No survivors expected in aircraft collision in Washington, says fire chief

Washington, Jan 31 (IANS) Washington D.C. Fire Chief has said that there are likely no survivors in the mid-air collision of a passenger plane and helicopter near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night.

“We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident,” John Donnelly, chief of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, told a press conference at the airport on Thursday morning.

The American Airlines plane had 60 passengers and four crew members, while three US Army soldiers were onboard the Black Hawk helicopter.

Donnelly said that at 8:48 p.m. local time Wednesday night, the control tower sounded an alert, notifying responders about a reported aircraft crash on or near the airport, noting that about 300 rescuers responded to the accident.

“These responders found extremely frigid conditions. They found heavy wind. They found ice on the water, and they operated all night in those conditions,” he added.

“We have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter,” said the Fire Chief.

“The crash area is a little spread out, so we’ve got some work to do.”

At the press conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the helicopter was following a “standard” flight pattern on Wednesday night and the passenger plane was also on a “standard” approach as it was coming into Washington D.C., without specifying what went wrong before the deadly collision.

Duffy noted that the National Transportation Safety Board will begin analysing the aircraft in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said American Eagle flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines, travelling from Wichita, Kansas, to Reagan National Airport, was involved in the accident just before 9 p.m. local time Wednesday on its final approach into the airport.

“They collided with a military aircraft on an otherwise normal approach, and at this time, we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path of the PSA aircraft,” he said.

The transportation secretary said that there was no breakdown in communication.

When asked whether the plane was aware of the helicopter, Duffy did not answer directly but mentioned that the helicopter was aware of the plane’s presence in the area.

Jack Carter, chief executive of Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority — the authority that manages the airport, reaffirmed that the airport reopened at 11 a.m. local time on Thursday.

–IANS

int/khz