Watch The Terrifying Moment An Army Helicopter And Passenger Plane Collide
on Jan 30, 2025
On Wednesday evening (January 29), An American Airlines Plane Collided With An Army Helicopter
American Airlines Flight number 5342 was minutes from landing around 9 PM local time when it collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac River.
The American Airlines flight originated from Witchita, Kansas and was reportedly carrying “several” members of the US Figure Skating Team as well as Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, Russian world champion figure skaters, among many others.
US Figure Skating released the following statement:
“U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C.”
American Airlines confirmed there were 60 passengers and four flight crew, and the US Army revealed there were three people aboard their helicopter. The Army helicopter was on a training flight.
Search and rescue efforts in the Potomac River began immediately with about 300 responders involved in the search, John Donnelly, Chief of D.C. Fire and EMS said during a press conference Wednesday night.
By Thursday morning (Jan. 30), Donnelly said there was likely to be no survivors. Crews had recovered 24 passengers of the plane and one person from the Army helicopter as of press time (9 AM EST).
President Trump Makes Two Statements About The Crash
Around 11 PM EST, President Trump released a statement via his press secretary Karoline Leavitt that read,
“I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport. May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
At 12:19 AM ET on Wednesday (Jan. 30), Trump posted the following statement to his Truth Social account.
“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
Video Shows The Collision
Terrifying videos have been released of the crash, which shows the moment where the Army helicopter and the American Airlines plane collided and went down into the Potomac River.
In the video below, released by The Kennedy Center and taken on an Earth Cam, you can see the plane coming in to land, flying a bit low. When the video zooms in, you can see the helicopter approaching the plane and then an explosion.
Citizens driving to the airport with a dash camera caught a different angle of the crash. You can see that angle in the video below.
Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved in the crash. This is an unimaginable tragedy.
