Michael LucianoJan 29th, 2025, 9:34 pm
Kennedy Center webcam
A passenger jet heading inbound from Wichita, Kansas collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter midair near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in northern Virginia on Wednesday night.
Flights at the airport have been halted while search and rescue teams survey the area for survivors in the Potomac River. CNN reported that there were 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the plane, which is at least partially submerged. Fox News reported that there were three soldiers aboard the helicopter. Rescue divers are in the water. There is no word y
22 Comments
mzmzmzm
A passenger jet originating from Kansas collided with a Blackhawk helicopter midair near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night.
Flights at the airport have been halted.
toomuchtodo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Potomac_River_mid-air_col…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-30/washingto… | https://archive.today/n1ark
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/plane-crash-dca-potomac-was… (CNN live updates)
https://old.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/1idbkyd/crash_at_dc…
https://old.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1idba8i/plane_cra…
https://x.com/aletweetsnews/status/1884789306645983319
https://archive.liveatc.net/kdca/KDCA1-Twr-Jan-30-2025-0130Z… | https://web.archive.org/web/20250130025411/https://archive.l… (event starts at 17:25)
johnneville
appears to have collided with a helicopter
lysace
A CRJ700 crashing into a Black Hawk sounds bad. :/
FR24 shows helicopters from various agencies doing many laps around the site, presumably looking for survivors.
https://i.imgur.com/SykzxUA.png
nradov
Obviously it will take some time for the full accident analysis but there have been quite a few near misses lately due to air traffic controller errors. Flight volume has been growing, airspace near airports is more congested, and controllers are overworked. Eventually all of the "Swiss cheese" holes line up. We're going to need to hire more controllers.
Also, it appears that one of the aircraft was a military (not police) H-60 Blackhawk helicopter.
ceejayoz
Damn. We’ve avoided a US airliner having a fatal crash since 2009.
readthenotes1
The video makes it look like the helicopter crashed into the airplane, not the other way around.
deadbabe
Gruesome, in a crash like this, if there were any survivors from the impact, the water would likely have finished them off.
twoparachute45
It wasn't a police chopper, it was a military VH-60, also known as a "White Hawk" [1]. It's a VIP transport helicopter, the same type that is used to transport the president.
~The flight track of the helicopter [2] starts at a property in McLean, VA (edited to remove likely inaccurate info)~
The chopper was based out of Fort Belvoir, and based on similar past flight tracks, looks like it probably took off from there too. CNN is reporting that there were 3 soldiers onboard, and no VIPs.
1: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_VH-60N_White_Hawk
2: https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ae313d&lat=38.952&lon=-…
reaperman
Does anyone have the flight path for the helicopter? (Tail number PAT25). FlightAware doesn't show it but it might have been tracked by open source ADS-B receivers.
This helicopter was often utilized for VIP transport.
7thpower
Oh man. I’m in Wichita and am getting a bunch of texts.
Texted my friends that fly that route regularly and most have texted back.
It can all be gone in an instant, tell those you love what they mean to you.
edit: everyone is accounted for
bryant
Not that being near DC affords me any kind of right to an opinion, but:
Given the uptick in near miss incidents across the US the last few years, this is the kind of incident that should've been entirely avoidable through changes in policy from these past events but is also apparently the only kind that can spur along policy changes. I can see a world where the fault is on the VH-60, but absent more information, it would surprise me less to hear that it's the fault of the tower.
Knowing where AA5342 was in its approach, I see no possibility of the jet being at fault.
https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL5342
I'm drawing a lot of early conclusions but it's mostly because I'm just not surprised. Angry as someone who flies a bunch, but not surprised.
anigbrowl
I was startled to learn that just a few months ago Lockheed Martin was demonstrating remote control flight of a similar military helicopter: https://theaviationist.com/2024/10/22/uh-60-black-hawk-matri…
Given the strange way the helicopter appeared to fly right into the jet there will be no end to the speculation. Already people on social media are claiming that the helicopter originated near the CIA or that there was someone important flying on the plane.
hindsightbias
I believe the Marine aviation unit supporting the WH operates from the navy base east across from DCA. You can watch them training from the terminal.
Not sure how they or the Army transition the approach ends to the runways, but it’s really close.
duxup
I sometimes wonder about the value of these news stories on forums and social media.
It's all pretty much wild speculation with several potential causes already mentioned on this forum.
News important yes, every rando with a few shreds of factoids speculating, not so much.
stall84
We really can't have this type of accident, a midair collision happen anywhere in the United States, much less the nation's capital, especially considering the Washington area is some of the highest controlled airspace in the country. DCA has been a high-risk airport really since the jet-age, and I have a feeling this might be the end of it as a major passenger airport (at least for Part 121 operations). DOT/FAA are really going to need to step up after this and figure it out, for good.
I hope there are survivors but it is really cold in that water right now, look up Air Florida flight 90 for a completely different accident, but in a similar time of the year.
tjohns
ATC recording: https://archive.liveatc.net/kdca/KDCA1-Twr-Jan-30-2025-0130Z…
(You won't hear the military helicopter replies, since they're on a different frequency. ATC broadcasts on both frequencies simultaneously.)
Initial AA5342 checkin at 12:50.
First traffic call given to the helicopter at 15:50.
Second traffic call to the helicopter and deconfliction instructions given at 17:25.
Crash at 17:48.
jauntywundrkind
Anecdotally, the amount of helicopter & air traffic going on around DC has been absurd this month.
My house in DC has calmed down some but we had a bunch of low flying fighters jets & helicopters for a bit. It's been wild having the house shaken at noon or 1:00 from pairs of fighter jets!
I've had an in-week around Tysons this week, and it's been wild seeing pair after pair after pair of helicopter flying east towards the city this week. I'm normally up there once or twice a week and usually there's nothing like this.
xunil2ycom
When did Hacker News become reddit?
gonzo41
I know that everyone crosses all altitudes during landing. But why don't ATC / FAA stratify aircraft type and use altitude.
Like all commercial traffic in even thousands altitudes. And the Military / EMS gets odd thousands.
Its crazy to have things colliding like this.
third_rate_econ
Could be a relevant DEFCON talk: https://youtu.be/KYuBf2HpXJg?si=srOl5T6CY6Lg8HZQ
Sounds like maybe the ADSB was on in this case though.
blondie9x
There hasn't been a total loss aviation crash on US soil in what 30+ years? We have a new unqualified President for a week and now his new Chief of Defense who had no experience managing a large organization over 80 people, has brought disaster to our country and the military he controls.