Crash at Reagan National Airport, DC. Small aircraft down in the Potomac.

Not sure of original source. This was on Facebook. "BREAKING: AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT CRASHES INTO POTOMAC RIVER | Flight 5342 from Wichita with 60 people on board was just seconds away from touching down at Reagan International Airport in Washington D.C. tonight when it collided MID-AIR with a police helicopter and crashed into the river. Fatalities are reported, per scanner traffic. Police are setting up a "casualty collection" area. Helicopters and boats are now searching the Potomac River for survivors onboard the CRJ-700 twin jet. Reagan is FULLY CLOSED through tomorrow morning, per NOTAM just issued to all pilots. All flights in and out are cancelled."
 
DCA AD AIRPORT CLOSED. DCA 01/746
Effective Jan 29, 8:55 PM EST (Active)
Expires Jan 30, 11:00 PM EST (in 1d01h)
 
Latest report states it's an American Airlines regional jet from Wichita, KS (as reported in post #2) that collided with a Blackhawk Helicopter. Both are in the Potamic.
 
Frigid water at night. Brutal conditions for a rescue. Prayers for both the aircraft occupants and first responders.
 
MSNBC just showed footage (from Earthcam) of the initial impact. Looks like the Blackhawk flew right into the airplane. Very bad angle from a distance so hard to tell.
 
PAT transports VIPs. If the White House is already talking about it there was probably someone fairly important on board.
 
Fox reporting boats being launched. Reuters reporting 60-persons scheduled to be on thE CRJ and the Blackhawk has a capacityof 15-17.
 
Horrible. While words are inadequate, I offer my condolences and prayers to those affected by this terrible event.
 
News says it was an Army Blackhawk. Based on the flight path, it was either coming from the Pentagon or Ft Myer. Most likely was a VIP flight. Hope it was returning from drop off. One of my college classmates is very high on the pecking order for such flights.
 
From the camera angles and the bridges, it would appear going to the Pentagon.
 
david.h said:
Hearing it was a Blackhawk helo? How TF does the ATC not know where these things are. Major black eye if someone screwed the pooch on this.
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There is a small helo base just across the river from Reagan. Who knows yet if the helo was from there
 
skyking3286 said:
From the camera angles and the bridges, it would appear going to the Pentagon.
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Latest news report says the helo was from Ft Belvoir. Looks to me like it was headed south, down the Potomac river.

ABC has a retired Marine Col as the aviation commentator. He's doing a good job.
 
In the video, anyone notice a plane above the incident, banking to the left? Looked like a "go-around" to me, and they were way too low, their pitch was more nose down, to be anything but landing.

OK: After looking at the video again, I think the other aircraft was taking off and the angle of the video made it look closer to the incident.
 
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Den60 said:
In the video, anyone notice a plane above the incident, banking to the left? Looked like a "go-around" to me, and they were way too low, their pitch was more nose down, to be anything but landing.
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What I think you’re seeing is AAL1630 (B738) departing runway 1. It was the last departure prior to airport closure.
 
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