WINGS UP

On the night of Wednesday, January 29th 2025 there was a devastating plane crash within the airspace of Washington D.C. and landed in the Potomac River near the Reagan National Airport. Following reports coming from CBS news website it is apparent that there were no survivors within the crash. There were two air-bound vehicles involved in the crash, The American Eagle Flight No. 5342 and a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter. The plane, containing 60 passengers + four crew members and coming from Wichita, Kansas and the Helicopter containing three soldiers on a training flight out of Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

BREAKDOWN OF THE PLANE AND HELICOPTER PATHS; PHOTO TAKEN BY WSJ VIDEO

The plane, which was being operated by PSA airlines, had made contact with the helicopter around 9 p.m. Eastern time on the 29th of January. This all happened while the plane was approaching a runway at the Reagan National Airport. The Helicopter was said by officials to have been over 200 feet higher than it initially should have been at the time of the collision. While the aircrafts were in motion, there was a single air traffic control worker managing both helicopters and planes, which was a two person job most of the time. It has not been determined whether the amount of workload that the worker had, led to the deadly crash within the night.

Officials announced the remains of all 67 passengers were recovered as of February 4th. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported on February 8th that all of the major pieces of the helicopter and the plane had also been recovered and had been taken to a secure facility for further investigation and documentation of the parts. The plane has a part in it called a TCAS, otherwise known as a Traffic Collision Avoidance System as well as the “additional avionics”. This was recovered by teams working with the NTSB. Using a lidar survey, a remote sensing technology that uses lasers, on February 8th this survey found multiple areas where other debris from the collision could reside, Drivers will be investigating these areas.

The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, otherwise known as the black box, have been recovered from the crashed plane NTSB had confirmed. They are being analyzed at an NTSB lab which is only around a mile from the crash site. The black box was reported to have some “water intrusion”, but many investigators are confident there will be a chance to salvage the data and put together what led to this deadly crash. Divers received access to the aircraft's cabin as well as recovering luggage along with other items. On the other hand with the helicopter, it seems to have been upside down but mostly intact still.

  I hope this article helped to be informed about the things going on around you. Even if it's not the town next to you where it is happening, it is good to be aware of the world around you. I also want to give my respects to all of the families that this crash has affected, no one should have to lose someone without getting to say goodbye.