American Airlines passenger plane and Black Hawk crash in Washington DC: What we know

What caused a US Army helicopter to collide with an American Airlines jet in Washington DC, killing all on board? Experts, including an Australian weigh in. This is what we know.

Questions about how a US Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight carrying 64 people in clear skies near Washington DC’s Reagan National Airport are intensifying after the White House confirmed there are no survivors.

Footage of the incident appeared to show the exact moment when American Airlines Flight 5342, on its final descent to runway 33, collided in midair with the Black Hawk Helicopter, prompting an explosion, with both aircraft falling into the icy waters of the Potomac River below.

This is what we know so far:

HOW DID THE PLANE AND HELICOPTER COLLIDE?

This is the timeline of events so far.

*6.18pm Eastern Time: American Airlines flight 5342 with 60 passengers and four crew aboard departed Wichita, Kansas (5.18pm local time) with an expected arrival time of 9.03pm ET

*8.39pm Eastern Time: Black Hawk helicopter takes off from nearby Davison Air Base on a training mission

*8.48pm Eastern time: Air Traffic Control at Reagan National Airport advises emergency services that flight 5342 has collided with the Black Hawk

*9.15pm Eastern time: First eight bodies pulled from the river

*11.30pm Eastern time: Tally of bodies retrieved reaches 18

Part of the wreckage is seen as rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River after a plane on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into the river outside Washington, DC.

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF ANYONE SURVIVING?

None. All 64 passengers and crew on board the plane and the three military personnel on board the helicopter have died - either during the midair collision or after plunging into the freezing waters of the river.

So far, 30 bodies had been retrieved, according to authorities.

An emergency response team with Washington, DC Fire and EMS make their way to airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport.

WHAT ARE THE EXPERTS SAYING?

An Australian aviation expert has questioned why the Black Hawk that crashed into a passenger plane in Washington did not maintain visual separation.

Tony Stanton from Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority, was one of a number of experts who spoke to CNN to speculate on possible causes for the disaster.

“It’s very clear, looking at the flight paths of the aircraft and the radio transmissions, that the Black Hawk was asked to maintain visual separation from Flight 5342 for some reason –– and we don’t know that reason,” he said.

“That’s one of the areas that I would be interested in examining as an investigator. What caused the Black Hawk crew not to comply with the clearance they were provided?”

Mr Stanton said the Washington Air Traffic Control tower had two radio frequencies used to communicate with airborne aircraft. One frequency was used for rotorcraft helicopters and another for other aircraft. This differed to many other towers in the US, he said.

“So in this circumstance, you would have had the Black Hawk talking to the tower on one frequency, and you would have had Flight 5342 talking to the tower on another frequency,” he said.

Mr Stanton said the crash may have resulted in “a barrier of situational awareness between the pilots”.

COULD THE AIPORT HAVE BEEN AT FAULT?

A short runway and intersecting flight paths with precariously close altitude requirements may have played a role in the deadly collision, experts told The New York Post.

Officials have not yet provided any causal information behind the deadliest aviation disaster in the US in more than two decades, but Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the tragedy was “absolutely” preventable.

Originally built to shuffle VIPs into the nation’s capital on private or government jets, Reagan is a smaller airport and the only one physically in the District.

With a runway nearly half as long as the standard 13,000-foot runways of other airports built to accommodate large commercial jets, landing is tricky for incoming planes, according to former DC-based American Airlines pilot John Wright.

Investigators carry pieces of wreckage from the waters of the Potomac River after American Airlines flight 5342 on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into the river after colliding with a US Army helicopter, near Washington, DC. Picture: AFP

“The first few times you fly there, you usually are with [a fellow pilot] who’s really experienced,” Wright told The Post.

The shorter runway makes the descent difficult, creating the need for pilots to be intensely focused, he said.

“It’s such a challenging airport to land a jet airplane as your focus is really on your airspeed, your altitude, your rate of descent,” he said, adding that “the last thing you’re looking for is to see if somebody’s crossing in your path.”

Also, intersecting flight paths with close altitude requirements could have played a role in the tragedy.

There are two flight paths — one for helicopters and another for airplanes — that converge, according to an official flight map.

Helicopters are directed to fly no higher than 200 feet in their path, while airplanes should be at roughly 500 feet, aircraft aviation attorney and former pilot Jim Brauchle told The Post.

WHAT HAS THE AUDIO FROM THE CRASH REVEALED?

In audio that was quickly shared on social media, air traffic controllers could be heard asking the pilot of the helicopter, prior to the collision, if the American Airlines flight was in sight, and then advising the pilot to “pass behind” the plane.

No response from the pilot of the chopper was discernible on the shared audio, but there were gasps – apparently from air traffic controllers – at the moment of impact.

WHO WAS ON BOARD THE PLANE AND THE HELICOPTER?

As the investigation into how an American Airlines passenger jet and US Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair continues, some of the victims have reportedly emerged.

Russian figure skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who were married and won the world championship in pairs figure skating in 1994, were among those aboard the plane, Russian state-run TASS news agency reported.

Their son Maxim, 23, a figure skater for Team USA, took part in the US Championships in Wichita recently.

Russian figure skaters Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov are reported to have been on board the American Airlines plane that crashed into a Black Hawk helicopter over Washington DC.

Russian figure skaters Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov are reported to have been on board the American Airlines plane that crashed into a Black Hawk helicopter over Washington DC. The couple's 23-year-old son Maxim, a figure skater for Team USA, took part in the US Championships in Wichita in recent days.

It is not yet clear if he was on the plane with his parents but US figure skating has confirmed that several skaters, coaches and their family members were on the flight, and had been returning home from the National Development Camp which is held alongside the championships.

“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available,” the sport governing body said in a statement.

Three US Army soldiers were onboard the Black Hawk helicopter, US officials said.

WHAT HAS PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAID?

President Donald Trump was quick to demand answers.

“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He also asked why air traffic controllers didn’t tell the army pilot “what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane”.

“This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!,” the President posted.

Mr Trump has since launched an extraordinary political attack, blaming diversity hires for the midair collision between the airliner and a military helicopter.

The Republican confirmed the deaths of all those aboard both aircraft, and also cited pilot error on the helicopter in the nighttime crash.

Emergency response teams including Washington, DC Fire and EMS, DC Police and others, asses airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport.

But he chiefly used a press conference to open fire at what he said were left-wing diversity practices under his predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama that he said kept out good employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.

“I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first,” Mr Trump said. “They actually came out with a directive: ‘too white.’ And we want the people that are competent.” As Mr Trump spoke in the White House, police divers searched for more bodies in the water.

ARE THERE ANY AUSSIES INVOLVED?

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they were making urgent enquiries but they were not aware of any Australians on board.

WHAT WAS THE BLACK HAWK DOING BEFORE THE MIDAIR COLLISION?

An Army spokesperson said the Sikorksy H-60 Black Hawk helicopter was on a training flight. Details of the three crew members on board were not immediately released but they were part of Bravo Company of the 12th Aviation Battalion stationed at nearby Fort Belvoir, the spokesperson said. The helicopter had taken off at 8.39pm local time.

American Airlines flight 5342, a Bombadier CRJ700, was two and a half hours into its journey from Wichita, Kansas, and was carrying 60 passengers and four crew at the time of the incident, the airline confirmed.

Emergency response units conduct search and rescue operations in the Potomac River.

WHAT HAS AMERICAN AIRLINES SAID?

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said it was “a difficult day for all of us”.

“We are actively working with local, state and federal authorities … We’re co-operating fully. We want to learn everything we can about today’s events,” he said.

Authorities confirmed some 300 emergency services personnel were involved in the rescue effort, but warned they were working in dire conditions, with limited visibility.

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO RETRIEVE THE BODIES?

Fire and Emergency Services Chief John Donnelly said the river was “a large black spot with no lights, except for a few buoy lights” and the water was “murky”.

“That is a very tough condition for them to dive in,” he said of first responders.

Retrieval efforts could end up taking several days, he said.

All air traffic at Reagan National Airport in Virginia was stopped immediately after the incident, and 19 other flights were diverted to Dulles International Airport.

Reagan National Airport is likely to remain closed well into Friday as investigations and rescue and retrieval efforts continue.

HOW BAD IS THIS TRAGEDY?

If worst fears are realised, the incident will be America’s worst commercial plane disaster since 2009, when 50 people including 45 passengers, four crew members, and one bystander died when a Bombardier Q400 flying from New Jersey crashed into a house in Buffalo, New York.

Other major US plane crashes that have occurred over the years include:

•January 15, 2009: a US Airways Airbus A320 carrying more than 150 people collides with a flock of birds before making a spectacular landing on the Hudson River in New York, thanks to the pilot’s exemplary actions.

•August 27, 2006: a regional transport plane uses a wrong, unlit runway, rather than the designated one and crashes shortly after taking off from Lexington airport, Kentucky, killing around 50 people onboard.

•December 19, 2005: a Grumman G-73T Mallard hydroplane operated by Ocean Airways, connecting Miami and an island in the Bahamas, crashes into the sea shortly after takeoff, killing both crew members and 18 passengers.

•October 19, 2004: a BAe Jetstream 32 operated by AmericanConnection crashes near Kirksville, Missouri due to poor visibility. Both pilots and 11 out of the 13 passengers are killed.

•January 8, 2003: a US Airways Beechcraft 1900, flying between Charlotte, North Carolina and Greenville, South Carolina, crashes into a hangar shortly after takeoff. Both pilots and the 19 passengers onboard are killed.

•November 12, 2001: two months after the September 11 attacks, an American Airlines Airbus A-300, flying from New York to Saint-Domingue, crashes shortly after taking off from JFK airport. The 251 passengers and nine crew members are killed. On the ground, several houses are destroyed or damaged, and five residents killed.

•January 13, 1982: an Air Florida Boeing 737-222 hits a bridge over the Potomac before crashing into the river just after takeoff during a snowstorm. The crash kills 78 people including four motorists who were on the bridge.