Air Traffic Control (ATC) audio from Reagan National Airport was accessed by US media, hours after a deadly mid-air collision of a Black Hawk Army helicopter and passenger jet aircraft claimed several lives.
Someone tell me how this is not intentional ?
— Mike (@PantherMike182) January 30, 2025
A Blackhawk casually running into an American Airlines passenger plane?
Come on. #planecrash #potomac #DC #Reagan
pic.twitter.com/XqOM6X1GkT
At least 30 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River so far and the authorities expect none to have survived the crash. The American Eagle Flight 5342 was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, according to the airline's parent company American Airlines while three soldiers were on board the chopper during the time of the accident.
The Air Traffic Control audio revealed how the officials at the airport came to know about the gravity of the disaster that had happened before their eyes and how they reacted. A controller was reportedly heard telling the pilots of American Airlines Flight 5342 to take Runway 33 of the Reagan National Airport. Since it was a Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, it was referred to as "CRJ" by the tower, Fox News said in a report. The US Army's Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, meanwhile, was referred to as "PAT25."
Reacting to the instruction from the tower, the jet's pilot reportedly confirmed that he would take Runway 33. The next instruction from the controller was for the army chopper, asking it to pass behind the aircraft.
"PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight? PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ," the controller says on air. According to Fox News, the army pilot responded to the instruction on a frequency for helicopters and tragedy struck around 40 seconds later.
Upon realising what happened, the traffic control team was recorded saying "Tower Did you see that?"
"Yup we saw it," the response came before starting measures to divert other flights lined for take-off and landing.
"Everybody hold your positions on the field right now," a female controller reportedly said. "All runways are closed. Nobody's landing, no one moving at all," she reportedly added.
Cautioning the fire command to launch rescue efforts, she went, "...The accident happened in the river. Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river..."
"I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven't seen anything since they hit the river. But it was a CRJ and a helicopter that hit, I would say about a half mile off the approach into 33," Fox News quoted the woman employee as saying.
