DC plane crash updates: 55 victims recovered and positively identified

All 67 people on board the plane and the helicopter were killed.

Last Updated: February 2, 2025, 4:59 PM EST

An American Airlines regional jet went down in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after colliding with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, with no survivors.

Sixty-four people were on board the plane, which departed from Wichita, Kansas. Three soldiers were on the helicopter.

The collision happened around 9 p.m. when the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet was on approach to the airport.

Map of the area around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the layout of Runway 33, which the regional American Airlines jet was approaching at the time of the collision with the Army Black Hawk helicopter, according to officials.
ABC News, Google Earth, Flightradar24, ADS-B Exchange
Jan 30, 2025, 5:41 PM EST

Man whose son and wife died in crash speaks out

Spencer Lane, 16, and his mother, Christine Lane, 49, were among the passengers on the American Airlines flight when it crashed on Wednesday.

They were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, and were among six victims -- including two coaches, two teenage athletes and two moms of athletes -- from the Skating Club of Boston, the organization said.

Spencer Lane's father, Doug Lane, remembered his son as a "force of nature."

Spencer Lane is seen in this undated photo.
The Skating Club of Boston

"He just had amazing athletic abilities," Doug Lane told ABC Boston affiliate WCVB. "If he was like, 'hey, that's interesting to me,' you couldn't stop him. And figure skating is, I think, the best example of that."

The teen decided to try skating three years ago after seeing Nathan Chen in the Olympics and "committed himself to it," his dad said.

Doug Lane remembered his wife as a "beautiful, creative person" who had many talents, including quilting, and volunteered at a local animal rescue. She loved being a mother to their two sons, who were both adopted from South Korea, he said.

"[She would] do everything for her children, including fly to Wichita, Kansas, for a week," he said. "She just gave parenting her all."

Jan 30, 2025, 4:22 PM EST

Secretary Noem tweets photo of helicopter in Potomac River

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted photos of the downed Black Hawk helicopter and said she joined the Coast Guard as they enforced a safety zone around the crash site.

"Thank you to our Coast Guard, interagency partners, and local responders," she said.

Jan 30, 2025, 4:06 PM EST

Airport tower combined 2 positions into 1

When aircraft volume goes down, a supervisor can make the decision to combine two controller positions into one position. This happens routinely, and on Wednesday at Reagan Airport, it happened 40 minutes earlier than it normally does because the supervisor determined that the traffic was low enough to combine, according to a source with direct knowledge.

This position handles local arrivals into Reagan and helicopter traffic when it’s combined.

Reagan is not understaffed, the source added.

PHOTO: American Airlines regional jets park at the Reagan National Airport, January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
American Airlines regional jets park at the Reagan National Airport as the investigation continues into the crash of an American Airlines plane on the Potomac River after the plane crashed last night on approach to Reagan National Airport on January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The air traffic controllers’ union said in a statement that it's working with all federal agencies and "stands with the highly trained, highly skilled" workforce that "keeps the United States as the gold standard for aviation safety."

-ABC News’ Sam Sweeney

Jan 30, 2025, 3:43 PM EST

Dive teams ending operations

Dive teams are ceasing operations on the Potomac River because they have recovered all of the bodies they’re able to without moving the fuselage, two sources familiar with the operation told ABC News.

About 40 bodies have been recovered so far, including at least one of the soldiers from the Army helicopter, the sources said.

Rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River after a plane on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into the river outside Washington, DC, January 30, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Additional bodies and human remains will need to be extracted from the wreckage once it is lifted to the surface of the river.

Crews are bracing for the possibility that some of the victims will not be recovered because of the fireball that resulted from the collision, the sources said.

-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Aaron Katersky

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