An audio recording has captured the moment an air traffic controller screamed as a Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines passenger jet crashed over DC.
Air traffic control (ATC) operators were directing the doomed Black Hawk Sikorsky H-60 helicopter – marked as a PAT 25 – to pass behind the plane just seconds before the deadly crash occurred.
‘PAT 2-5 do you have the CRJ in sight?’ one controller said, according to a recording of the final communication between ATC and the three helicopter crew members.
The controller spoke again, requesting: ‘Pat 2-5 pass behind the CRJ.’
Seconds later a haunting, audible gasp can be heard from the control tower as the passenger jet and helicopter collide in mid-air, before plummeting into the Potomac River.
‘Tower, did you see that?’ another aircraft called in, seemingly referencing the crash, as another person is heard saying: ‘Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three.’
Versions of the extraordinary clip had already surfaced but the screams can be heard much clearer with audio levels adjusted to pick up background noise.
There were no survivors in Wednesday’s crash, which is the country’s deadliest aviation disaster since 2001. Over 40 bodies have been pulled from the icy waters of the river and recovery operations remain ongoing.
Authorities have not yet pinpointed a reason for the collision, but have said it could have been ‘prevented’. Insiders and a preliminary internal Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) report have also begun to reveal catastrophic failures that occurred leading up to the disaster – including a controller reportedly leaving their post early.
President Donald Trump also came under fire Thursday after suggesting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives may have played a role in the deadly crash. He accused his predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama of keeping qualified employees out of the FAA in pursuit of DEI – a remark that outraged Democrats across the nation.
But documents about FAA hiring practices reveal that last year the agency was recruiting people with targeted disabilities, including ‘hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.’
An air traffic controller screamed as a Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines passenger jet collided in mid-air on Wednesday night, killing everyone on board
Air traffic control (ATC) operators were directing the doomed Black Hawk Sikorsky H-60 helicopter – marked as a PAT 25 – to pass behind the plane just seconds before the deadly crash occurred. Pictured are emergency response units assessing the wreckage in the Potomac River on January 30, 2025
Pictured: Parts of the wreckage seen sitting in the Potomac River after Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, killing 67 people
The nearly minute-and-a-half recording – captured in the moments before and after the horrific crash – has emerged in the aftermath of the tragedy.
The muffled audio reveals the commands and confirmations are made between ATC operators, the helicopter crew and other aircraft in the area.
Immediately after the collision, the tower alerted other pilots of the terrifying crash and redirected planes approaching runway 33 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to go around.
According to CNN, the controller said: ‘I don’t know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach end 3-3. We are going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future if you want to go back to the gate.
‘Highly suggest you guys coordinate with the company,’ the audio continued. ‘Let me know what you want to do.’
The tragic recording also revealed that another pilot had personally seen the crash confirmed the incident with an air traffic controller, CNN reported.
The pilot who witnessed the devastating collision said: ‘Yeah, we were on short final and we saw flares from the opposite side of the Potomac.’
According to NBC, a controller detailed what they saw in the moments after the incident, which was also captured in the audio.
The operator said: ‘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.’
An approach controller later said: ‘Apparently both aircraft involved are in the river, a search and rescue will be ongoing.’
Newly released footage shows the moment an American Airlines plane, flying near the US Capitol building, was approaching to land at DC’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday
Lights from both the American Airlines passenger plane (left) and the Army Black Hawk helicopter (right) are seen flashing as they continue to fly towards each other
A fireball then erupted in the night sky as the aircraft collided, before both the plane and helicopter tumbled into the icy Potomac River
The collision took place as the American Airlines flight made its final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport shortly before 9pm ET.
That night, an air traffic controller was left to handle both helicopter traffic and manage planes – which should have been a divided duty – according to The New York Times.
Those tasks are usually handled between two people from 10am until 9.30pm, according to the report.
After 9.30pm the duties are typically combined and left to one person as the airport sees less traffic later in the night.
A supervisor reportedly decided to combine those duties before the scheduled cutoff time however, and allowed one air traffic controller to leave work early.
The FAA report said that staffing configuration ‘was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic’.
It remains unclear why the supervisor allowed the worker to clock off early on Wednesday night, just before the midair collision.
It has also emerged that the Army helicopter, which was carrying three soldiers, involved in the collision might have also deviated from its approved flight path.
The helicopter’s path remained relatively straight while the American Airlines flight veered, and the two collided
The collision took place as the American Airlines flight made its final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport shortly before 9pm ET on Wednesday
The horrific accident prompted a large-scale search and rescue operation over the river as helicopters, boats and police searched the water and ground
The outlet again spoke with insiders that said the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter was not on its approved route and flying higher than it should have been.
Approval had been given for the helicopter to fly no higher than 200 feet along the east side of the Potomac River, where it would have avoided the passenger jet.
The pilot of the helicopter confirmed sight of the American Airlines flight and was told to stick to their predetermined route and go behind the plane.
Sources said the pilot did not stick to the path however and was a half-mile off course as well as being at an altitude above 300 feet.
A senior Army official told The Times that the pilot of the Black Hawk had flown the route before and was well aware of the tight altitude restrictions and routes.
As the jet approached the runway, those onboard had asked air traffic control to change their runway, according to an FAA report.
The plane, a Bombardier CRJ700, had been cleared to touch down on Runway 1, the main airport thoroughfare, but the controller then asked the pilot to land on Runway 33.
A source told The Times that such a move is routine especially with regional jets, and that the decision might have been made to prevent clogging on the main runway.
Five current and former controllers also told the outlet that the lone controller in the tower should have been more proactive in directing the two away from each other.
Although the released audio from ATC around the time of the collision is muffled, you can hear an audible gasp around the 24-second mark
The two aircraft had collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways near the airport before it plunged into the river
NTSB investigators are seen here working on the black box of American Airlines flight 5342
The horrific accident prompted a large-scale search and rescue operation over the river that saw helicopters, boats and police searched the water and ground.
On Thursday morning officials confirmed all 67 on both the plane and helicopter had perished, with their rescue mission then becoming a recovery operation.
Investigators made a break through later that night, after they had pulled 40 bodies to shore, when they found two black boxes from the American Airlines flight.
They plan to push forward today with efforts to retrieve both the passenger plane and helicopter from the river.
A flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were pulled from the river by salvage teams. This will be of monumental assistance to authorities as they investigate what exactly happened in the moments leading to disaster.
The identities of those who died in the collision have started to trickle out, with DailyMail.com revealing the identities of the pilot and first officer.
Among the crash victims were people from Russia, China, Germany and the Philippines, including young figure skaters.
Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley had been in charge of the flight from Wichita, Kansas, to the capital.
Both flight attendants who were on that tragic flight have been revealed as Ian Epstein and Danasia Elder.
At least three minors – including figure skaters Spencer Lane, 16, and Jinna Han – are among the victims who died.
Famed Russian skating couple Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, alongside Lane and Han’s mothers also tragically lost their lives in the crash.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves was aboard the Black Hawk helicopter alongside fellow soldier Ryan O’Hara.
The Black Hawk helicopter was on a training flight at the time of the crash.
Emergency response teams are seen at the scene of the crash in the Potomac River
Rescue teams search the wreckage of a commercial airplane that collided with a military helicopter in Washington
The National Transportation Safety Board is studying the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the CRJ700 airplane.
Radio communications showed that air traffic controllers alerted the helicopter about the approaching jet and ordered it to change course.
One controller rather than two was handling local plane and helicopter traffic on Wednesday night at the airport, a situation deemed ‘not normal’ but considered adequate for lower volumes of traffic, according to a person briefed on the matter.
The military said the maximum altitude for the route the helicopter was taking is 200 feet but it may have been flying higher. The collision occurred at an altitude of around 300 feet, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said the pilot of the American Eagle Flight 5342 had about six years of flying experience. The Bombardier jet was operated by PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter was flown by a ‘fairly experienced crew’ of three soldiers who were wearing night-vision goggles on an annual training flight.
Officials said they were grounding other flights from the Army unit involved in the crash and would reevaluate training exercises in the region.
Chief Warrant Officer 2, Andrew Eaves, left, and Ryan O’Hara, right, were both on board the helicopter when it collided with the jet
Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, (left) and First Officer Samuel Lilley (right) had been in charge of the flight from Wichita, Kansas, to the capital
A devastated husband and father has revealed his wife Justyna and 12-year-old daughter Brielle were on board the tragic flight
Kiah Duggins (left) had been visiting her mom in her hometown of Wichita but was returning to Washington DC, where she worked for Civil Rights Corps. Grace Maxwell, (right) a 20-year-old biomedical engineering student at Cedarville University in Ohio, was on the doomed flight returning back to school
Vanderbilt University and Penn Law graduate Sarah Lee Best (left) was tragically killed on the flight, returning home after conducting a deposition with her colleague, Elizabeth Keys (right)
Married couple Roger and Stephanie Haynos were on board the flight alongside their son, as part of a team of skaters returning home from the US Ice Skating Championships
Spencer Lane and other figure skaters had been returning home from the National Development Camp, which is held in conjunction with the national championships. His mother, Christine Lane, was confirmed dead, by The Skating Club of Boston
Jinna Han (pictured front row in red) and her mother Jin were confirmed dead
Asra Hussain messaged husband Hamaad Raza , 25, to say ‘We are landing in 20 minutes’ as American Eagle Flight 5342 approached Reagan National Airport jut before 8pm ET Wednesday night
Danasia Elder and Ian Epstein were revealed to be the flight attendants on board the commercial plane
Mark Stovall (left) was returning home from a hunting trip in Kansas. Jesse Pitcher (right) was on the same trip as Stovall. He was the owner of a plumbing business and was in the process of building a new home with his wife, Kylie, who he married just over a year ago
Inna Volyanskaya, of Virginia, was a skating coach and her death was confirmed by her ex-husband Ross Lansel
Wendy Shaffer was a mother-of-two to a Shields, three, and Bennett, one
Alexandr Kirsanov (pictured in an old photo) attended the Kansas event with his skaters, Sean Kay and Angela Yang, his wife, Natalia Gudin confirmed
Sean Kay and his skating partner Angela Yang died on the American Airlines flight with their coach Alexandr Kirsanov (pictured L-R: Angela, Alexandr, Sean)
Everly and Alydia Livingston, sisters aged 14 and 11, were members of the Washington Figure Skating Club and frequently shared images of their routines on their social media page
Trump has suggested that DEI hiring practices may have contributed to the crash. He has not provided evidence to support the suggestion, but did say air traffic controllers need to be ‘geniuses’ to handle the stress and complex movements of aircraft during their tense and crucial work shifts.
Trump and his team on Thursday referenced a Fox News report from last year on FAA hiring practices. The report quotes the Biden-era FAA’s website’s promotion of diversity hiring and states: ‘Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring.’
‘They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.’
Trump, quoting from the passage as he addressed reporters in the White House Press Briefing room, said: ‘The FAA website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism all qualified for the position of a controller of air planes pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot. A little dot on the map. A runway.’
The report did not specify which roles in the agency, which has nearly 45,000 employees, were included in the targeted recruitment efforts.
The FAA has ‘very strict requirements’ and ‘high standards’ for air traffic controllers, a former agency administrator told NewsNation, alleging that although the agency ‘hires a lot of people, not all of them can be controllers’.
Diversity initiatives ramped up at the FAA under the Obama Administration, were largely swept away during Trump’s first term and then reinstated under Biden.
These DEI efforts saw the agency hire ‘more minorities’ and ‘people with disabilities’ in ‘key positions, including air traffic control’, The Washington Times reports.
The Obama Administration introduced a ‘biographical assessment’ test at the FAA in 2013, which was designed to increase the hiring of ‘preferred minority’ groups at air traffic control (ATC) centers.
The assessment, designed to help qualified candidates without aviation experience secure jobs in ATC, asked seemingly irrelevant questions such as applicants’ involvement in school sports or the age at which they held their first job.
Candidates with more experience and greater qualifications were disqualified by the assessment, the report states.
Investigators on Friday continue recovery efforts in the waters of the Potomac River after American Airlines flight 5342 collided mid-air Wednesday night
Recovery teams search the wreckage of a commercial airplane that collided with a military helicopter on approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia on Friday
Many of the rejected applicants were allegedly Air Traffic Collegiate Training graduates, held a pilot’s license, or had other ‘critical experience’ relevant to ATC.
The FAA was hit then with a class-action lawsuit involving more than 3,000 rejected applicants who alleged discrimination.
The agency dropped the biographical assessment in 2018 – during Trump’s first term – after Congress banned its use.
ATC applicants were instead required to take the Air Traffic Skills Assessment, which aimed to assess the majority of skills and attributes necessary to be a successful air traffic controller.
After Trump left office, Biden implemented broader DEI practices in an effort to create more employment opportunities for underrepresented groups.
Data from the US Census Bureau and IPUMS reveals that 78 per cent of air traffic controllers and airfield operations specialists are men and 22 per cent are women, according to Axios.
The majority of workers – 71 per cent – also identify as non-Hispanic white.
Trump has issued an official memo directing the government to investigate ‘deterioration in hiring standards’ at the FAA under the Biden Administration and ordered the ‘replacement’ of anyone unqualified for their role.
