A regional passenger jet collided with a U.S. Army helicopter late Wednesday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in what appeared to be the most serious aviation collision in the U.S. in more than 11 years.
The American Airlines jet had 60 passengers and four crew members, CNN reported, citing the airline.
Authorities did not immediately confirm how many people if any may have died in the crash. But the accident, coming after more than two years of rising alarm about near-misses at airports across the country, is certain to add to questions among lawmakers about the pressures weighing on the United States’ long-stellar record of aviation safety.
The Bombardier CRJ700, operated by PSA Airlines, and Sikorsky H-60 helicopter crashed while the jet was on approach to the runway around 9 p.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The regional carrier was operating on behalf of American Airlines, coming in from Wichita, Kansas, FAA said.
A defense official confirmed that the helicopter was an Army UH-60 Black Hawk. Depending on the configuration, the helicopter can carry around a dozen people in addition to two pilots.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed in an interview on Fox News that “a military helicopter collided with a regional jet at DCA airport” and that President Donald Trump had been made aware of the crash.
“The thoughts and the prayers of the entire Trump administration are with all those that are involved,” Leavitt said, adding that the public in this area should “stand by for guidance from law enforcement.” A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a post on X, Vice President JD Vance asked Americans to “please say a prayer for everyone involved in the mid-air collision near Reagan airport this evening.”
“We’re monitoring the situation, but for now let’s hope for the best,” he added.
Kansas’ senators and the House member representing Wichita, Rep. Ron Estes, all posted to their social media accounts shortly after the crash saying they were closely monitoring the reports.
“Tonight, we received devastating news of what can only be described as nothing short of a nightmare,” wrote Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). “A plane, traveling to the Nation’s capital from Wichita, KS carrying roughly 60 passengers collided with a Military helicopter. My prayer is that God wraps his arms around each and every victim and that he continues to be with their families.”
DCA is one of two airports serving the DC area, and it serves members of Congress as well as civilians. Rep. Eric Swalwell (R-Calif.) posted on X that he landed at DCA only minutes before the collision.
The incident occurred as the aircraft was on approach to DCA’s Runway 33 within one of the most complex airspaces given the restrictions imposed around the D.C. area. Military and other law enforcement helicopters, however, routinely fly in the airspace for training missions.
The last fatal crash of an airliner on U.S. soil had been a July 2013 incident involving a Korean jet landing at San Francisco International Airport. The last such incident involving of a U.S. airline was a 2009 collision near Buffalo, New York.
Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident, with NTSB taking lead.
Reports on social media said that an aircraft was down in the Potomac River near the airport after authorities said a suspected collision occurred late Wednesday. Video circulating on X appeared to show a midair collision. It was not immediately clear if there are fatalities.
The airport said in an X post just before 9:15 p.m. that all takeoffs and landings had been halted, with emergency personnel responding to an incident on the airfield. The terminal remained open.
Officials have been warning of a worrying rise in near-collisions on runways, which had seen a sharp increase in 2023 among passenger jets all while record-breaking demand for flights, fatigue and shortages among air traffic controllers, and increasingly decrepit FAA equipment has been looming for years.
Last year did not see the same concerning rise, but experts, safety advocates, the FAA and lawmakers all agreed that scrutiny to tamp down the incidents must continue.
ALPA leader Jason Ambrosi, whose union represents a majority of pilots for U.S. airlines, previously told POLITICO pilot awareness and technology has helped blunt the trend — though long-term investments are needed.
“You need to invest in the technology to help prevent this,” Ambrosi told POLITICO after appearing on a Senate aviation panel hearing in December. While the FAA has made investments in additional equipment at certain airports that alert air traffic controllers of a potential calamity, officials have called for more technologies that help controllers — and even pilots — better see all sorts of moving parts on runways and taxiways.
That could someday include cockpit-alerting technologies currently under discussion. “There is really good hope for [that] technology in the near future,” Ambrosi said at the time.
Paul McLeary and Irie Sentner contributed to this report.