US President Donald Trump on Wednesday night raised questions over the collision of a passenger flight and an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington.
The flight, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, collided with the US Army helicopter, before crashing into the nearby Potomac River. Three persons were onboard the Army helicopter. Follow latest updates here.
At least 18 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River by emergency services following the crash, a police official has said, according to CBS News. No survivors have been found yet.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump questioned the tactics of the military helicopter and the air traffic controllers — both agencies that report to him as the president.
Watch | Chilling moment when American Airlines passenger jet collided with military chopper mid-air
“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,” Trump wrote.
“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 bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. Not good!!!” he added.
What Air Traffic Control tower said
According to the Associated Press, audio from the air traffic control tower around the time of the crash captured the grim moment.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight: “PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight?”
It then again makes another radio call to PAT25 moments later: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.”
However, no response was received, and the two aircraft collided seconds later.
Seconds later, another pilot is heard calling after the apparent collision: “Tower, did you see that?”
Washington airplane crash
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the midair collision occurred around 9pm EST when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, crashed into a military Blackhawk helicopter while on approach to an airport runway.
The aviation body also ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National, and Washington’s police said on X that “multiple agencies” were responding to the crash site in the Potomac.
US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas said on X the collision was “nothing short of a nightmare.”
