Washington plane crash: rescuers search for survivors after passenger plane collides with military helicopter
Flight 5342, carrying sixty passengers and four crew members, was struck at low altitude by a Black Hawk military helicopter as it was preparing to land at Ronald Reagan International Airport.
The banks of the Potomac, the river that runs through Washington, were glowing red on the evening of Wednesday, January 29, due to an extraordinary concentration of ambulances and emergency services. A plane crash had occurred nearby shortly before 9 p.m.
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Flight 5342, operated by PSA, a subsidiary of American Airlines, was flying from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., carrying sixty passengers and four crew members. It was preparing to land on a runway at Ronald Reagan International Airport when it collided at low altitude with a Black Hawk military helicopter. The death toll is unknown at this time.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) quickly confirmed the tragedy, while traffic was interrupted until 5 a.m. Friday. A camera located on the other side of the river, at the Kennedy Cultural Center, captured the scene despite the distance. The explosion is clearly visible. The sky was perfectly clear above the American capital.
The Black Hawk helicopter, which is usually used in Washington to transport civilian and military officials, had three soldiers on board. Belonging to Bravo Company of the 12th Aviation Battalion, based in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, it was conducting a training flight, according to military
