Airplane crashes into Potomac River in DC near Reagan National Airport
Many are feared dead after a midair collision between a helicopter and an airplane near Washington D.C.'s Reagan National Airport early Wednesday night.
Recovery efforts were temporarily paused after nightfall on Jan. 30 because crews will need to remove the wreckage of the plane and helicopter to be able to reach the remaining bodies.
Sixty-seven people are feared dead after a military helicopter collided with a commercial airplane in the sky over Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night before crashing into the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport.
The American Airlines jet was carrying 64 people, and three were aboard the helicopter at the time of the collision, which was around 9 p.m. EST Wednesday.
“We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital. "We don’t believe there are any survivors.”
"This tragedy appears to be the worst commercial aviation disaster in the U.S. since Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed near Buffalo in February 2009," AccuWeather Senior Director of Forecasting Operations Dan DePodwin said.
Reagan National Airport was closed following the crash, but is scheduled to reopen late Thursday morning.
"A PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 p.m. local [Eastern] time. PSA was operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines. It departed from Wichita, Kansas," the FAA said in a statement. The cause of the collision is still unclear.
AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter discusses how weather conditions may have affected the rescue and recovery efforts following the deadly air collision in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29.
The water in the Potomac River is just a few degrees above freezing - ranging from 33 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit.
"At these frigid water temperatures (33 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit in the vicinity of the crash), the human body core temperature quickly drops and exhaustion or unconsciousness can occur in as little as 15 to 30 minutes," DePodwin said.
The air temperature at the time of the crash was around 50 degrees, and winds were out of the west-northwest at 16 mph.
"Other than the frigid water temperatures, we don't expect any adverse weather impacts tonight and Thursday to negatively impact search and rescue efforts," DePodwin said.
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