American Airlines crash with Black Hawk helicopter leaves no survivors
An American Airlines (AAL) flight with 60 passengers and four crew members late on Wednesday collided with a U.S. Army helicopter on a training flight just outside Washington, and authorities said the crash left no survivors.
The crash occurred at about 9 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time as the American Air jet was descending into Reagan National Airport (DCA) a few miles from downtown DC. Both aircraft crashed into Potomac River.
A massive search-and-rescue mission was underway into the early hours of Thursday morning. The effort to find survivors took place in the dark and in water that reached near freezing temperatures (35° F. or 1.7° C).
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‘Switching from rescue to recovery’
“We are now at a point where we’re switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said at a news conference at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 30. “At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident.”
The bodies of 27 of the 64 people aboard American Airlines Flight 5342 and one of the three soldiers aboard the Black Hawk helicopter had been recovered by Thursday morning, reports say.
The Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI and local emergency workers have all been enlisted to help with and investigate the crash.
People who live alongside the Potomac River leading toward DC reported hearing the sirens of emergency vehicles around the entire area as well as dozens of military helicopters circulating in the air well into the morning of Jan. 30.
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NTSB will lead the inquiry into the crash
By the morning, leadership of the operation has been handed over to the National Transportation Safety Board.
“I’m confident that we will do that, and that will take us a little bit of time, though. It may involve some more equipment,” Donnelly said.
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The helicopter involved in the crash was a UH-60 Black Hawk frequently used by the military for training exercises. The American Airlines flight was a Bombardier CRJ700 (BDRAF) used for small regional flights.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom, who flew into Washington soon after the crash, said it was still too early to determine the cause.
“At this time, we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path of the PSA aircraft,” Isom said in a statement.
This is the first major crash to take place on U.S. soil since a Colgan Air Flight crash near Buffalo Niagara International Airport in February 2009 killed all 49 people aboard.
Elite figure-skating athletes on American flight
The American Air flight was also carrying numerous elite figure-skating athletes from training in Wichita; two people confirmed to be killed include the former Russian world skating champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
Now married, the skating couple had secured the gold medal for pairs skating in 1994 and had been living and training young athletes in the U.S. since 1998.
“These athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas,” U.S. Figure Skating told local Washington outlet WUSA9.
While authorities have not yet announced the names of other victims, members of the figure skating community in DC and Wichita said that multiple members had friends and family aboard the downed plane.
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