Washington Plane Crash: The United States witnessed the worst aviation disaster in recent history on Wednesday night. A commercial passenger jet of American Eagle crashed into the Washington DC’s Potomac river after suffering a mid-air collision with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter. As 28 bodies were recovered from the crash site, US President Donald Trump announced at a White House press conference that there were no survivors. 

The passenger plane had 64 people (60 travellers, 4 crew members) on board, while the Black Hawk carried three. Everyone perished in the crash, marking the first major aviation disaster in the United States since 2009. 

Authorities have retrieved one of the black box recorders from Flight AA5342 in the Potomac River. The recovered device, containing flight data and cockpit audio, is expected to play a crucial role in determining the cause of the crash. 

US President Donald Trump addressed media in White House, hours after the accident, he said, “(A) real tragedy. The massive search and rescue mission was under way throughout the night, leveraging every asset at our disposal…The work has now shifted to a recovery mission. Sadly, there are no survivors.” 

The air traffic controller on duty during the fatal Washington collision was handling a task typically managed by two people. The staffing at Reagan National Airport’s control tower was “not normal” at the time of the crash, which claimed 67 lives, The New York Times reported citing a preliminary FAA report. 

The report said the Air Traffic controller who was handling helicopters in the airport’s vicinity on the doomed night was also instructing aircrafts’ landing and departing from Reagan airports’ runways, Xinhua news agency reported. 

The aircraft carried members of the Skating Club of Boston, who were returning from a development camp held after the 2025 US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita. The plane also carried six district parents and three children from Fairfax County, Virginia, schools. Trump said that there were foreign nationals, including Russians. While, the chopper had three soldiers.

Trump mentioned that he had listened to “very scary tapes.” He noted that the air traffic controller was asking whether the pilot had visual contact, but by the time that question was raised, there was very little time left. He also pointed out what he called “a pilot problem” on the helicopter’s end.

The audio from the air traffic control tower obtained by The Associated Press showed the tense moments before the mid-air collision. The recordings revealed ATC personnel repeatedly inquiring whether the helicopter had the passenger jet “in sight” and instructing it to “pass behind” the plane moments before the crash. 

Donald Trump sharply criticised the Biden and Obama administrations, claiming they failed to recruit talented individuals for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). “We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas,” Trump said, attributing the issue to changes in hiring standards under previous administrations.

He asserted that during his tenure, he had replaced ‘mediocre’ Obama-era standards with higher qualifications, ensuring only individuals with “the highest aptitude, intellect, and psychological superiority” were eligible to become air traffic controllers. However, Trump alleged that after he left office, the Biden administration reversed those standards, making them “lower than ever before.” He further asserted, “I put safety first, Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen.”

At a news conference, Donald Trump stated that the crash seemed preventable. In a statement, US President said, “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 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!!!”

(With agency inputs) 

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