STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, apparently had figure skaters on board. They were returning from an event in Kansas, returning to Washington, D.C. Reagan National Airport just outside the city. Some of those skaters were Americans, according to U.S. Figure Skating, coaches and family members were also involved. Some of the skaters were Russians, this according to the Kremlin in Moscow. They, and dozens of others, were about to land in D.C. when the American Eagle flight struck a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and both aircraft fell into the Potomac River. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly briefed reporters a short while ago.
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JOHN DONNELLY: We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident.
INSKEEP: Donnelly making that statement after crews did spend the night in the icy water, looking for anything - anyone that they could. NPR's Joel Rose has been following this story. He covers transportation. Joel, good morning.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. So what do you know about what happened?
ROSE: As you described, you know, the collision happened as an American Airlines regional jet was attempting to land at National - Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia. It was just before 9:00 p.m. local time. It was a narrow body plane, a CRJ 700 built by Bombardier with 60 passengers, four crew members on board, and it was lining up to land at the airport when it collided at low altitude with the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers on board. Eyewitnesses described hearing a loud bang and seeing a bright explosion in the sky before both aircraft then crashed down into the Potomac river.
INSKEEP: Yeah. And there is video, which is findable, where you see an airplane that - it's lit up. It's coming in in that smooth way that airplanes do and then there is an explosion. How did the search and rescue or failure to rescue - inability to rescue unfold overnight?
ROSE: Yeah. The first responders were on the scene within 10 minutes, according to D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Donnelly, and there were 300 first responders involved at one point overnight. But as you heard, they were unable to pull anyone alive out of the icy river. They have been able to recover 28 bodies so far, Donnelly said this morning at a very somber briefing at Reagan National Airport. The CEO of American Airlines was there as well and offered his condolences to those who lost loved ones.
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ROBERT ISOM: We're absolutely heartbroken for the family and loved ones of the passengers and crew members and also for those that were on the military aircraft. This is devastating. It's - we are all hurting incredibly.
INSKEEP: OK. I guess we should note - it's very crowded airspace, normal to find military aircraft there, lots of airplanes. We heard earlier today on the program from Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, who talked about the big debate about congestion at National Airport. So that is some of the factual information we have. What else is known?
ROSE: You know, it's very early in the investigation. No official word yet, but, you know, there were a lot of questions, obviously, at the briefing this morning. The Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, tried to answer those questions. Here's some of what he said.
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SEAN DUFFY: It is not standard to have aircraft collide. I want to be clear on that. But prior to the collision, the flight paths that were being flown from the military and from American, that was not unusual for what happens in the D.C. airspace.
ROSE: You know, Duffy said there were communications between the aircraft and air traffic control and that the helicopter was aware there was a plane but offered no details beyond that.
INSKEEP: NPR's Joel Rose. Thanks so much.
ROSE: You're welcome, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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