American Eagle Jet & Helicopter Collide In Washington, Both Crash

This is absolutely devastating. For the first time since 2009, there has been a fatal commercial aircraft crash in the United States…

Jet & helicopter crash near Washington National Airport

This accident happened around 8:46PM on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, near Washington National Airport (DCA).

It involves a 20-year-old American Eagle CRJ-700 operated by PSA Airlines (a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines), with the registration code N709PS, which was performing flight AA5342 from Wichita (ICT) to Washington (DCA).

While the plane was initially supposed to land on runway 1, the tower controller asked the pilots if they could instead land on runway 33, which they confirmed they could do. The plane was cleared to land, and as it was passing through an altitude of around 200 feet, a little over half a mile from the runway, it collided with a military Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter.

As you’d expect, it’s pretty normal for military helicopters to use the airspace around Washington. The helicopter had been given the instructions to pass behind the American Eagle jet, but obviously that didn’t happen.

The American Eagle jet had a total of 64 people onboard (60 passengers and four pilots), while the military helicopter had three people onboard.

Both the plane and helicopter crashed into the Potomac River. The airport was subsequently closed, and isn’t expected to reopen until at least Friday morning, as search and rescue efforts are taking place. So far, no survivors have been found. With the cold temperatures, the rescue efforts are even trickier, especially in the water.

There are simply no words. My thoughts are with those onboard, and their families. What a horrible loss…

Below is a video that shows the collision.

Below is the air traffic control audio from right before the accident.

Below is a video message from American CEO Robert Isom.

And below is what President Trump had to say about the accident.

Let’s see what an investigation reveals into the cause

Once search and rescue efforts are complete, obviously the question will turn to what caused this accident. We know that the American Eagle jet was on a routine approach, following air traffic control instructions.

We also know the air traffic controller had given the military helicopter the instruction to pass behind the American Eagle jet. When the air traffic controller asked the military helicopter if they had the American Eagle jet in sight, there was no response. Moments later, the helicopter collided with the jet.

Was something wrong on the helicopter, or why did they not respond, and why didn’t they see the jet on a routine approach to the airport?

Obviously we’ve had a major shortage of air traffic controllers in recent times, and a lot of airspace has been very congested. We’ve also seen a lot of close calls with favorable outcomes, but clearly this is one of those situations that ended in tragedy.

It’s worth mentioning that commercial aircraft are equipped with TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System), which is supposed to help pilots avoid midair collisions. Why wasn’t that helpful here? Well, when a plane is at an altitude of under 1,000 feet (as was the case here), TCAS only provides TAs (Traffic Advisories), alerting pilots of other planes nearby, and not RAs (Resolution Advisories), which give specific instructions about which action pilots should take.

That’s logical enough, since it’s common for aircraft to be much closer to one another at a low altitude. So presumably the pilots received a TA, but that wouldn’t necessarily have been very helpful, given the pilots may not have even known what was going on near them.

Bottom line

Tragically, we’ve just seen our first commercial aircraft crash in the United States since 2009, as an American Eagle CRJ-700 collided with a military Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter while on approach to Washington National Airport. The American Eagle jet was following instructions, while the military helicopter was supposed to fly behind the jet, but that didn’t happen.

There were a total of 64 people on the jet and three people on the helicopter. No survivors have been recovered so far… this is just beyond sad.