This morning, American Airlines Flight 5342 collided head-on with an American military helicopter. While the number of fatalities has yet to be confirmed, authorities fear that no survivors will be found as they expanded the search operation along the Potomac River, where the aircrafts fell into.
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Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser addresses the media as Secretary of U.S. Department of Transportation Sean Duffy looks on, after American Eagle flight 5342 collided with a Black Hawk helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and crashed into Potomac River, U.S. January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno REFILE – QUALITY REPEAT
This marks the worst aviation disaster in the U.S. since 2009, when a Colgan Air flight crashed in Buffalo, New York, killing 50 people.
Additionally, the last major crash in the Potomac River occurred in 1982 when an Air Florida flight crashed into the icy waters, killing 78 people on board.
Although aviation disasters in the U.S. are relatively rare, their severity is often devastating. Here is a recap of the most catastrophic aviation incidents in the past 35 years:
August 27, 2006: In Lexington, Kentucky, a Comair plane mistakenly took off from the wrong runway and subsequently crashed, killing 47 passengers and two crew members. Takeoffs and landings present the highest risk for aviation accidents, as errors in these phases are most likely to result in catastrophe.
November 12, 2001: Shortly after takeoff, an American Airlines flight crashed in Belle Harbor, New York, resulting in the deaths of all 260 people on board.
No discussion of U.S. aviation disasters is complete without mentioning the tragic September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, in which nearly 3,000 people lost their lives. Four hijacked jetliners were involved, with two crashing into the World Trade Center in New York City, one striking the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth being brought down in a Pennsylvania field by heroic passengers.
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FILE PHOTO: Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 flies toward the World Trade Center twin towers shortly before slamming into the South tower (L), as the North tower burns, following an earlier attack by a hijacked airliner in New York, U.S., September 11, 2001. REUTERS/Sean Adair/File Photo SEARCH “20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS” FOR THE PHOTOS
January 31, 2000: An Alaska Airlines flight crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Anacapa Island, California, killing all 83 passengers and five crew members.
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Ventura County Fire Department Captain Tom Kruschke (R) looks at the wreckage of Alaska Airlines flight 261 in Port Hueneme, CA, 31 January 2001. The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) allowed photographers and journalists to view the wreckage of the doomed flight that killed all 88 passenger and crew aboard off the coast of California one year ago 21 January 2000. Approximately 80 percent of the plane has been reconstructed in a hanger at the Port Hueneme Naval Base near Oxnard, California. AFP PHOTO/Mike NELSON
July 17, 1996: A Trans World Airlines flight bound for Paris, France, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York. All 230 passengers and crew perished, and the aircraft was completely destroyed.
May 11, 1996: Just 10 minutes after taking off from Miami International Airport, a ValuJet Airlines flight crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 105 passengers and five crew members.
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The flight data recorder of ValuJet Airlines flight 592 is shown displayed for news people at the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington Tuesday May 14, 1996. The recorder was aboard the ValuJet DC-9 which crashed in the Florida Everglades Saturday killing all 109 on board. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)
October 31, 1994: An American Eagle flight crashed in Roselawn, Indiana, resulting in the deaths of 64 passengers and four crew members.
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A field near Roselawn, Ind., is strewn with debris Nov. 1, 1994, where American Eagle flight 4184 crashed, killing all 68 people aboard. Relatives of 68 people who died in a 1994 commuter plane crash in northwestern Indiana are raising money to build a permanent memorial near the crash site they hope to dedicate on next year’s 20th anniversary of the crash. (AP Photo/Charles Bennett, file)
September 8, 1994: A USAir flight crashed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killing 127 passengers and five crew members and destroying the aircraft.