Coast Guard Helps With Search After Deadly Plane Crash in D.C.

 

On Wednesday night, a commuter jet and an Army helicopter collided and fell into the Potomac River, killing 67 people. Search and recovery operations are under way to recover the deceased, with assistance from U.S. Coast Guard boat detachment and the Army Corps of Engineers. As of Thursday afternoon, 28 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of the plane and the helicopter. 

At about 2100 hours Wednesday, a Black Hawk helicopter was on a training run over the Potomac as American Flight 5342 approached Reagan National Airport. Both were on standard flight paths, about 200 feet off the ground. The plane was asked to make a last-minute change of runways and shifted its flight path at the instruction of an air traffic controller; recordings of radio traffic indicate the controller instructed the helicopter to "pass behind" the jet. The two collided shortly after, then fell into the icy waters of the Potomac.   

The Federal Aviation Administration reported Thursday that the control tower for National Airport was understaffed at the time, with one employee handling both arrivals and departures - normally the workload of two people. 

The response got under way quickly, with all available help from the Coast Guard. In frigid conditions, with high winds and ice in the shallow water, responders located the two aircraft and began the task of searching for survivors. None were found amidst the wreckage. 

Response boat crews from Coast Guard stations Washington, Curtis Bay, Annapolis, St. Inigoes, Oxford and Crisfield deployed to help with the search and the enforcement of an exclusion zone. The small cutters Sailfish, Bruckenthal, Kennebec and Frank Drew also got under way to assist. 

The Trump administration's nominee for Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, said Thursday that the service may need to reevaluate its practice of routine helicopter training near major airports, as is common in the busy capital area.