Passenger jet collides with helicopter while landing at Washington airport

Passenger jet collides with military helicopter near Washington, prompting search-and-rescue operation in Potomac River.

A passenger jet collided Wednesday (January 29, 2025) with a military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.

There was no immediate word on casualties, but all takeoffs and landings from the airport near Washington were halted as helicopters from agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors. Inflatable rescue boats were being launched into the Potomac River from a point near the airport along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair collision occurred around 9 p.m. EST when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, smashed into a military Blackhawk helicopter while on approach to an airport runway.

In a post on social media, American Airlines said it was aware of reports that one of its flights was involved in the incident and said it would provide more information once available.

Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.

The airport said emergency personnel were responding to “an aircraft incident on the airfield.”

The incident recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on January 13, 1982, that killed 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.