DC plane crash updates: 55 victims recovered and positively identified

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

ByIvan Pereira, Meredith Deliso, and Emily Shapiro
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

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Jan 30, 2025, 1:29 PM EST

American Airlines crew was based in Charlotte

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom remains in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to support the families and help authorities.

The flight, number 5342, had 60 passengers on board and four Charlotte-based crew members, Isom said in a letter to American team members.

"Out of respect for the families, we are not sharing the names of the two pilots and two flight attendants at this time, but our thoughts and prayers go out to their loved ones," Isom said.

Emergency response units search the crash site of the American Airlines plane on the Potomac River after the plane crashed on approach to Reagan National Airport on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

-ABC News’ Ayesha Ali

Jan 30, 2025, 1:00 PM EST

Schumer slams Trump for throwing out 'idle speculation'

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed President Donald Trump's comments at the press briefing, during which Trump, without citing evidence, said diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration -- under Democratic presidents -- were partly to blame for the crash.

"It's one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracy theories. It is another for the president of the United States to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families are still being notified," Schumer said during a press conference.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks alongside democratic members of the Senate Budget Committee at the Capitol, Jan.30, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Trump owes the American people an apology.

"It was just grotesque the way he immediately politicized this terrible tragedy," he said.

-ABC News' Allie Pecorin

Jan 30, 2025, 12:31 PM EST

'I lost everything. I lost my husband, I lost my students, I lost my friends’

Natalya Gudin, the wife of Alexandr Kirsanov, a coach of two of the youth ice skaters on board the American Airlines plane, told ABC News, "I lost everything. I lost my husband, I lost my students, I lost my friends."

Gudin said Kirsanov traveled with two youth skaters to attend a development camp in Kansas this week. Gudin, who also coaches students with her husband in Delaware, said she stayed home to be with their other skaters.

Gudin last spoke with her husband as he boarded the flight, she said.

"I need my husband back," Gudin said as she waited at a Washington, D.C., area hotel for further information from authorities. "I need his body back."

There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the plane and three soldiers on the helicopter. No survivors are expected.

-ABC News’ Miles Cohen

Jan 30, 2025, 12:02 PM EST

Trump says military helicopter shouldn’t have been flying same height as plane

President Donald Trump said the military helicopter shouldn’t have been flying the same height as the plane.

"You had a confluence of bad decisions that were made," Trump said.

"For some reason, there weren't adjustments made," Trump said.

Trump said the helicopter "should have seen where they were going."

PHOTO: President Donald Trump speaks to reporters about the collision of an American Airlines flight with a military Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport, at the White House on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters about the collision of an American Airlines flight with a military Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

"I have helicopters. You can stop a helicopter very quickly. It had the ability to go up or down, it had the ability to turn. And the turn it made was not the correct turn, obviously, and it did somewhat the opposite of what it was told," Trump said.

Trump maintained that U.S. air travel is safe.

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