An American Airlines airliner with 64 people on board crashed on the evening of Wednesday, January 29, in the Potomac river which sprinkles Washington after a collision with a military helicopter above the federal capital, near the Ronald-Reagan national airport, authorities announced. “May God bless them” reacted President Donald Trump in a statement, saying that she had been “fully informed of the terrible accident”. Previously, his spokesperson Karoline Leavitt had told the Fox News television channel that “in a tragic way, it seems that a military helicopter collided with a regional airliner”.
The national company American Airlines confirmed in a press release that a plane of its regional subsidiary PSA carried 60 passengers and four crew members at the time of the accident near the Ronald-Reagan airport by the Potomac river, on the edge of Washington and Virginia.
A witness quoted by CNN, Ari Schulmansaid that he “thought to have seen the collision”, with a “very shiny yellow light”, when he was driving by car on a fast lane that crisscrosses between the capital Washington and Virginia, separated by the river Potomac.
A collision shortly before landing
According to the first elements of the American aviation regulator (FAA), an airplane from the Bombardier manufacturer operated by the PSA company, a subsidiary of American Airlines, “collided at medium altitude” with a helicopter Sikorsky H-60 at the time The approach to land at Reagan airport, which is located on the edge of Washington and the Potomac river that sprinkles it. A bomber of this type can transport up to 78 people.
The helicopter is known as “Black Hawk” and can transport 15 people. A Pentagon official said three soldiers were on board. The plane came from Wichita, Kansas, and was to land in Washington at 9:00 p.m. (3:00 a.m. Thursday French time).
Referring to an “air incident”, the airport had announced on the social network X having “suspended” all takeoff and landings. A research and rescue operation involving the police and the firefighters is underway at the scene of the accident, in the icy waters of the Potomac. Videos published on social networks show helicopters flying over the river, sweeping water with light beams.
Around the airport, dozens of beacons are visible on the various banks of the Potomac river, plunged into darkness, according to an AFP journalist. Most seem to be placed opposite the airport, on the eastern bank of the river. Dozens of fire trucks, some of whom with trailers pulling pneumatic canoes were in motion to reach the airport.