An American Airlines passenger jet has collided mid-air with a US army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington DC.

The PSA Airlines jet, operating as American Airlines 5432, collided with the helicopter around 21:00 local time on Wednesday (29 January). The Bombardier CRJ700, departed from Wichita, Kansas and collided with a Sikorsky H-60 that had taken off from Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

CBS reports that 60 passengers and four crew members were on board the passenger plane, and at least 18 bodies have been recovered so far.

Here is the audio from an airline official who witnessed the aftermath of the devastating crash:

All take-offs and landings from the airport were halted as helicopters flew over the scene in search of survivors, while inflatable rescue boats were launched into the nearby Potomac River.

“The accident happened in the river,” an official said in the audio obtained by the outlet. “Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river.”

NBC has also reported what a controller said after they’d witnessed what happened shortly after the incident.

Emergency crews have responded to the incident (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“It was probably out in the middle of the river. Um, I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river,” they said. “But It was a CR-J and a helicopter that hit, I would say a half-mile of the approach.”

According to CNN, another pilot can be heard saying ‘we saw flares from the opposite side of the Potomac’ after witnessing the collision, while an approach controller added: “Apparently both aircraft involved are in the river, a search and rescue will be ongoing.”

Roy Best, a federal employee, claims he was on the rooftop of his building located next to the airport when the collision took place.

He told CNN: “It was just a loud noise. So I turned to the side, and I saw a big spark. And then just something falling. Because it was kind of dark. Couldn’t really tell what it was. I didn’t know if it was a firecracker or what.”

President Donald Trump said he has been briefed on the ‘terrible accident’.

The PSA Airlines jet, operating as American Airlines 5432, collided with a US Army helicopter around 21:00 local time on Wednesday (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

He thanked first responders for their ‘incredible work,’ noting that he was ‘monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise’, adding: “May God Bless their souls.”

“Please say a prayer for everyone involved in the mid-air collision near Reagan airport this evening,” Vice President JD Vance wrote on X.

“We’re monitoring the situation, but for now let’s hope for the best.”

“American Eagle Flight 5342 en route from Wichita, Kansas (ICT), to Washington, D.C. (DCA) was involved in an accident at DCA. The flight was operated by PSA Airlines with a CRJ-700,” American Airlines said in a statement.

“There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft.

“Our concern is for the passengers and crew on board the aircraft. We are in contact with authorities and assisting with emergency response efforts.”

LADbible Group has contacted American Airlines for an update.

A new proposal could see Donald Trump serving as President of the United States until 2032.

On Monday (20 January) the 78-year-old became America’s 47th president after his first term ended back in 2021. He is only the second president to be elected in a non-consecutive term, alongside the 22nd and 24th president, Grover Cleveland.

Following Trump‘s inauguration, Tennessee congressman Andy Ogles filed a Joint Resolution, seeking a change to the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.

Currently, presidents are restricted to serving only two terms, but the change – if successful – would mean a president could be elected for a third consecutive term.

“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once,” it reads.

Ogles has argued that Trump would need another term to carry out his goals.

Donald Trump is currently serving his second term as President of the United States (CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

“President Trump’s decisive leadership stands in stark contrast to the chaos, suffering, and economic decline Americans have endured over the past four years,” he wrote in a statement.

“He has proven himself to be the only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness, and he must be given the time necessary to accomplish that goal.

“To that end, I am proposing an amendment to the Constitution to revise the limitations imposed by the 22nd Amendment on presidential terms. This amendment would allow President Trump to serve three terms, ensuring that we can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs.”

Since officially becoming president on Monday, Trump has already made some big changes in the US, signing off a number of executive orders and memorandums within 24 hours.

Trump has already signed off a number of executive orders (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

These include pardoning a staggering 1,500 people convicted, or facing conviction, for their roles in the US Capitol riots back in January 2021.

Trump has also ruled that there are now only two genders in the US – male and female, saying the move was to ‘defend women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth’.

The new president has also temporarily reversed the TikTok ban, after it went offline just a couple of days before he was sworn in.

The White House website states: “To fulfil those responsibilities, I intend to consult with my advisors, including the heads of relevant departments and agencies on the national security concerns posed by TikTok, and to pursue a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans.

“My Administration must also review sensitive intelligence related to those concerns and evaluate the sufficiency of mitigation measures TikTok has taken to date.”

Donald Trump has won another term in the White House as America’s 47th President.

It will be the 78-year-old’s second term as a Republican – after first serving in 2017 – and he has promised ‘a brand new day of American strength and prosperity, dignity and pride’.

Due to the weather, Trump’s swearing-in today (20 January) has been moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda, which is the first time this has happened in 40 years.

The inauguration day is set to start at 5pm UK time, with the inaugural procession and parade beginning around 8pm UK time.

Trump has made various promises of what he plans to achieve during his second time in office, and here’s what he’s pledged to do so far.

What is Trump promising to change?

TikTok

Trump has said that he wants to ‘make a deal to protect our national security’ after a ban on TikTok was delayed on Sunday.

The businessman claimed he would sign an executive order on Inauguration Day.

Taking toTruth Social, a social media platform he owns, he said (via the BBC): “I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark!

“I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”

Donald Trump is set to be sworn is as America’s 47th President today (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Immigration

After he takes power, Trump claims he ‘will launch the largest deportation program in American history‘, promising to close the border to undocumented immigrants.

His controversial ‘Muslim travel ban’ is also back, banning people from several countries in the world which have a majority of Muslim people living there.

“We will seal our border and bring back the travel ban,” Trump previously said.

“Remember the famous travel ban? We didn’t take people from certain areas of the world. We’re not taking them from infested countries.”

The release of JFK, RFK and MLK assassination files

“As the first step toward restoring transparency and accountability to government, we will also reverse the over-classification of government documents,” Trump said at the Capital One Arena (via LBC).

“And in the coming days, we are going to make public remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

Buying Greenland

Again on Truth Social, he has promised to buy Greenland, located between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean.

“Greenland is an incredible place,” he said, with it being an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

“The people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation. We will protect it, cherish it, from a very vicious outside World. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump tried to negotiate a deal in his last term, but the Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen called the whole thing ‘absurd’.

Trump will take charge for his second term (Thomas Hengge/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Women’s rights

Trump appointed the US Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the historic Roe v Wade judgement that resulted in 20 states bringing in strict abortion laws.

Having called these laws as a ‘beautiful thing to watch’, Trump has said he will not push for a direct federal abortion ban.

During the campaign, he said he will give all women free IVF treatment for those who are struggling to become parents.

Education

Last year, Trump said he wants to stop schools from receiving any funding that will go towards ‘critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content’.

He also said he will put an end to school rulings on vaccine or mask mandates.

Taxing on tips

Previously, Trump claimed that the ‘first thing in office’ he is will do is ending income tax on tipped income.

Trump on taxes, the economy, and environment

Trump says he will ‘end inflation’ without revealing how this could be achieved. He has hinted at opening up the US’s oil industry in a move he says could ‘make American affordable again’.

He also is set to halt offshore wind power farms, claiming they ‘kill whales and birds’.

Trump has previously described climate change as an ‘expensive hoax’ while committing to clean air and water for US citizens.

He said he will lower interest rates, despite the POTUS not setting them or controlling them. He says he will up taxes on imports while cutting taxes worth trillions of dollars, all while deporting undocumented immigrants.

Donald Trump is already making some sweeping changes in his second term as President of the United States.

The inauguration yesterday (20 January) saw the 78-year-old become America’s 47th president after his first term ended in 2021.

The event saw Trump’s wife Melania wear an eye-catching hat (which has resulted in conspiracy theories), and Elon Musk forced to defend claims he gave a ‘Nazi’ salute.

Since being sworn in, Trump has wasted no time in signing a few executive orders – including one on the death penalty.

Since 2021, a moratorium on federal executions has been in place, after just three defendants remain on federal death row when former Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison.

In the executive order, which aren’t required to be approved by Congress, Trump has blamed the former president for ‘commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 most vile and sadistic rapists, child molesters, and murderers on Federal death row: remorseless criminals who brutalised young children, strangled and drowned their victims, and hunted strangers for sport’.

Donald Trump has become America’s 47th president (Sky News)

It also claimed that ‘judges who oppose capital punishment have likewise disregarded the law by falsely claiming that capital punishment is unconstitutional, even though the Constitution explicitly acknowledges the legality of capital punishment’.

The order issued by Trump states that ‘capital punishment is an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens’.

When the Trump administration was first in power from 2017 to 2021, it carried out 13 federal executions during – more than under any president in modern history, Associated Press reports.

“Before, during, and after the founding of the United States, our cities, States, and country have continuously relied upon capital punishment as the ultimate deterrent and only proper punishment for the vilest crimes,” the order read.

“Our Founders knew well that only capital punishment can bring justice and restore order in response to such evil. For this and other reasons, capital punishment continues to enjoy broad popular support.

“Yet for too long, politicians and judges who oppose capital punishment have defied and subverted the laws of our country.

“At every turn, they seek to thwart the execution of lawfully imposed capital sentences and choose to enforce their personal beliefs rather than the law.”

Trump is making some big changes in his second term (Sky News)

It added: “The Government’s most solemn responsibility is to protect its citizens from abhorrent acts.

“And my Administration will not tolerate efforts to stymie and eviscerate the laws that authorise capital punishment against those who commit horrible acts of violence against American citizens.”

The order also says the Attorney General ‘shall take all necessary and lawful action to ensure that each state that allows capital punishment has a sufficient supply of drugs needed to carry out lethal injection’.

All the executive orders Donald Trump has signed so far

Policy recognising only ‘two genders’

The president signed an order which will make it an official policy that there are only ‘two genders’.

The policy reads: “Agencies will cease pretending that men can be women and women can be men when enforcing laws that protect against sex discrimination.

“These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”

The order will also bring to an end ‘wasteful’ government programmes which promote diversity and inclusivity, as well as ‘defending women from gender ideology extremism’.

Free speech

The president accused the previous administration of ‘trampling free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech’ and vowed to restore freedom of speech.

The order states it will ‘ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen’ and will ‘end censorship of protected speech’.

Leaving the World Health Organisation

The president accused the organisation of fumbling the COVID-19 pandemic and said the US would no longer be ‘ripped off’ by it.

While signing a document to have the US leave the health agency, Trump said: “World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore.”

TikTok ban

As expected, Trump signed an executive order which hits pause on the US’ ban of the popular app, allowing time for an ‘appropriate course forward’.

“I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok that I didn’t have originally,” he said.

Trump has signed a few executive orders since his inauguration on Monday (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

January 6 pardons

Trump’s loss in the 2020 election led to the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in turn resulting in the arrests of a number of Trump supporters.

And as anticipated, the president has wasted no time in issuing pardons for offenders. Trump said he’s pardoned around 1,500 people and issued six commutations.

Immigration

Trump has issued a slew of immigration-related policies during his first day back in the White House as he declared illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border a national emergency.

Trump has already gotten started on reversing several Biden-era immigration orders and has plans to send US troops to help immigration agents and restrict refugees.

The president has also got the wheels in motion to prevent children of immigrants in the US illegally from having citizenship.

Speaking at his inauguration, he said: “All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”

Restoring the death penalty

Calling capital punishment an ‘essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes’, Trump signed an order which will ensure states have enough lethal injection drugs for executions.

“The Attorney General shall pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use,” the order says.

Renaming the Gulf of Mexico

Following through on his promise during a press conference earlier this month, Trump has now ordered the Gulf of Mexico to be called the Gulf of America.

“President Trump is bringing common sense to government and renewing the pillars of American Civilization,” the executive order said.

Despite the order, it won’t change how it is named globally.

Energy policy

Trump has vowed to ‘unleash American energy’, promising to export US energy globally as he signed the order amid what he describes as a ‘national energy emergency’.

“America is blessed with an abundance of energy and natural resources that have historically powered our Nation’s economic prosperity. In recent years, burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of these resources, limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens,” the order states.

The order will also reverse Biden’s ban on drilling in Alaska as Trump declared America ‘will be a rich nation again’.

Cost of living

In the order, Trump vowed to issue ’emergency price relief’ to Americans aimed at lowering housing prices and availability and creating ’employment opportunities for American workers’.

Trump will also ‘eliminate harmful, coercive “climate” policies that increase the costs of food and fuel’.

Drug cartels

Trump has said drug cartels will now be classified as terrorist organisations.

“International cartels constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organised crime,” the orders says.

Federal workers

Federal employees have now been classified as political hires – a move which in theory would make them easier to fire.

Trump also declared a federal hiring freeze which will reduce the size of federal government.