American Airlines Disaster Involving an Army Helicopter is the Deadliest U.S. Aviation Disaster in Recent History

Wednesday night’s midair accident between an American Airlines regional airliner and a military helicopter ends a trend of commercial aviation safety that was unheard of by earlier generations.

It’s the deadliest air disaster to hit the United States in almost 15 years.

At a height of roughly 300 feet, American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas was heading toward Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when the commercial aircraft and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three passengers crashed.
The American flight carried sixty-four persons, including four crew members and sixty passengers. PSA Airlines, an American subsidiary carrier, was in charge of the flight. The aircraft was a Bombardier CRJ700, a short-haul regional jet.

Rescuers rushed to pull people out of the icy Potomac River on Wednesday night, but local authorities said that strong winds made the situation difficult.

There haven’t been any deadly commercial airline crashes in the United States for years. In February 2009, upon arriving in Buffalo, New York, Continental Flight 3407 collided with a house, killing all 49 passengers and one person on the ground. This was the final fatal U.S. commercial passenger aircraft crash.

Federal regulations requiring pilots to have more rest and training were triggered by the crash of the turboprop aircraft.

American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, was the deadliest in recent memory. It crashed in November 2001, just after taking off for the Dominican Republic from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Five people were killed on the ground in Queens, and all 260 passengers on the flight perished.

Safety experts frequently attribute the extraordinarily low frequency of airplane crashes to redundant and overlapping safety measures.

The collision on Wednesday will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. American Airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration, the labor organizations representing the crew, and other parties will be involved.

A preliminary report will be released by the NTSB, but it may take months or even a year for the final report to identify the reason or causes of an aircraft accident.

If and when the black boxes are found, investigators will look at a variety of things, including training documents, air traffic control recordings, and cockpit voice and data recorders.

Days into his new term, President Donald Trump faces a problem as a result of the disaster. Since Biden appointed Mike Whitaker to lead the Federal Aviation Administration, he has yet to appoint a successor. Whitaker resigned on January 20, the day Trump took office.