Moment American Airlines jet collided with US Army chopper midair near Washington airport. See video

A video of an American Airlines regional passenger jet colliding midair with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter while on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has surfaced.

The clip shows the lights of a PSA Airlines jet approaching to land at the airport on Wednesday night. The plane is struck by the helicopter, which is not visible in the dark, the visuals show. Both the plane and the chopper burst into flames and plummeted after the collision, which has killed two people so far.

According to the FAA, PSA was operating Flight 5342 for American Airlines, which had departed from Wichita in Kansas. Airline sources said 60 passengers were scheduled to be on the jet.

According to American Airlines’s website, the jet can carry up to 65 passengers.

“A PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 pm (local time). PSA was operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines. It departed from Wichita, Kansas,” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement on X.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the incident and provide more information. A US Army official confirmed that one of its helicopters was involved in the crash.

Multiple agencies were involved in a search and rescue operation in the Potomac River, which borders the airport, police said. Two bodies were recovered from the river during the operation.

All takeoffs and landings at the Washington airport were stopped as emergency personnel responded to the incident.

(with inputs from Reuters)