More than 60 feared dead after jet hits helicopter, crashes into Washington river

By David Shepardson, Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 60 people were feared dead after an American Airlines regional passenger jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the frigid Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport. 

"At this point we do not believe there were any survivors," District of Columbia fire chief John Donnelly said at a Thursday press conference at the airport.

Donnelly said 28 bodies had been recovered from the river so far, in what was shaping up to be the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than a decade. "We will work to find all the bodies and reunite them with their loved ones," he said.

American Airlines confirmed 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the jet. The helicopter, on a training flight, was carrying three soldiers, a U.S. official said.

Passengers on the flight included ice skaters, family and coaches returning from events in Wichita, Kansas, including Russian-born former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.

CBS News reported that a dive team had recovered one of the two data recorders, the so-called black boxes, from the plane.

The midair collision occurred as the passenger jet flying from Wichita was approaching to land at Reagan. Radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk showed the helicopter crew knew the plane was in the vicinity.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both the helicopter and the airplane had been flying normal flight patterns. "This was not unusual," he said.

The Pentagon said it was launching an investigation.

In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump questioned the actions of the helicopter crew and air traffic controllers on what he described as a clear night.

"This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!," he wrote.

American Eagle Flight 5342 was operated by PSA Airlines, an Ohio-based regional subsidiary of American Airlines. The plane was a CRJ-700, the airline said, from a line of regional jets made by Canada's Bombardier, later sold to Mitsubishi.

Air traffic control recordings appear to capture the final attempted communications with the helicopter, call sign PAT25, before it collides with the CRJ jet.

"PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ," an air traffic controller says at 8:47 p.m. (0147 GMT), according to a recording on liveatc.net.

Seconds later, another aircraft calls in to air traffic control, saying, "Tower, did you see that?" - apparently referring to the crash. An air traffic controller then redirects planes heading to runway 33 to go around.

Webcam video of the crash showed the collision and an explosion lighting up the night sky. 

"I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven't seen anything since they hit the river," an air traffic controller was heard saying over the radio.

RESCUE EFFORTS        

The skaters on board were returning from a camp following an event in Wichita, governing body U.S. Figure Skating said. 

"We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts," it said.

Russian media said Shishkova and Naumov, who were married and working as coaches, were returning from Wichita with a group of young skaters. Russia's Mash news outlet published a list of 13 skaters, many of them the children of Russian emigres to the U.S., who it said were believed to have been on the plane.

The Kremlin offered condolences to the families of Russians killed and said there were no plans for contacts for now between President Vladimir Putin and Trump.

Washington DC fire chief Donnelly said conditions were cold and windy, making the operation "extremely rough" for responders.

"At these frigid water temperatures, the human body’s core temperature quickly drops. Exhaustion or unconsciousness can occur in as little as 15 to 30 minutes," AccuWeather Senior Director of Forecast Operations Dan DePodwin said.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said the company was cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates accidents.

In 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River, killing 70 passengers and four crew members. Only four passengers and one crew member survived.      

The last deadly major crash involving a commercial airliner in the U.S. was in 2009, when all 49 people aboard a Colgan Air flight died when the plane crashed in New York state. One person was also killed on the ground.

(This story has been corrected to fix day to Thursday, not Friday, in paragraph 2)

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Trevor Hunnicutt, Jamie Freed, Idrees Ali, Rich McKay, Susan Heavey, Kanishka Singh, Jasper Ward, Rami Ayyub in Washington; Brad Brooks in Colorado; Joe Brock and Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Writing by Andy Sullivan, Brad Brooks and Timothy Heritage; Editing by Ross Colvin, Gerry Doyle, Peter Graff and Alex Richardson)