A passenger jet collided Wednesday with a military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.
There was no immediate word on casualties, but all takeoffs and landings from the airport near Washington were halted as helicopters from agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors. Inflatable rescue boats were being launched into the Potomac River from a point near the airport along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair collision occurred around 9 p.m. EST when American Airlines 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, smashed into a military Sikorsky H-60 helicopter around 9 p.m. while on approach to an airport runway.
A spokesperson for American Airlines said there were 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the flight and it would provide more information once available.
Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.
Multiple helicopters, including those from the U.S. Park Police, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. military, were flying over the scene of the incident in the Potomac River. D.C. Fire and EMS said on X that fireboats were on the scene.
Washington, D.C., police said on the social platform X that multiple agencies are conducting a search and rescue effort in the Potomac River after an aircraft crash.
The airport said emergency personnel were responding to “an aircraft incident on the airfield.”
The National Transportation Safety Board says it will lead the investigation, along with the FAA.
The incident recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on January 13, 1982, that killed 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.
