American Airlines plane crash: Everything we know so far after horror mid-air incident in Washington DC

A pitchy with 60 passengers and 4 unit members aboard collided Wednesday nighttime with an Army chopper portion landing astatine Ronald Reagan National Airport adjacent Washington, prompting a ample search-and-rescue cognition successful the adjacent Potomac River.

Here is everything we cognize truthful far.

Plane crashed into Army chopper connected descent to runway

American Airlines Flight 5342 was inbound to the airdrome astatine an altitude of astir 400 feet and a velocity of astir 140 miles per hr erstwhile it suffered a accelerated nonaccomplishment of altitude implicit the Potomac River, according to information from its vigor transponder.

A fewer minutes earlier landing, aerial postulation controllers asked the arriving commercialized pitchy if it could onshore connected the shorter Runway 33 astatine Reagan National and the pilots said they were able.

Less than 30 seconds earlier the crash, an aerial postulation controller asked the chopper if it had the arriving level successful sight.

The controller made different vigor telephone to the chopper moments later: "PAT 25 walk down the CRJ." Seconds aft that, the 2 craft collided.

Number of fatalities unknown

There were aggregate fatalities aft the mid-air collision, according to respective abstracted US media outlets that cited anonymous sources.

Officials who held a property league astatine Reagan National Airport did not denote immoderate deaths, but they each had a sombre tone.

Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas said "when 1 idiosyncratic dies it's a tragedy, but erstwhile many, many, galore radical dice it's an unbearable sorrow".

Washington politician Muriel Bowser would not accidental whether immoderate bodies were recovered from the crash.

Search and rescue cognition underway

There are presently astir 300 responders moving connected a “highly complex” rescue operation.

Inflatable rescue boats were launched into the Potomac River from a constituent on the George Washington Parkway, conscionable northbound of the airport.

First responders person besides acceptable up airy towers from the enactment to illuminate the country adjacent the collision site.

World champion Russian fig skaters reported to beryllium aboard crashed US plane

Russian fig skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the plane, Russian state-run TASS quality bureau has reported, citing a source.

Shishkova and Naumov, who were married, won the satellite title successful pairs fig skating successful 1994.

Army investigating incident

Pete Hegseth, sworn successful days agone arsenic defence secretary, posted connected societal media that an investigation has been "launched immediately" by the Army and the Defense Department.

The US Army described the chopper arsenic a UH-60 Blackhawk based astatine Fort Belvoir successful Virginia.

It is said to person been connected a grooming flight.

Military craft often behaviour grooming flights successful and astir the congested and heavily-restricted airspace astir the nation's superior for familiarisation and continuity of authorities planning.

Trump blames aerial postulation controllers and chopper unit

President Donald Trump appeared to blasted connected the chopper unit and aerial postulation controllers successful a station connected Truth Social.

"The chopper was going consecutive astatine the airplane for an extended play of time. It is simply a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights connected the level were blazing, wherefore didn't the chopper spell up oregon down, oregon turn," Trump wrote.

"Why didn't the power operation archer the chopper what to bash alternatively of asking if they saw the plane. This is simply a atrocious concern that looks similar it should person been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!"