An American Airlines commuter jet with 64 people aboard collided with a military helicopter Wednesday evening during a landing approach in Washington, D.C., causing both aircraft to crash into the frigid Potomac River in what will likely be the worst US commercial aviation disaster in years, Olaylar informs via Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines from Wichita, Kansas, to Reagan Washington National Airport, collided with an Army Blackhawk helicopter at 8:48 p.m. ET. American Airlines said the CRJ-700 Bombardier was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members; the chopper was a training flight with three soldiers aboard.
Rescue efforts continued well after midnight; no information about casualties was available. CNN reported the airplane was in pieces in the river. Conditions in the Potomac River were brutal with water temperatures in the 30s. PSA Airlines, based in Dayton, Ohio, is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines Group. It is not the former discount carrier Pacific Southwest Airlines, which ceased operations in 1988, but is the same trademarked brand that American owns. American CEO Robert Isom said in a video statement he would be heading to Washington on Wednesday night. "We're cooperating fully with the National Transportation Safety Board and its investigation, and will continue to provide all the information we can. Our cooperation is without pause, and we want to learn everything we can about today's events. That work will take time."
The US hasn't seen a commercial airline disaster in 15 years. It has been even longer since a major crash involving American Airlines, the nation's largest carrier. In November 2001, American Flight 587 crashed after takeoff from JFK Airport in New York City, killing all 260 people on board. The Airbus A300 bound for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, encountered wake turbulence from a larger Boeing 747 aircraft that took off ahead of it. The disaster happened two months after the 9/11 attacks, which involved two hijacked American Airlines jets: Flight 11, which hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon.
