The collision occurred at 8:47 p.m. about half a mile (800 m) short of runway 33 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.

[2][12] The helicopter, of B Company of the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir, was on an annual and night vision goggles training flight out of Davison Army Airfield when the collision occurred.

[17][18][19] The helicopter had a crew of three Army personnel: The airspace around Reagan National Airport is among the world's most complex and closely monitored; it is restricted on both sides of the Potomac River to protect government buildings in Washington, D.C.[27] Efforts have been made to reduce its congestion, but Congress approved more flights in 2024.

[29] On the night of the collision, staffing at the tower was "not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic," according to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety report.

[30] The airport was also the site of a mid-air crash in 1949, when an Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-4 and a Bolivian military Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft collided on short final approach, killing 55.

[32] At 8:43 p.m. EST (01:47 UTC), flight 5342 was flying a visual approach to runway 1 when it made initial contact with the Reagan National control tower.

At 8:46 p.m., about two minutes before the collision, the controller called the helicopter crew advising them of a CRJ700, at an altitude of 1,200 feet (370 m), south of the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, circling to runway 33.

The helicopter crew acknowledged that they had the jet in sight and requested visual separation—meaning that they could see and would maintain separation from the aircraft on their own—which the controller approved.

[13][33][34][discuss] At 8:47 p.m. EST, twenty seconds before the collision, the controller asked the helicopter crew if they had the CRJ in sight with an audible air traffic radar conflict alert in the background.

[1][36] The collision was captured by a webcam at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,[37][38] and another video showed a brief trail of fire.

[39] Other videos showed that the collision may have damaged the rotor blades of the Black Hawk and the left wing of the CRJ700 as the airliner fell in a left-hand spiral into the water.

[41] A pilot in another aircraft confirmed seeing the crash to an air traffic controller and reported seeing flares from the opposite side of the Potomac as his flight was on short final.

[16] Fireboats and divers were deployed to search for victims and survivors; cold temperatures, strong winds, ice, and murky water hampered rescue efforts.

[58] The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority extended Silver Line service to help passengers whose flights were diverted to Dulles and dispatched "warming buses" to help relief operations.

[1] A crane used to lift debris after the March 2024 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was brought to help pick up plane wreckage,[61] and the U.S. Navy also sent two barges to recover heavy items.

Figure Skating athletes, coaches, and family members returning from a national development camp held in conjunction with the 2025 U.S.

[76][82][83] Separately, two staff members of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority were taken into custody on suspicion of providing CNN with surveillance footage of the crash.

[86] The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the FAA, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Army announced they would launch investigations into the collision.

[16] After the crash retaining needed personnel, the agency acquired an exemption from the "Fork in the Road" memo which purported to allow all of its agents to quit with severance paid through September 2025.

[13][94] Senators Ted Cruz and Tammy Duckworth addressed questions about the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast system (ADS-B) which was reportedly turned off on the Black Hawk.

Seventeen seconds before the collision, the part of the transmission stating "pass behind the" was interrupted by the helicopter crew keying their mic to communicate with the air traffic controller.

[13][94] About nineteen seconds before impact, the crew of flight 5342 received an automated traffic advisory alert from the TCAS system.

Shortly after midnight, he wrote on Truth Social questioning the actions of the air traffic controllers and asserting that the situation could have been prevented.

[100] Later that morning, Trump released a statement calling the crash a "terrible accident," thanking emergency responders and saying of the victims: "May God bless their souls.

[109] Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota criticized Trump for "blaming this deadly crash on minorities and white women" and that the comments were "disgusting, racist and sexist".

Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen criticized Trump by stating that he was "making a political show out of this awful tragedy" about the crash.

"[110] Representative Jesús "Chuy" García of Illinois stated that Trump was "exploiting disaster to continue to spread racist lies and divisiveness across the country.

"[115] White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt supported Trump's claim by stating that it was "common sense" to be concerned about potential negative effects of DEI initiatives.

[41] The International Olympic Committee said they "extend their heartfelt sympathies to all those affected, which we understand may include Olympians, young athletes, and their support staff.

[77] Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered his condolences "to [the] grieving family members and loved ones who are facing unimaginable loss.