Crowded airspace and D.C.'s deadly plane crash

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“It was probably out in the middle of the river. I just saw a fireball, and then it was gone.” Today on “Post Reports,” unpacking a deadly collision in the nation’s capital.

On Wednesday night, an American Airlines plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided in midair near Reagan National Airport. Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River in Washington.

D.C. officials believe the three soldiers in the helicopter and all 64 passengers and crew aboard the airplane were killed.

Today on “Post Reports,” host Elahe Izadi and transportation reporter Lori Aratani break down what we know about the collision, the close calls faced around Reagan National Airport in the recent past, and President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the Federal Aviation Administration were to blame for the crash.

Today’s show was produced by Bishop Sand and Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was mixed by Sam Bair and edited by Reena Flores. Thanks to Teddy Amenabar, Blair Guild, Evan Hill, Jorge Ribas, Chris Rowland, Kyle Swenson and Clarence Williams.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	How did you see that?
0:04.0	Fire command.
0:05.9	The accident happened in the river.
0:08.8	Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river.
0:12.2	It's east of the approach end of runway 33.
0:16.4	Is the airfield close?
0:18.1	Yes, the air is closed.
0:20.0	The air is closed.
0:20.6	Runways as well? Yes, all runways are closed. The air is closed. Runways as well?
0:21.6	Yes, all runways are closed.
0:23.6	Nobody's landing.
0:24.6	No one's moving at all.
0:26.6	It was probably out in the middle of the river.
0:30.6	I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone.
0:34.6	From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post reports.
0:42.9	I'm Elahe Izadhi. It's Thursday, January 30th. Today, we're talking about the deadly collision
0:50.3	at Reagan National Airport. On Wednesday evening, a commercial plane and a Black Hawk
0:55.9	military helicopter collided over the Washington, D.C. area. The audio you just heard was from an
1:03.4	airport traffic control tower. Moments after the crash, 64 people were aboard the plane.
1:10.8	Three were in the helicopter. D.C. officials believe
1:14.2	there are no survivors. This is the most catastrophic plane crash in this area since 1982.
1:26.2	Late this morning, President Trump spoke to reporters about the crash.
	...

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