Black Hawk that struck American Flight 5342 was on routine training flight: officials

The Army chopper that crashed into an American Airlines plane connected Wednesday nighttime supra Washington, D.C., was connected a regular grooming flight, officials said Thursday.

“It was a reasonably experienced unit that was doing a required yearly nighttime evaluation,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said successful a societal media video. “It was an yearly proficiency grooming flight.”

The 12th Aviation Battalion, which was flying the helicopter, was placed connected a 48-hour pause, Hegseth said. The 3 soldiers connected committee the UH-60 Black Hawk chopper were killed successful the crash, and the Army has identified them but is not yet releasing their names publicly, Hegseth said.

American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, to Ronald Reagan National Airport adjacent Washington, D.C., collided with the chopper successful midair conscionable earlier 9 p.m. Wednesday implicit the Potomac River.

All 60 passengers and 4 unit members connected committee the aircraft, successful summation to the 3 soldiers connected the Black Hawk, are presumed dead. It is the deadliest airplane clang successful the U.S. since November 2001 and the nation’s archetypal commercialized aerial catastrophe since a Continental Airlines formation crashed successful February 2009.

Military helicopters are a communal show successful the Washington, D.C., area, and the 12th Aviation Battalion is often liable for transporting high-ranking authorities and subject officials astir the region. However, the Pentagon has confirmed no elder leaders were connected the Black Hawk that crashed Wednesday.