All 67 feared dead as US plane, army copter collide mid-air, fall into river

More than 60 people were feared dead after an American Airlines regional passenger jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday and crashed into the frigid Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport.

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“At this point we do not believe there were any survivors,” District of Columbia fire chief John Donnelly said at a Thursday press conference.

Donnelly said 28 bodies had been recovered from the river so far, in what was shaping up to be the deadliest US air disaster in more than a decade. “We will work to find all the bodies and reunite them with their loved ones,” he said.

American Airlines confirmed 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the jet. The helicopter, on a training flight, was carrying three soldiers, a US official said.

Passengers on the flight included ice skaters, family and coaches returning from events in Wichita, Kansas, including Russian-born former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.

Emergency responders worked through the night to CBS News reported that a dive team had recovered one of the two data recorders, the so-called black boxes, from the plane. The midair collision occurred as the passenger jet flying from Wichita was approaching to land at Reagan. Radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk showed the helicopter crew knew the plane was in the vicinity.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both the helicopter and the airplane had been flying standard flight patterns, and there had been no breakdown in communication.

“Everything was standard in the lead-up to the crash,” he said. “Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely.” Airspace is frequently crowded in the US capital region, home to three commercial airports and several major military facilities, and officials have raised concerns about busy runways at Reagan National, just across the river from Washington.