Skip to content D.C. Fire & EMS chief John Donnelly officially announced this morning that rescue efforts after last night’s crash of a plane and helicopter outside Reagan National Airport had shifted to recovery with no survivors expected to be found. The bodies of 27 people from American Airlines flight 5342 from Wichita, KS had been recovered with one body recovered from the Army Black Hawk helicopter.
The collision of the American flight and the Army helicopter occurred last night around 8:48 pm EST with both aircraft falling into the Potomac River. Around 300 first responders from numerous Washington, DC & Baltimore area agencies worked tirelessly in an attempt to recover any survivors from the tragedy.
Sixty-four people, including a crew of four, were on board the American flight including numerous people associated with the figure skating community who were en route back home from a developmental camp in Wichita. Three Army soldiers were on board the helicopter which was reportedly on a training mission.
Responsibility for the official investigation will now fall to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the lead federal agency for investigating aircraft disasters. Last night’s plane crash was the first major plane crash to occur on American soil since 2009 outside Buffalo with the worst death toll for a plane crash on U.S. soil since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.