President Donald Trump has questioned the actions of both the helicopter crew and air traffic controllers prior to a deadly mid-air collision on Wednesday night outside Reagan Washington National Airport.
The crash involved an American Airlines aircraft carrying 64 passengers and crew and a US Army Black Hawk chopper carrying three people. All those on board are feared dead, though officials said they would not be able to provide confirmation on the status of rescue efforts until Thursday morning.
Mr Trump said he has been briefed on the “terrible accident” in a brief official statement offering prayers for those on board.
But he then took to his Truth Social platform to speculate about what caused the crash.
"The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn't the helicopter go up or down, or turn,” Mr Trump said in his first remarks on Truth Social.
Washington DC air crash latest
Latest as of 05.15 ET 30 January
- An American Airlines regional jet collided mid-air with an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport.
- All 67 people on board both aircraft are feared dead.
- As of the latest update, at least 19 bodies have been recovered from the river.
- Reagan National Airport is closed until at least 11 a.m. Thursday.
- Investigators are examining the sequence of events leading up to the tragedy, including possible human error in communication between the Black Hawk crew and air traffic control.
- Follow latest updates
He said the crash could have been prevented. “Why didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!,” the US president said.
The American Airlines flight originated from Kansas, and while officials have not yet confirmed any deaths in the incident saying an update on the rescue effort would be provided in the morning, US senator Roger Marshall of Kansas suggested that all on board both aircraft had died.
“It’s really hard when you lose probably over 60 Kansans simultaneously,” he said at a news conference at Reagan airport.
"When one person dies, it's a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die, it's an unbearable sorrow," the senator said. "It's a heartbreak beyond measure."
Russian figure skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were also aboard the American Airlines plane, a source told the Russian state-run TASS news agency.
The collision occurred as the passenger jet en route from Wichita, Kansas was on approach to land at Reagan airport. Helicopter crew were reportedly aware of the plane’s movement, according to the radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk.
The Pentagon has launched an immediate investigation into the mid-air collision.
