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All 67 Aboard Crashed American Plane and Helicopter Feared Dead
NEW DELHI, Jan 30: All the 64 passengers aboard the American Airlines flight which collided with an army helicopter just outside the Reagan Airport in Washington and fell into the Potomac river are feared dead even as 28 bodies had so far been recovered from the river. The incident happened in the wee hours of Thursday, according to the Indian time.
The American Airlines Flight 5342 was carrying 64 people, including passengers and crew members, at the time of the crash. Officials said there are likely no survivors from the devastating collision.
“At this point we don’t believe there are any survivors,” Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said at a news conference at Reagan National Airport, outside the US capital. “We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.”
The military Blackhawk helicopter was carrying three soldiers. A massive search and rescue operation was launched into the waters of the Potomac River, soon after the crash was reported. According to some media reports, 18 bodies had been pulled out of the waters. However, an official confirmation on the number of the deceased was awaited.
Later, Reagan Airport aborted all takeoffs and landings as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors. Inflatable rescue boats were launched into the Potomac River from a point along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport.
Air traffic control audio recorded the final moments before and after the crash. Audio from LiveATC.net, a respected source for in-flight recording, captured the final communications between the three crew members of the helicopter – call sign PAT25 – before it collided with the CRJ700 Bombardier jet carrying 64 passengers and crew.
“PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,” an air traffic controller said at 8.47 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday (01:47 GMT on Thursday). Seconds later, another aircraft called in to air traffic control, saying, “Tower, did you see that?” – referring to the crash. An air traffic controller then redirected planes heading to runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport to go around.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the midair crash occurred around 9 pm EST when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military Blackhawk helicopter while on approach to an airport runway. It occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.
American Airlines Flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan National at an altitude of about 400 feet and a speed of about 140 miles per hour when it suffered a rapid loss of altitude over the Potomac River, according to data from its radio transponder.
The Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet, manufactured in 2004, can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers. A few minutes before landing, air traffic controllers asked the arriving commercial jet if it could land on the shorter Runway 33 at Reagan National and the pilots said they were able. Controllers then cleared the plane to land on Runway 33. Flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway. Flight data also showed the helicopter near the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Virginia.
The media reports said the UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter, involved in the crash, is one of the most ubiquitous and iconic military helicopters, filling multiple roles for the US military, including air assault, general support, medevac, command and control, and special operations support.
The aircraft was flying with the call sign PAT25 and had three occupants, according to the Aviation Safety Network, a public database of aviation accidents. More than 5,000 Black Hawks have been built since production began in the mid-1970s.
(Manas Dasgupta)