Crew Members, Military Trainees Feared Dead in Crash over Potomac

Washington, DC (WorkersCompensation.com) – Four crew members and three military members were thought to be among the dead in the first airplane crash in America in more than two decades.

American Eagle Flight No. 5342, operated by PSA Airlines (both subsidiaries of American Airlines), collided midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter on Wednesday night, officials said. The airplane was over the Potomac River approaching a runway at Reagan National Airport after having departed from Wichita, Kansas. The plane had four crew members and 60 passengers, officials said.

Spokespeople with Fort Belvoir in Virginia said the helicopter was on a training flight and belonged to B Company, 12th Aviation Battalion. There were three military members aboard the helicopter.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom released a video statement saying he expressed "deep sorrow" for the families and victims of the midair crash in Washington, D.C. 

This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines, and our focus now is entirely on the needs of our passengers, crewmembers, partners… along with their families and loved ones,” he said. “I know that there are many questions, and at this early stage I will not be able to answer all of them… We are actively working with local, state and federal authorities on emergency response efforts. We are cooperating fully with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation and will continue to provide all the information we can.”

He said the airline will be working with investigators in the days to follow.

Officials said the American Eagle flight from Wichita was cleared for landing after a last minute but routine runway change. The Army helicopter was on its routine usual path for a standard night training, but flying at 350 feet instead of 200 feet.

Officials said recordings from the air traffic control tower told the helicopter to go behind the airplane. However, video from a live stream of a camera at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., showed an explosion over the Potomac River around 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday.

Officials said the plane broke into multiple pieces that were sitting in 5 to 8 feet of water. The helicopter was located upside down in the river. Divers had located the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder were recovered from the crashed plane, according to the NTSB.

Investigators with the NTSB said not much is known yet about the crash, but that the investigation is ongoing and the agency should have more information within 30 days.

Some reports have indicated there was only one air traffic controller in the tower at the airport at the time. Reagan National is the busiest airport in the country, averaging 800 flights per day on its three runways. In comparison, Logan International has six runways and averages a little more than 900 flights a day.

An FAA report obtained by the Associated Press said staffing in the tower was "not normal" at the time of the collision.

"We have not reviewed any specific reports about the controllers. At this time, at least from the leadership team, our investigators are continuing to pull all that information, their personnel records or files, where they were at, whether they were fatigued. All that information will be part of that investigative process," NSB Board Member Todd Inman said.

Since 2013, the Federal Aviation Administration has warned that the aviation industry is losing more air traffic controllers than it can replace. The FAA has noted staffing shortages. For instance, in November, staffing at Air Route Traffic Control Center in Aurora was at 82 percent, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union. According to the union, air traffic control staffing nationwide had fallen 9 percent between 2011 and 2023 while flights have increased.  

"You work on this job long enough, you come across this stuff, it's very unfortunate," Michael Julius, an air traffic control instructor at Lewis University, told ABC News.

Legislation passed in 2019, under President Donald Trump, loosened some of the restrictions on air traffic controllers to allow more candidates with physical and mental challenges to enter the training programs, in order to increase the number of potential air traffic controllers in the industry’s pipeline. In 2022, President Joe Biden ramped up training of air traffic controllers as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. On Jan. 21, 2025, President Trump halted that funding for those programs under his executive order eliminating all diversity, equity and inclusion programs, as well as pausing all funding for programs that were part of the IIJA.

Officials said just the day before the collision, another jet, Republic Airways Flight 4514. trying to land at Reagan National had to make a second approach after a helicopter appeared near its flight path.

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