Commercial plane split in two after colliding with Black Hawk chopper mid-air: report
The commercial passenger plane that collided with a Black Hawk chopper over the icy Potomac River in Washington, DC, Wednesday night split in half, according to a report.
NBC 4 Washington’s Mark Segraves said two sources who were on the scene told him the American Airlines Flight 5342 plane split in half and large parts of it are “in about 7 feet of water” in the frigid Potomac.
Images from the harrowing scene show large, broken-off sections of the plane floating in the Potomac as hundreds of first responders attempt to clear the tragic scene.
One photo posted to social media shows the wreckage of the plane surrounded by tugboats trying to pull the heap of metal from the cold water.
In another photo, the gnarled metal body of the American Airlines flight covers half of a boat that arrived on the river as part of the massive response that included as many as 300 personnel from various state and federal agencies.
The American Airlines flight was traveling from Wichita, Kan., and was cleared by air traffic control to land on Runway 33 at Reagan National Airport seconds before the collision, which occurred at 8:40 p.m.
The direct flight from Wichita to DC had been operating for just about a year, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) said at a press conference early Thursday, adding that he personally asked American Airlines to create the direct route.
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Flight 5342 was a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 operated by American Airlines, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Officials say the rescue mission is ongoing but zero survivors have been pulled from the bone-chilling Potomac River where the two aircraft crashed.
First responders were able to recover 18 bodies from the water as of late Wednesday, according to CBS News.
There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board Flight 5342 and three soldiers on Black Hawk, which was conducting a training exercise.
