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Passenger jet and military helicopter collide over Washington DC

An American Airlines passenger jet collided Wednesday with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington.

While it is too early to determine casualty figures, a major search-and-rescue operation is underway in the nearby Potomac River.

Inflatable rescue boats were launched into the Potomac River from a point near the airport along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair crash occurred around 9 p.m. EST when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military Blackhawk helicopter while on approach to an airport runway. 

The plane, American Airlines Flight 5342 with 60 passengers and four crew members on board, had departed from Wichita, Kansas, according to the airline. Three soldiers were on board the helicopter, according to a US defense official.

The incident occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.

 

SOURCES: CNN, AP



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