C R A S H C O U R S E ! - Friends of Zeus podcast #207

On January 29, 2025, a United States Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided mid-air with American Airlines Flight 5342 (operated by PSA Airlines as American Eagle), a Bombardier CRJ700 airliner, over the Potomac River, approximately half a mile (800 m) short of runway 33 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. All 67 people aboard the two aircraft were killed in the crash (64 on the airliner, 3 on the helicopter). It was the first major crash of a U.S. commercial passenger flight since Colgan Air Flight 3407 in 2009, and the deadliest since American Airlines Flight 587 in 2001.

Flight 5342 was on final approach after flying from Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, Kansas. The helicopter was performing an annual evaluation to test the pilot's knowledge and proficiency in the cockpit at night, out of Davison Army Airfield in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Preliminary data shows the collision likely occurred at an altitude of around 325 feet. The Federal Aviation Administration requires helicopters on that route to stay at or below 200 feet. A single air traffic controller was managing both aircraft at the time of the crash, an arrangement deemed "not normal" for that time of day at the airport. Controllers warned the U.S. Army helicopter crew twice about the approaching PSA Airlines jet; the first alert was issued two minutes before the collision.

-Wikipedia

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