In the first fatal airliner crash in the US for 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":

Did someone deviate from the standard flight pattern? It certainly seems like it, but we still don't know which craft was out of position. Another question will be whether flight controllers at Reagan issued the proper commands to both flights. There may end up being a equipment issue too, although that may not be known unless and until the flight recorders are found. 

Right now, there are no other real developments to report. Reagan closed down after the collision, but it is due to reopen at 11 am ET, when the airport will go back to full operation. The effort to recover all the victims will go on as long as possible, but given the water temperatures, there is no chance at all of finding a miracle survivor, even if someone did manage to live through the collision and crash. We will cover further developments in this post and others, but for now, just pray for all those lost and for all those who love them.

And one last piece of advice: don't listen to unhinged speculation. That means turning off CNN, it seems.

In a moment of horror and tragedy for our country, CNN is already rushing to point fingers at Trump for the plane crash.

This is disgusting. pic.twitter.com/gNMzrIf0gJ

— Media Lies (@MediasLies) January 30, 2025

Apparently @cnn does not know how to search for information. From Grok:
The acting FAA chief is currently Mark House, who serves as the Assistant Administrator for Finance and Management and has stepped into the role of acting deputy administrator. This transition follows the…

— Gina Bobbolina 🇺🇸💪🏼🦺 (@BruceLabsYanks) January 30, 2025

Update: Also, despite what some people claim, Donald Trump's buyout offer for federal employees does NOT apply to military or safety agencies. None of the air traffic controllers would have been eligible for the buyout, so there wasn't a shortage of personnel because of the buyout offer. 

Update: Just to be ecumenical, this is equally exploitative. Why bring up DEI at all in the absence of any data on the pilots or the ATCs?

Rep. Andy Ogles on the DCA plane crash: "Did DEI play a role in this type a thing?" pic.twitter.com/KNrWT4tg9w

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 30, 2025

For future reference: When you start off by saying "you hate to jump to any conclusions," that's a big hint to use a period at that point rather than a comma. 

Update: There has been some speculation as to the communications between ATCs and the helicopter. The Wall Street Journal takes a look into that:

Just after 8:47 p.m. on Wednesday, an air-traffic controller at Reagan National Airport relayed a seemingly ordinary inquiry and instruction: 

“PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight?” he asked a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, requesting it keep a lookout for an American Airlines Bombardier jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members from Wichita, Kan. The helicopter was on a training mission, officials would later say.

“PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,” the controller then said as American Airlines flight 5342 descended over the Potomac River just moments before landing. “CRJ” is aviation shorthand for Canadair Regional Jet.

Within 19 seconds, the horror of the two colliding aircraft became clear. “Oh my…!” someone yelled, a scream briefly picked up in the background of radio transmissions as air-traffic control worked to redirect planes to nearby airports. 

The WSJ reports that it's unclear whether the helicopter pilot actually acknowledged that order, but the ATC does clearly warn the pilot to visually identify and stay clear of the incoming flight. At the same time, however, the ATCs had reportedly redirected the American Air flight from one runway to another, which involved making a turn that might have taken the helicopter by surprise. An airline pilot, Juan Brown, explains the maneuver and all of the other data made available last night:

Update: I had misidentified Mr. Brown as a former airline pilot, but a reader corrects me; he is a current airline pilot. I have corrected it above.