No survivors expected after passenger jet collides with army helicopter while landing in Washington

An American Airlines aeroplane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members has collided with an army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.

However, the authorities on the scene have reasons to conclude no one on the two aircraft survived the crash, they said at a second press conference in Washington on Thursday morning local time.

"We don't believe there are any survivors from this accident," DC fire chief John Donnelly said.

"All of us are working together to search the area and find all victims," Donnelly added.

So far, 27 bodies were recovered from the plane, while one body was recovered from the helicopter. The army Black Hawk helicopter was on a training flight at the time, carrying a crew of three soldiers, according to officials.

The body of the plane was found upside down in three sections in waist-deep water. The wreckage of the helicopter was also found. The icy weather conditions were complicating recovery operations, which were still ongoing on Thursday.

Both aircraft were in standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility, authorities said.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, all take-offs and landings from Reagan — one of the three major airports near Washington — were halted as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors. The airport was scheduled to reopen at 11 am local time (5 pm CET).

'Bad situation that should have been prevented'

Several US figure skaters were on board the American Airlines flight, returning from a training camp, according to authorities. Two Russian figure skaters and coaches were also among the passengers.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she would be deploying all available resources from the US Coast Guard for search and rescue efforts.

“We are actively monitoring the situation and stand ready to support local responders,” Noem said in a post on X.

US President Donald Trump said he had been “fully briefed on this terrible accident" and, referring to the passengers, added, “May God bless their souls.”

Posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said: "This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. Not good."

Vice President JD Vance encouraged followers on the social media platform X to “say a prayer for everyone involved.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said the mid-air crash occurred around 9 pm local time (3 am CET) when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita in Kansas collided with a military helicopter on a training flight while on approach to an airport runway.

The crash occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just some five kilometres south of the White House and the Capitol.

Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Centre shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.

The airport said emergency personnel were responding to “an aircraft incident on the airfield.”

The incident recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on 13 January 1982, killing 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.