All 64 people aboard an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter were feared dead in what was likely to be the worst US aviation disaster in almost a quarter century, officials said.
At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the jet late Wednesday as it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.
“We don’t believe there are any survivors,” said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital.
“We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.”
The plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water, and first responders were searching an area of the Potomac River as far south as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, roughly five kilometres south of the airport, Donnelly said. The helicopter wreckage was also found.
If no one survived, the collision would be the deadliest US air crash since 2001.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision, but officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas, with US and Russian figure skaters and others aboard. It was preparing for a routine landing at the time of the collision.
“On final approach into Reagan National, it collided with a military aircraft on an otherwise normal approach,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said.
“At this time, we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path of the … aircraft.”
Images from the river showed boats around the partly submerged wing and the mangled wreckage of the plane’s fuselage.
Inside Reagan National Airport, the mood was sombre Thursday morning as stranded passengers waited for flights to resume, sidestepping camera crews and staring out the terminal’s windows at the Potomac, where recovery efforts were barely visible in the distance.
Investigators will try to piece together the aircraft’s final moments before the collision, including its contact with air traffic controllers.
“I would just say that everyone who flies in American skies expects that we fly safely,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
“That when you depart an airport, you get to your destination. That didn’t happen last night, and I know that President Trump, his administration, the FAA, the DOT, we will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public. You should be assured that when you fly, you’re safe.”
Authorities have ‘early indicators’ of what went wrong
The night was clear, the plane and helicopter were both in standard flight patterns and there was standard communication between the aircraft and the tower, Duffy said.
“We have early indicators of what happened here,” Duffy said, though he declined to elaborate pending an investigation.
It is not unusual to have a military aircraft flying the river and an aircraft landing at the airport, he said. Asked if the plane was aware that there was a helicopter in the area, Duffy said the helicopter was aware that there was a plane in the area.
Asked about Trump suggesting in an overnight social media post that the collision could have been prevented, Duffy said: “From what I’ve seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely.”
If everyone aboard the plane was killed, it would be the deadliest US airline crash since November 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight crashed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after take off from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard.
https://thewest.com.au/news/disaster-and-emergency/everyone-in-us-plane-and-helicopter-crash-feared-dead-c-17563529
