- The President asked in a Truth Social post why the pilot and air traffic controllers didn't get the helicopter out of the way: "This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented."
President Donald Trump questioned the actions of the military helicopter pilot and air traffic controllers after an Army Black Hawk and an American Airlines jet carrying 64 collided over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.
There have been multiple fatalities in the crash, though the final number is not yet known as rescue and recovery efforts are continuing. No survivors had been found as of early morning in Washington, while D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said bodies had been recovered from both aircraft.
Noting that American Eagle Flight 5342, which was landing after a 2-hour and 45-minute flight from Wichita, Kan., was on a "perfect and routine line of approach to the airport," Trump suggested that the control tower had failed to redirect the helicopter after it had strayed into the plane's path.
"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," he wrote on Truth Social. "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 crash took place just after 8:45 p.m. ET in crowded airspace near the flight path to land at Reagan National Airport’s Runway 33. Helicopters are allowed to fly in the area at low altitude in a corridor along the Washington D.C. side of the Potomac, Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Washington Post.
The question for investigators will now be whether the Black Hawk “may or may not have been at the proper altitude and may or may not have seen the airplane,” Guzzetti said.
The Army helicopter was on a training flight with three people on board.
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. Why didn’t the…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 30, 2025
In the seconds before the crash, recordings show an air traffic controller asking the Black Hawk crew if they see the arriving American Airlines plane: “PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight?”
The air traffic controller quickly contacted the helicopter again: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.”
The helicopter pilot appears to confirm he sees the plane—those it's not certain that he is referring to the American Airlines plane—and seems to request "visual separation" to fly out of the plane's path while keeping it in sight.
The two aircraft collided seconds later.
Shortly after his initial post, Trump wrote on Truth Social, "What a terrible night this has been. God bless you all!"
Several athletes and coaches from U.S. Figure Skating, including Russian-born Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were aboard the plane when it went down.
