Timeline DC Airline Accidents: A collision to a medium extent includes 67 passengers, crew members, soldiers
It is estimated that 67 people are assumed dead after a Black Hawk helicopter collided with the advertisement Flight American Airlines from Wichite in Kansas, across the Potomac River in Washington, DC, Wednesday night.
A total of 64 people including four staff members were on board the Passenger Airlines Flight 5342 and three soldiers were on Army Sikorsky Uh-60 Black Hawk This came from Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
Here are the time lanes of events leading to and immediately after falling on Wednesday night:
29 January
17:18 Cst
AA Flight 5342 Departs Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ITC) for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) AT 5:18 PM CST, OR 6:18 PM EST, According to Air Traffic Control Records FROM Flighttradar24.
29 January DC Map of the collision with plane-helicopter.
20:39 est
The UH-60 Army Black Hawk helicopter goes to Fort Belvoir as part of training. A senior army official told Fox News that the soldiers were part of the “pretty experienced” crews of Black Hawk, and on the helicopter they had a night vision glasses.
20:40 est
Flight 5342 began to descend into DCA from the south.
20:46
Air traffic controllers ask Flight 5342 to land on the runway 33 and pilots acknowledge the order.
ATC Audio:
20:48 est
Air Traffic Control Officer (ATC) Pilota Black Hawk (Pat-25) can see a commercial aircraft.
“Do you have a crj in sight?” The controller pilot, and the helicopter pilot confirms that he sees a passenger plane and is looking for a “visual separation”, which means he tries to get out of the flight track, according to Flighthradar24 audio.
“Pat-25, do you have a crj in sight?” The controller can be heard of saying a helicopter pilot 30 seconds before the collision.
The controller directs another radio call to Pat-25 moments later: “Pat-25, go behind CRJ.”
ATC Audio reveals that the controllers of the moment saw the disaster:
20:48 est
The UH-60 and Flight 5342 army then collide over the Potomac River, causing an explosion mid at an altitude of about 300 feet caught on the camera.
Air traffic controllers can be heard responding and asking, “Did you see that?”
20:53 est
DC Metropolitan Police Directorate (MPD) receives phone calls reporting a plane crash through the descendants.
MPD, DC Fire and EMS and “More Partner Agencies” begin to coordinate search and rescue operation.
Emergency vehicles at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night, January 29, 2025, Arlington, Va. The US Capitol was seen across the Potomac River in Washington. (Kevin Wolf/AP)
21:00 est
DCA is closed due to the “aircraft emergency”.
21:09 est
The fire and EMS department publishes an update on the X stating: “Confirmed by a small aircraft down at the National Rijeka Airport of the Potomac Reagan. Firefighters on stage.”
Rescue workers respond to the scene on the Potomac River near the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, on Thursday, January 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
22:51 est
The Karolina Leavitt White House secretary publishes a statement of the President Donald Trump to X.
“I’m completely familiar with a terrible accident that just happened in Reagan National Airport. May God bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work that our first liability was done. I oversee the situation and will provide more details as they appear, “the statement said.
(Editors Note: Picture contains graphic content) Emergency teams, including Washington, DC Fire and EMS, DC police and others, estimate the aircraft wreckage in River near Ronald Reagan Washington on January 30, 2025. In Arlington, Virginia. (Andrew Hardik/Getty)
12:30 est
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser holds a press conference with other law implementation staff and announces that the passenger aircraft collided with a military aircraft.
Dc fire and head of the EMS John A. Donnelly He announces that the “helicopter officers have been recovered by 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter.”
The implementation of the law continues its investigation by American Airlines, which crashed into the Potomac River, while on January 30, 2025, in Washington, DC, she was trying to land at the National Airport of Reagan. The Airlines Airlines flight of Wichite, Kansas, collided to the medium extent with a military helicopter as he approached the airport. According to reports, there were no survivors of 67 people on both aircraft among the aircraft. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
“Despite all these efforts, we are now at the place where we go from rescue surgery to recovery surgery,” Donnelly says.
January 30
8:30 est
Officials hold a press conference in Washington, DC, saying that all 67 passengers, crew members and soldiers on board be assumed dead.
“We are now at the place where we go from rescue operations to recovery surgery,” Donnelly says during the briefing. “We don’t believe there are survivors.”
11:00 est
Flights continue landing in DCA; The first aircraft landing at the airport at 11:02
The source of the Ministry of Internal Security for Fox News Digital said on Thursday morning that there is no “concern for terrorism” after the collision, and officials suspect that the collision was “just a tragedy”.
Before the deadly collision, a military aircraft collision in Alaska occurred on Tuesday. Officials said the Air Force fighter aircraft crashed in Alaska after the pilot was able to safely get out of the aircraft.
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There have been at least 238 deaths and 227 injuries arising from non-bombing US military aircraft since 2012, FAA states.
There were also more incidents of a “close call” in DCA since 2023.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
