2025 Potomac River mid-air collision

On January 29, 2025, a mid-air collision occurred when **American Airlines Flight 5342**, a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Kansas to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C., collided in a mid-air with a United States Army Sikorsky VH-60M Black Hawk helicopter. All 67 people on two aircrafts (64 on American Airlines Flight 5342; Bombardier CRJ700 series and 3 Priority Air Transport 25; Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk) died in the crash.

This accident was the first fatal crash involving American Airlines since the crash of Flight 587 on November 12, 2001. This accident was also the first fatal crash for a commercial airline on to have occurred in the United States since PenAir Flight 3296 in 2019.

## Accident

Less than 30 seconds before the collision, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter crew whether they had Flight 5342 in sight. A crew member replied that they could see the airliner, and requested "visual separation" from the plane; this was approved by the controllers. A few seconds before the collision, the air traffic controller ordered the helicopter to pass behind Flight 5342.

At 8:48 p.m. EST, Flight 5342 collided with the Black Hawk, which exploded, then crashed into the middle of the Potomac River. Flight 5342's radio transponder ceased transmitting about  short of runway 33. The incident was captured by a webcam at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Another video shows a brief trail of fire. The CRJ700 "split in half" in the river, while the helicopter crashed in the river upside down and near the crashed plane.

A pilot in an uninvolved aircraft confirmed seeing the crash to an air traffic controller, and reported seeing flares from the side of the Potomac opposite to them as they were on short final.

### Victims

Within hours, law enforcement officials and sources confirmed deaths. On February 4, officials confirmed all 67 bodies were found.

## Infobox (aircraft occurrence)

- **name**: 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision
- **image**: PSA Airlines flight 5342 crash.webm
- **image upright**: 1.15
- **alt**: CCTV footage of the collision and crash
- **caption**: EarthCam footage of the collision and crash, taken from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Kennedy Center, looking southeast
- **occurrence type**: Accident
- **summary**: Mid-air collision, under investigation
- **site**: Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington, D.C., United States
- **total fatalities**: 67
- **total survivors**: 0
- **plane1 image**: American Eagle CRJ-700 N709PS at Charlotte, 2022.jpg
- **plane1 image upright**: 1.15
- **plane1 caption**: The aircraft involved in the accident, photographed in 2022
- **plane1 type**: Bombardier CRJ700 series, Bombardier CRJ701ER
- **plane1 operator**: PSA Airlines  American Eagle (airline brand), American Eagle
- **plane1 iata**: AA5342
- **plane1 icao**: JIA5342
- **plane1 callsign**: BLUE STREAK 5342
- **plane1 tailnum**: N709PS
- **plane1 origin**: Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, Wichita, Kansas, United States
- **plane1 destination**: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Arlington County, Virginia, United States
- **plane1 occupants**: 64
- **plane1 passengers**: 60
- **plane1 crew**: 4
- **plane1 fatalities**: 64
- **plane1 survivors**: 0
- **plane2 image**: Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk 00-26860 10 30 18.jpg
- **plane2 image upright**: 1.15
- **plane2 caption**: The aircraft involved
- **plane2 type**: Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, Sikorsky VH-60M Black Hawk
- **plane2 operator**: United States Army 12th Aviation Battalion
- **plane2 callsign**: 25
- **plane2 tailnum**: 00-26860
- **plane2 origin**: Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir, Fairfax County, Virginia, United States
- **plane2 occupants**: 3
- **plane2 crew**: 3
- **plane2 fatalities**: 3
- **plane2 survivors**: 0