Traffic control footage of the devastating crash between an American Airlines plane with 60 passengers and four crew with a US army helicopter with three people on board shows the moments leading up to the deadly collision.
There are thought to be no survivors from the terrible crash, with the aircraft appearing to explode in mid-air when they collided.
In the footage the marker moving upwards is the American Airlines passenger plane with 64 people on board, and the marker moving down the screen is the US army helicopter that had three people on board.
You can see them moving closer and closer together until they collided and disaster strikes.
A few minutes before the plane was due to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC air traffic control staff asked if it could make the landing on a shorter runway and the pilots agreed.
Some bodies have been recovered from the tragic site of the crash. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The jet was given clearance to land, while controllers asked the helicopter if it could see the passenger plane and said ‘PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ’, an instruction for the helicopter to wait for the plane to pass by before continuing.
They received no reply and seconds later the two aircraft collided into each other in a devastating crash.
Wreckage of the aircraft was found in the Potomac River, with the plane found upside down and in three pieces by the recovery operation.
Officials said today (30 January) that they did not expect to find any of the 67 people involved with the crash alive, and that they were ‘switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation’.
At least 28 bodies have been found, 27 from the plane and one from the helicopter.
What started as potential rescue efforts has become recovery of the bodies. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
What caused the American Airlines crash?
This is still to be determined, with the black boxes from both the helicopter and plane vital to establishing what was going on in the build up to the fatal collision.
All we know at this stage is that the passenger plane and military helicopter collided as the plane was approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to land.
Who was on board the American Airlines flight?
US Figure Skating, which is the American governing body for the sport, has announced that a number of athletes and coaches were on board the fateful flight.
In a statement, it said: “These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”
World champion figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board the plane, according to Russian state media.
Figure skater Spencer Lane was among those who died, with his father Douglas calling him a ‘force of nature’ who was ‘loved by everyone’ in an interview with WPRI.
What has American Airlines said about the crash?
The CEO of American Airlines, Robert Isom, issued a response to the incident in Washington DC as he explained he was travelling to DC with a specialist team to aid the investigation.
In a statement, the businessman said: “This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, partners, first responders, along with their families and loved ones.
“I know that there are many questions. At this early stage, I’ll not be able to answer all of them, but I do want to share the information I have at this time.”
Donald Trump’s response
President Trump described the incident as a ‘bad situation’ that ‘should have been prevented’.
“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport,” he wrote on his social media site Truth Social. “The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn.
“Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!! What a terrible night this has been. God bless you all!”
Trump called the crash an ‘hour of anguish’ for the US before going on a baseless tirade against diversity hiring efforts from his predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama, claiming that the Federal Aviation Administration was ‘actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative’.
Dispatcher audio of aftermath of American Airlines crash released
Air traffic control audio has since been released from the incident, detailing the harrowing moment dispatchers witness the crash.
“The accident happened in the river. Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river,” a man on the audio says.
“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.
“But it was a CR-J [the type of plane] and a helicopter that hit, I would say a half-mile of the approach.”
Featured Image Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Topics: US News, American Airlines
Joe Harker
Man who saw American Airlines plane collide with helicopter describes moment he saw ‘shooting star’ in sky
Jimmy Mazeo watched the aviation disaster unfold right in front of him
A man who watched the American Airlines plane crash unfold in the skies has told how he initially thought the collision was ‘a shooting star’.
Jimmy Mazeo described how he saw ‘white flares’ erupting above him as he enjoyed an evening at Gravelly Point, which he said was ‘right next to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The lad, who was with his girlfriend, recounted what he witnessed in the lead up to the disaster on Wednesday (29 January) night.
Dozens are feared dead after the horror crash last night in Washington D.C (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The American Airlines plane, which was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, pummelled into the Potomac River after colliding with a US Army helicopter in mid-air.
It was set to land on Runway 33 at the airport after departing from Wichita, Kansas, and pilots were preparing to land when the tragedy took place.
The Bombardier CRJ700 collided with a US Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, which the Pentagon said was carrying three US soldiers.
Chilling audio recorded in the aftermath of the devastating crash has emerged, where an airline official can be heard describing a ‘fireball’ erupting in front of their eyes.
At least 19 bodies have been pulled from the Potomac River so far, according to the BBC, while rescue efforts remain underway.
Local resident Jimmy Mazeo explained that he was ‘taking in the nice views’ at Gravelly Point, a popular plane-spotting spot situated on the west side of the Potomac River and immediately north of the airport. Take a look at what he had to say here:
“I was with my girlfriend, we were eating dinner just as normal, taking in the nice views,” he told WUSA9.
“We noticed the planes all kind of dispersed from the regular landing patterns.”
Discussing how they then looked up to see ‘white flares’, Mazeo explained that he and his partner initially weren’t that alarmed.
“We didn’t think much of it, we thought they were shooting stars,” he continued. “We didn’t really think much of it until we saw the fire trucks starting to go out to the tarmac and the police cars and the police boats.
“It was insane. It was really insane.I’m really just in awe. It’s terrible what happened tonight, it’s crazy that we got to experience what happened tonight.
“I’m praying for all the people that are involved in this.”
Jimmy Mazeo revealed that he initially thought the collision was a ‘shooting star’ (WUSA9)
Heartbreakingly, a man has also told how he received a final text from his wife who was travelling on the fateful flight shortly before it crashed.
President Donald Trump praised emergency services for their ‘incredible work’, while raising questions about whether the crash could ‘have been prevented’.
American Airlines boss Robert Isom also shared a statement announcing that he was heading to Washington DC to aid the investigation into the tragedy.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the incident.
Featured Image Credit: WUSA9
Topics: Travel, US News, World News
Olivia Burke
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Survivor of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people recalls moment he realised he was alive
Flight 8243’s Christmas Day crash killed 38 on board
A survivor from the devastating Azerbaijan Airlines crash has spoken of the moment he realised he was alive.
The Azerbaijan Airlines crash, which left 38 dead in Kazakhstan, went down on Christmas Day earlier this week. With 67 people on board, Flight 8243’s crash is currently a mystery as investigations are underway.
The plane, which was traveling to Grozny, Russia from Baku, was filmed as it touched down during an emergency landing and went up in flames as soon as it hit the ground.
Miraculously, 29 people survived – including Zulfugar Asadov, a flight attendant, and Subhonkul Rakhimov, a passenger.
An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed on Christmas Day, taking 38 lives (Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images)
From his hospital bed in Baku, Asadov spoke to the New York Times in a phone interview, saying: “Thank God I’m alive.”
Having been in such a deadly crash, it’s understandable that it could take a while to come around to the idea that you survived. Telling Reuters in another interview the moment he realised he had made it, passenger Rakhimov said: “I thought that was my last prayer.”
“After the bang… I thought the plane was going to fall apart,” he added.
Seated in the back of the aircraft, he said his body was hit by something, and that he was twisting before it all went silent. The only thing that he could hear were people moaning – which is when he ‘realized that we have landed’.
He said. “I didn’t know what to do — whether to laugh or cry.”
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29 people miraculously survived the deadly crash (Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan/Anadolu via Getty Images )
According to Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev, 11 people were in critical condition after being pulled from the wreckage.
He said, as per CNN: “The bodies are in poor condition, mostly burnt, all collected. Now they will be in the morgue, and identification will take place.”
While only one survivor’s identity remains unknown, Bozumbayev revealed: “She is unconscious, has no documents, and is in the hospital.”
One woman joined the rescue and told Radio Free Europe’s Kazakh Service that the scene before her made her cry.
She said: “The front (part of the plane) was on fire. We rescued the survivors. Their bodies were covered in blood. They were crying. Everyone was asking for help.”
The woman, known as Elmira, said there were children and teenagers among the survivors.
An investigation is being launched into what caused the plane to go down (Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“A little girl came out. She looked at me and said, ‘Save my mom, my mom is still there’. She was crying and begging, ‘Please save her, save her’,” she said.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russian officials have gone on to launch an investigation into the crash.
Azerbaijan Airlines has suggested that the plane had suffered ‘physical and technical external interference,’ as per translation from the New York Times.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said a Russian Emergencies Ministry plane with medical personnel and equipment was flying to Kazakhstan to assist in the rescue at a summit for the Commonwealth of Independent States.
He said: “Let’s hope for a speedy recovery of the injured ones and, of course, I am sure, a thorough investigation will be carried out. We will coordinate the work of our special and aviation services on all issues related to this tragedy.”
Featured Image Credit: Emergency Situations of Kazakhstan/Anadolu via Getty Images / Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu via Getty Images
Topics: News, Russia, Travel, World News
Britt Jones
Survivor of Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people recalls moment she felt ‘explosion close to leg’
Russia has been accused of shooting down the passenger plane
A woman who survived the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people has said she felt an explosion close to her leg.
The plane had been carrying 67 people on Christmas Day when it crash landed in Kazakhstan, and it is strongly believed it was down to a Russian missile strike from the country’s air defence systems.
Warning: Video contains upsetting content
Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev declared that he could say ‘with complete clarity that the plane was shot down by Russia’, and accused Russia of trying to ‘hush up’ the matter for several days.
He said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had apologised to him, but demanded that Russia ‘must admit its guilt’ and ‘punish the guilty, bring them to criminal responsibility and pay compensation to the Azerbaijani state, the injured passengers and crew members’.
One of the survivors of the plane crash was passenger Jerova Salihat, who spoke from her hospital bed to say she felt an explosion close to her leg.
“Something exploded near my leg,” she said of the thing that caused the plane to crash. “I don’t know what exploded. I don’t know how it happened either.
“[The pilot] thought he was going to land, but he didn’t land, [and there was an] explosion when he went up.”
Jerova Salihat was one of the passengers on board the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed (East2West)
Salihat has joined the ranks of the survivors of the crash who have spoken about the plane being hit with explosions, with flight attendant Zulfugar Asadov saying he was hit in the arm by shrapnel and members of the cabin crew saying there were ‘three explosions outside the aircraft’ while they were over Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.
The plane crash landed in Kazakhstan after the captain decided not to attempt a landing in the Caspian Sea, with the plane breaking into two parts and the front exploding in a fireball.
US military sources back up the idea that the passenger plane was shot down by Russian weapons after it set off from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku and had been heading for Grozny.
Subhonkul Rakhimov, a passenger on board the flight, said he thought he was going to die in the crash and felt his body twisting before something it it and everything went silent.
He could then hear people moaning, which is when he realised that he had survived and he ‘didn’t know what to do’.
38 of the 67 people on board the plane died when it crashed on Christmas Day (ISSA TAZHENBAYEV/AFP via Getty Images)
Flight attendant Hokuma Aliyeva had tried to reassure passengers in the final moments before the plane crashed that ‘everything will be fine‘, but she and many others sadly died in the crash.
Asadov, her colleague, said they asked passengers to stay calm and remain in their seats, adding that what saved the lives of some on board the plane was it breaking up when it landed.
He said: “If the plane had touched down with both the front and rear landing gears at the same time, no one would have survived.
“When the front landing gear touched the ground, the plane broke into two pieces, and the front cockpit was torn off.”
Featured Image Credit: ISSA TAZHENBAYEV/AFP via Getty Images / East2West
Topics: World News, Russia
Joe Harker
Chilling audio of pilots in plane crash which killed 265 people captures moment everything went wrong
The distressing clip captures the moment the pilots lost control
A chilling audio clip that hears a frantic discussion between pilots captures the final devastating moments of American Airlines 587.
Just two months after the 9/11 tragedy in 2001 – considered one of the world’s deadliest terrorist attacks – another tragic plane crash sent shock waves through America.
American Airlines Flight 587, a regular direct flight from New York’s JFK International Airport to Las Americas International Airport in the Dominican Republic, crashed shortly after takeoff on 12 November, 2001.
It was heading for the capital of the Dominican Republic, but it never made the distance, smashing into the Queens neighbourhood of Belle Harbour.
A total of 265 people involved in the crash died, which was made up of the 251 passengers, 9 crew members, and five individuals on the ground.
The incident was ruled to have been an accident by the National Transportation Safety Board.
They concluded that it had been due to both a pilot error and a design flaw on the aircraft.
More than two decades on from the tragedy, a distressing audio clip has been circulating online, which depicts the final moments when pilots finally lost control of the plane.
American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into a Queens neighbourhood shortly after takeoff. (NYPD/Getty Images)
In the clip, the aircraft’s first officer can be heard asking the captain if he is alright.
The first officer then says: “Hang onto it, hang onto it.”
The captain asks for ‘full power’, but this is when the aircraft’s vertical stabiliser breaks.
The captain shouts: “What the hell were you do-! I’m stuck in it!” as the first officer responds: “Get out of it, get out it!”
These were the final words shared between them before the plane smashed into the ground.
265 people died as a result of the devastating plane crash. (JIM BOURG/AFP via Getty Images)
According to the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, the primary cause of the accident was due to the loss of the vertical stabiliser, attributed to the first officer’s unnecessary manipulation of the rudder controls when encountering turbulence at around 1,700 feet (518 m) in the air.
A relative of one of the victims, Belkis Lora, told The Guardian: “Every Dominican in New York has either taken that flight or knows someone who has.
“It gets you there early. At home, there are songs about it.”
Seth Kugel of The New York Times, added: “For many Dominicans in New York, these journeys home are the defining metaphor of their complex push-pull relationship with their homeland; they embody, vividly and poignantly, the tug between their current lives and their former selves.”
