Aviation experts have warned for years about near collisions at airports around the US, citing air traffic control shortages and airspace congestion.

The collision involved a Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet operated by PSA Airlines and a military Black Hawk helicopter.

In 2018, a passenger on a Southwest Airlines jet was killed after shrapnel from the plane's engine crashed through a window and caused such a drop in air pressure that a passenger suffered fatal injuries after nearly being sucked outside. It was the first death on a U.S. airline flight since 2009.

Search efforts continue after an American Airlines plane from Wichita, with 64 people on board, collided with an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., and crashed into the Potomac River.

A regional jet carrying 64 people collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter. Reagan National Airport grounded all flights.

Air traffic controllers asked Flight 5342 to switch runways when coming in to land. Black box recordings from the jet and the military helicopter it collided with will help reveal if this contributed to the accident.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Americans should be assured that "you're safe" when flying in the wake of a deadly crash between a commercial airliner and an Army helicopter.

Crews were still searching for other casualties but did not believe there were any survivors, which would make it the deadliest US air crash in nearly 24 years.

An American Airlines flight crashed into the Potomac River after colliding with a U.S. Army helicopter while approaching Reagan National Airport.

Scores of people were feared dead after an American Airlines regional passenger jet carrying 64 people collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the frigid Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport.

Emergency vehicles and rescue crews gather along the Potomac River near Reagan Airport after an air crash near Washington, DC, on January 29, 2025. A regional jet from Kansas crashed into Washington’s