The American Airlines plane crash in Washington, DC, is shaping up to be the deadliest commercial crash in the US in more than two decades after authorities revealed early Thursday there were likely no survivors in the latest wreck.
At least 28 bodies had already been pulled from the frigid Potomac River after the American Airlines jet carrying 64 people collided with the Army Black Hawk helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport late Wednesday.
First responders were still searching for casualties, but officials said they feared everyone had been killed.
At least 28 bodies had already been pulled from the frigid Potomac River after the American Airlines jet carrying 64 people collided with the Army Black Hawk helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport late Wednesday. Getty ImagesIf all are confirmed dead, the latest tragedy would make it the deadliest aviation crash on US soil since Nov. 12, 2001 when an American Airlines jet plummeted into a residential area in New York City – killing all 260 people on board.
In that incident, the plane went down in the Queens’ neighborhood of Belle Harbor just after takeoff – some two months after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Meanwhile, the last major fatal crash involving a commercial airline unfolded near Buffalo, NY, when a Colgan Air plane plummeted into a house on Feb. 12, 2009.
All 45 passengers and four crew members on board were killed when the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane went down near Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
Another person on the ground also died, bringing the total death toll to 50.
An investigation later determined that the captain had accidentally caused the plane to stall as it approached the airport.
Prior to that, a Comair aircraft crashed when taking off in Lexington, Kentucky, after it left from the wrong runway on Aug. 27, 2006, killing two crew members and 47 passengers.
Follow the NYP’s coverage of the deadly DC plane collision
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- Chilling new videos give clearest view yet of DC plane crash — and debris falling into river after fireball
- Husband whose wife texted him minutes before fatal DC collision details the heartbreaking moment he learned about doomed flight
- DC chopper, plane crash live updates: No survivors expected after AA flight collides with military helicopter in deadliest US crash since 2009
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On Jan. 31, 2000, 83 passengers and five crew died when an Alaska Airlines flight crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Anacapa Island, California.
It comes after authorities said Thursday that the DC tragedy had switched to a recovery operation.
The American Airlines flight collided with a Black Hawk on Wednesday night.
“We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital, told a news conference
“We don’t believe there are any survivors.”
The body of the plane, which was carrying 60 passengers and four crew, was found upside down in three sections in waist-deep water.
The last major fatal crash unfolded in Buffalo, NY, when a Colgan Air plane plummeted into a house on Feb. 12, 2009 — killing all 45 passengers and four crew members on board. Robert MillerThe wreckage of the helicopter — carrying three soldiers — was also found.
There was no immediate word on the cause of the latest collision, but officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet coming from Wichita, Kansas, was making a routine landing when the helicopter flew into its path.
With Post wires
