Josh Morgan-USA TODAY
Audio reveals air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. warned the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter about the American Airlines passenger jet prior to Wednesday’s devastating crash. Mere moments after the warning, the two aircraft collided.
“PAT-25, do you have the CRJ in sight?” an air traffic controller can be heard telling the helicopter. “PAT-25, pass behind the CRJ.”
Shortly thereafter, Reuters reports, another air traffic controller can be heard saying, “Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three.”
Another controller then said, “I don’t know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach into 3-3. We’re going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future.”
“Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river,” said a third controller. “It was probably out in the middle of the river. I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river. But it was a CRJ and a helicopter that hit.”
According to the New York Times, officials are saying that they believe no one survived the midair collision between the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and the American Airlines passenger jet. John Donnelly, Washington’s fire chief, said they have changed from a rescue to a recovery operation.
Both aircraft fell into the Potomac River after impact and so far rescue crews have pulled at least 27 bodies from the water.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the Army Black Hawk helicopter that was based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia was conducting “a required annual night evaluation” flight and was being flown by “a fairly experienced crew” operating with night-vision goggles, according to CBS News. Officials also stated that the passenger jet was following a standard flight path.
“The initial briefs were that everything was routine going into the approach for landing for American Airlines Flight 5342 and that, in fact, contact had been made with, of course, the military helicopter as well,” CNN reports Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said. “But of course, it clearly wasn’t routine, and we had two aircraft in the river with 67 fatalities.”