Maps of the Washington DC plane crash
A map of the path of an American Airlines flight that collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter, showing the path of the plane from the south and of the helicopter from the north of Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
An American Airlines regional passenger jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair and crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night. Officials have not provided a death toll but said all passengers and crew on both flights were feared dead.
“At this point we do not believe there were any survivors,” said District of Columbia fire chief John Donnelly. There were 64 people aboard the jet and three soldiers on the helicopter.
The passenger jet was traveling from Wichita, Kansas, and was on approach to land at Reagan when it collided with the helicopter.
An illustration showing the relative size of the American Airlines jet compared to a Black Hawk helicopter.
Military helicopters are a common sight in the Washington region that is home to numerous military bases.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter unit that collided with the American Airlines flight was on an annual training flight and that the crew was “fairly experienced.” Radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk showed the helicopter crew knew the plane was in the vicinity.
Geoffrey Thomas, aviation expert and editor of 42kft.com, said the helicopter was not broadcasting tracking information that would’ve been received by collision avoidance systems aboard the passenger aircraft.
The FAA has established routes for helicopter traffic in the D.C.-area, though pilots may deviate from them. Route 6 crosses over Reagan National Airport. The Army helicopter appeared to be traveling along Route 4, which runs within a few thousand feet of Reagan along the opposite bank of the Potomac River, and intersected the flight path of the American Airlines flight.
A map of FAA helicopter routes around Washington, D.C. overlaid with the path of the American Airlines flight and US Army helicopter which collided.
The collision highlighted issues around the congested airspace shared by civilian and military aircraft over the U.S. capital. Over a three-year period ending in 2019, there were 88,000 helicopter flights within 30 miles (48 km) of Reagan National Airport, including about 33,000 military and 18,000 law enforcement flights, the Government Accountability Office said in a 2021 report.
Because of the short length of its runways, over 90% of flights use Reagan National Airport’s main runway, making it the busiest in the U.S., with over 800 daily takeoffs and landings.
A diagram of Reagan National Airport showing its 3 runways.
A chart showing monthly flight volumes at Reagan National Airport.
Sources
American Airlines flight tracking data from FlightRadar24. Helicopter flight data from ADS-B Exchange. Map data from Google Earth.
Edited by
Jon McClure