.”
The FAA on Friday issued new flight restrictions for helicopters across the the Washington, D.C., space and the Reagan Nationwide Airport, with some exceptions for medical evacuation and legislation enforcement operations, the company informed NBC Information.
The airspace between sure bridges, or Zone 1, is at the moment not energetic. In close by Zone 4, helicopters are solely permitted to fly south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
The NTSB is main the investigation into the collision that resulted in a fireball. The company mentioned it’s nonetheless gathering data and that it’s too early to attract conclusions.
“It is not that we do not have data. We do have data,” mentioned NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “We now have substantial quantities of knowledge. We have to confirm data. We have to take our time to verify it’s correct.”
The NTSB recovered flight knowledge and cockpit voice recorder from the passenger jet. The packing containers had been taken to NTSB labs for analysis, the company mentioned.
President Donald Trump on Friday wrote on Reality Social that the helicopter “was flying too excessive, by so much. It was far above the 200 foot restrict. That is not likely too sophisticated to know, is it???”
Hegseth made an identical assertion at a White Home briefing on Thursday.
“Tragically, final evening a mistake was made,” he mentioned. “There was some kind of an elevation concern that we’ve got instantly begun investigating on the DoD and Military stage.”