Military Black Hawk collides with American Airlines jet midair
EarthCam video showing the Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines jet over Reagan Washington National Airport. (EarthCam)
An Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet at Reagan National Airport. The American Airlines flight, Flight 5342 from Wichita, had 64 personnel onboard. The Black Hawk had three Soldiers onboard. The helicopter was from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Fort Belvoir. The helicopter was on a training flight.
From Fox News:
A massive search and rescue effort was underway after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair with an American Airlines jet at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Wednesday evening.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan National Airport (DCA) around 9 p.m. local time.
PSA was operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines, and it departed from Wichita, Kansas. There was no immediate word on casualties or the cause of the collision.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that President Donald Trump is aware of the situation, calling it tragic. Trump later released a statement, writing: “I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport. May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
According to American Airlines, there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the CRJ-700 aircraft.
“Our concern is for the passengers and crew on board the aircraft,” the airline said in a statement. “We are in contact with authorities and assisting with emergency response efforts.”
There were three soldiers on the helicopter at the time of the crash, according to an Army official.
“We can confirm that the aircraft involved in tonight’s incident was an Army UH-60 helicopter from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir during a training flight,” the Army confirmed to Fox News Digital. “We are working with local officials and will provide additional information once it becomes available.”
Additional Reading:
Wehner, G. & Griffin, J. (2025, January 30). Reagan National Airport crash: Military Black Hawk helicopter collides midair with American Airlines jet. Fox News. Link.
Category: "Teh Stoopid", Big Army, Crime, Society
From the recording of comms from ATC, sounds like the Blackhawk flew into the jet. time will tell. prayers to all involved, their families, and all the first responders involved.
Being that everything that moves at a controlled airport is under direct control of the tower and ground control operators, I’m thinking a FAA controller is going to catch hell unless the tapes show either the copter or the jet was not following instructions.
Most major airports are running understaffed with controllers and they are operating on long hours with less rest than optimal.
May the souls of the departed rest in peace.
Wait for the investigation to run its course. I’ll be most interested in the qualifications of those involved.
Probably gonna take awhile. I’d be interested in the quals of ALL those involved. That’s a pretty busy piece of air space. Started following this last night when it broke in on my news feeds. Naturally, the gambit ran from “DEI hires”, “Trump’s fault”, “deliberate attack by the helicopter”. We’ll see.
Lead article this morning said the American pilot had been with them 6 years, copilot 2. Training mission for the chopper, no word on the pilots but we all know “training” has nothing to do with how experienced the pilots are. I’ll bet air traffic control is going to be under intense scrutiny.
Audio I heard had ATC talking to chopper, and.xhopper saying something about ” visual separation “.. not up on flying lingo, but sounded like chopper was aware of jet and supposed to avoid..
Lots of electronics involved other than voice.
The various radars will be one such source.
This is going to take a while.
The jet was on an IFR clearance all the way to the runway. The helicopter was under Visual Flight Rules, it was incumbent upon the VFR pilot to avoid the controlled airspace.
You might guess that the chopper pilot was disoriented and did not know where he was, with precision.
I’m wondering if the helo pilot was watching the same aircraft that ATC was talking about.
Great point.
Reuters says chopper pilots using night vision goggles. ATC contacted chopper 30 seconds prior, told them to pass behind airplane, is not reported as particularly urgent order. Video shows good visibility.
That’s what I am guessing on, night vision googles and an abrupt control movement.
It was a beautiful to be flying.
Damn. That’s a big fuck up on someone’s part.
I believe it is a bit premature to speculate but this is being reported by at least one station:
Aren’t there air corridors around airports? I’ve flown in/out of DCA (Reagan), and that airport is busy as hell. Ranked #24 in the country with 12 million passengers a year. You can’t tell a helo flies an intersecting course across the flight path of busy runway, and somebody didn’t fuck up royally. The airspace around DC should be controlled tighter than a frog’s asshole, and yet some -60 goes across the final approach?
As of 1000 looks like no survivors. Say a prayer for their families.
Everything pretty much goes up and down the Potomac.
I’ve flown into Davison many times to practice 0 – 0 landing approaches. Their radar is capable of directing you all the way to the runway but the pilot still has to fly the plane and follow directions of the controller. It’s an amazing process.
The jet would have already been gear down and in the flap deployment range as he made a right base turn over the river to line up with runway 33. His airspeed would have been about 150 its on the base and final would have crossed the runway threshold at 135 – 140 its.
The helicopter would have been operating in the range of 60 – 70 its and could never have caught up to the jet from the rear, they had to come from an angle towards the jet, from the SSE toward NNW and will almost certainly have been above his assigned or prescribed altitude for that corridor.
It does sound like an attack by the helicopter.
OTOH, if the helicopter was operating under 0-0 (blackout) IFR practice, there could be an entirely different cause of the error on the part of the Blackhawk. They will climb like crazy and if you get heavy handed? Have never operated a rotor wing aircraft.
On further review, this description is incorrect by having confused the radar depiction of the jet with the chopper. The jet was established on final and very close to the runway, within seconds of touchdown.
I doubt if the CRJ700 passengers were even aware of the Blackhawk, bless their souls.
I hate to say it but it looks like a serious pilot fuck up by the UH60 pilot.
Trump is saying NVGs may have been involved. The bird had running lights though and was over a well lit city.
Very confusing at first from my 7 IPN (incident paging network) I subscribe to texts. First Text was that the fireboat 2 reported a fixed wing aircraft down in the river in about 5 1/5 feet of water, then it’s possibly a helocopter, then it’s not finding any viable survivors. I forward one of the texts to a Volly friend up north and he sends me the video of the collision and then the nystery was solved as it was a collision.
I lit off my cell phone when I woke up this morning and the last text mentioned Plane vs Blackhawk Helicopter.
After spending 30 minutes on X I’m a aviation expert
Feel free to ask me any questions you may have
Haha, which direction does the main rotor turn on the helicopter?
Circular.
This would have not happened
If DEI had not been disbanded
Up and down
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Oh now, you may be thinking of the “circular motion” as applied to the sugar plum.
Dinah Mo, Dina Mo, Dina Mo Hmm
I believe fairy dust is what makes helicopters fly,
As you can see below my X and FB certificate
Of expertise came with the highly sought after
Blue Keyboard ribbon..
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👍
Helicopters do not fly. They beat the air into submission.
Round and round. Except on a Chinook. Their rotors turn round and dnuor.
It took you 30 whole minutes? C’mon man, apply yourself!
Another data point showing that training can be as deadly as wartime.
God bless all involved, and His peace to the families.
I hope there are, at least some survivors. But it’s not looking good.
Best wishes and prayers to all those involved
There will be no survivors. The water temp in the river was 35 degrees. The wreckage from both aircraft landed in the river. Hypothermia would set in within twenty minutes in that water.
Thoughts to all the families in this tragic and dark time.