On January 29, 2025, American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. It happened over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., around 9 p.m., tragically crashing near Reagan National Airport.
According to the report, the American Airlines crashed into a regional jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, while the military helicopter had three soldiers on board.
Eyewitness videos recorded the exact moment of the collision, showing the two aircraft crashing into each other, creating a fiery explosion followed by a thick trail of smoke.
The devastating incident over Washington dc plane crashes, has prompted a large-scale recovery operation in the Airplane crash Potomac river, where the wreckage is located.
Dive teams are working tirelessly to recover victims despite the difficult conditions.
As of now, recovery efforts have revealed at least 28 bodies from the river, with no survivors expected from either aircraft.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is leading the investigation into the crash and plans to release a preliminary report in about 30 days.
Experts say that the pilots of American Airlines Flight 5342 and the military Black Hawk helicopter were likely familiar with flying in complicated airspace.
However, the head of the air traffic controllers union said it’s too early to guess what caused the accident.
Officials announced on Thursday that there were no irregularities in the flight paths of either aircraft before the collision, and communication between them was functioning properly.
Victims aboard Flight 5342 included several members of athletes returning from a developmental camp in Wichita, US Figure Skating.
Among them were members of the figure skating community, including Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, the 1994 world champs in pairs.
More bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of american airlines 5342 and helicopter collision in the Washington DC airplane crash, according to a law enforcement source.
The recovery efforts are challenging due to the damaged wreckage located in the Potomac River plane crashes, making it difficult for dive teams to access parts of the aircraft.
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On the other side of the story, Donald Trump claimed on Thursday, without citing evidence, that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were partly responsible for the crash.
He suggested that these policies led to lower hiring standards for air traffic controllers, potentially compromising safety
When questioned about the lack of evidence for his claims, Trump dismissed the inquiries as “not smart” and insisted that he was using “common sense” to draw his conclusions.
He argued that the FAA’s focus on diversity hiring could have affected operational safety.
However, this has been questioned as there’s no evidence that DEI policies had anything to do with the crash.
To know more about the current issue related to the recent plane crash, check the answers and questions below!
Were there any survivors during the airplane crash in the Potomac river?
No survivors are reported from either aircraft. Recovery efforts have so far retrieved multiple bodies from the Potomac River.
What is being done to investigate the current airplane crash?
The FAA and NTSB have initiated investigations to determine the cause of the collision. They will analyze flight data recorders and communications between air traffic control and both aircraft.
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