In the first fatal airliner crash in nearly two decades, 67 people are now feared dead in and around the Potomac River in Washington, DC. An American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas approached Reagan Airport on a landing route that would be familiar to anyone who has taken a flight there. A military helicopter on a routine training flight crashed into the plane, causing a fireball in the sky and the complete destruction of both aircraft.
Among the victims are Olympic-class figure skaters from the US and Russia, who were just competing in Wichita:
Officials believe that no one survived the midair collision on Wednesday night of a commercial jet carrying 64 people and an Army helicopter carrying three U.S. service members near Washington, D.C.
Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., and officials said at a news conference on Thursday morning that they had recovered 28 bodies from the frigid, icy water. Emergency responders on Thursday will switch from a rescue to a recovery operation, said John Donnelly, Washington’s fire chief.
Some of those aboard the plane were figure skaters flying from Wichita, Kan., which had hosted the national figure skating championships this month. Russian figure skaters were also among the passengers, the Kremlin said.
This appears to be the first fatal airline crash in the US since Colgan Air’s Flight 3407 in February 2009. That crash killed 49 passengers and one person on the ground. That crash was determined to be pilot error; the pilots on board mishandled a stall situation, leading to some pressure for the FAA to require more training for pilots flying for regional carriers.
It’s too early to be certain what the specific cause was in this accident, but it’s clear that this was also human error. The flight took the standard approach to Reagan Airport, and the military regularly fly helicopters along the Potomac for training and other missions. Newly installed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy appeared this morning in a briefing at Reagan, and said that this accident was “absolutely” preventable. He confirmed that the planned flight paths were “not unusual”:
[more to come]
