The crew flying the doomed Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a commercial passenger jet was ‘fairly experienced’, the Army said on Thursday.
The Pentagon has begun notifying the next of kin of the three soldiers who were on a training flight when they crashed into the American Airlines plane on its final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
There were night vision goggles on board the Black Hawk that then plunged into Washington, D.C.’s Potomac River.
More than 30 bodies had been recovered for the freezing river early Thursday, with authorities saying there are no survivors.
A temporary morgue has been set up in the capital to house the bodies as divers continue their search for the bodies,
The Black Hawk helicopter cut through the airspace from the opposite direction under cover of darkness, with both aircraft seemingly unaware of the other’s presence.
They slammed into one another just 400ft above ground, erupting in a violent explosion before plunging into the freezing Potomac River below.Â
The first details of the crew were reported by Fox News. DailyMail.com has reached out to the Pentagon for more information.Â
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a recorded statement obtained by the network that the flight was an annual proficiency training mission.
Every year, pilots and crew are required to do night evaluations.
Emergency response teams are seen at the scene of the crash in the Potomac River
Rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River for survivors after the deadly plane crash
Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport also captured the moment the two collided in midair
Donald Trump’s national adviser Mike Waltz said on Thursday morning that an ‘experienced’ warrant officer was on board.Â
More than 300 first responders and rescue workers were deployed to the Potomac on inflatable boats while others erected searchlights to illuminate the murky waters in a desperate hunt for survivors.
But no one is thought to have survived the brutal mid-air collision that ended with the wreckage of both aircraft sinking to the bottom of the gushing river.
It is the first fatal crash involving a US commercial airline since 2009, when 50 people died in Buffalo, New York, following a crash of a Bombardier DHC-C propeller aircraft.
This is breaking newsÂ
