What is known about the deadly collision between a passenger jet and Army helicopter

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This article was published 30/01/2025 (249 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army helicopter collided in midair near Washington D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National last Wednesday night, sending both aircraft into the Potomac River and killing all 67 aboard in the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001.

Officials announced in a statement on Tuesday that the remains of all 67 victims had been recovered. All but one have been identified.

The cause of the crash 3 miles (5 kilometers) south of the White House and U.S. Capitol was under investigation Tuesday as crews continued removing wreckage from the river.

The crash

The regional jet out of Wichita, Kansas, carried 60 passengers and four crew and was preparing to land. The UH-60 Black Hawk, based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, was on a training exercise and carried three soldiers, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Skies were clear.

A few minutes before the Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-700 series twin-engine jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked Flight 5342 if it could use a shorter runway. The pilots agreed. Controllers cleared the landing. Flight-tracking sites show the plane adjusted its approach to the new runway.

Less than 30 seconds before the collision, a controller asked the helicopter if it had the plane in sight. The military pilot said yes.

Moments later the controller made another call to the helicopter, apparently telling it to wait for the jet to pass.

There was no reply and the two aircraft collided.

The recovery

“Our hearts are with the victims’ families as they navigate this tragic loss,” officials said in a joint statement announcing the recovery of all the victims’ remains. It was issued by the city and federal agencies involved, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Navy dive teams and Washington police and fire crews.

A medical examiner was still trying to positively identify one set of remains, the statement said.

On Monday salvage crews retrieved one of the two jet engines and large pieces of the plane’s exterior from the river. The following day, working in choppy conditions, they raised a number of large pieces of the jetliner including the right wing, the center fuselage and parts of the forward cabin, cockpit, tail cone and rudder. They hope to recover the helicopter later in the week.

Two Navy barges are lifting wreckage from the river. Portions of the two aircraft will be loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to a hangar. More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at any given time, officials said.

The investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that it was examining new data that could put the helicopter above its flight ceiling of 200 feet (61 meters).

The airport’s air traffic control screen — relying on radar sensors and other data — had the helicopter at 300 feet (91 meters), the NTSB said. However that figure would have been rounded to the nearest 100 feet, according to authorities.

Investigators said they need to get more information from the still-submerged Black Hawk to verify the data.

The jet’s flight recorder showed its altitude as 325 feet (99 meters), plus or minus 25 feet (7.6 meters).

Investigators said that about a second before impact, the jet’s flight recorder showed a change in its pitch. But they did not say whether that change in angle meant pilots were trying to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid the crash.

The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet (732 meters) short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the Potomac, and the plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water. The helicopter’s wreckage was also found in the river.

Army aviation chief of staff Jonathan Koziol said the helicopter crew was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying around Washington.

Full NTSB investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.

President Donald Trump has publicly faulted the helicopter for flying at too high an altitude. He also said federal diversity and inclusion efforts — particularly regarding air traffic controllers — were somehow to blame. When repeatedly pressed on it by reporters in the White House briefing room, the president could not back up those claims.

The victims

Among the passengers were members of the Skating Club of Boston who were returning from a development camp that followed the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.

Victims included teenage figure skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, the teens’ mothers and two Russian-born coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won a 1994 world championship in pairs skating.

The victims also included a group of hunters returning from a guided trip in Kansas, four members of a steamfitters’ local union in suburban Maryland, nine students and parents from Fairfax County, Virginia, schools and two Chinese nationals.

The plane captain was Jonathan Campos, 34, according to multiple media reports.

The Army identified the soldiers on the helicopter as Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach of Durham, North Carolina; Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland. O’Hara was the crew chief and Eaves and Lobach were pilots.

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Associated Press reporters throughout the U.S. contributed.