Air Traffic Control (ATC) audio from Wednesday’s collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet reveals the moments before and after controllers witnessed the disaster unfold.
The two aircraft collided at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, at around 9 p.m. with 60 passengers and four crew members onboard the passenger jet, while three soldiers were inside the helicopter. A massive recovery operation is underway on the Potomac River.
In the air traffic control audio, a controller can be heard directing American Airlines Flight 5342 to take Runway 33.
AMERICAN AIRLINES PLANE, ARMY HELICOPTER COLLIDE OUTSIDE REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT NEAR WASHINGTON DC
The AA pilot confirms he can take Runway 33 and is clear to land the aircraft, a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, referred to as “CRJ.”
The controller then instructs the helicopter, an Army UH-60 helicopter Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter, referred to as “PAT25,” to pass behind the jet.
“PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight? PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ,” the controller says.
No response is heard on the ATC audio feed. Fox News has learned that the helicopter did respond, but on a different frequency, a frequency for helicopters.
About 40 seconds later ground traffic control alerted the tower.
“Tower Did you see that?”
“Yup we saw it,” someone from the tower says, and then the controllers begin the process of frantically diverting the flights.
“Everybody hold your positions on the field right now,” a female controller says.
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“Fire command. The accident happened in the river. Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river… he approached into Runway 33,” she says.
“All runways are closed. Nobody’s landing, no one moving at all,” she tells the fire command, adding that he has clearance to use all taxiways and runways for a response.
“It was probably out in the middle of the river, the controller says. “I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river. But it was a CRJ and a helicopter that hit, I would say about a half mile off the approach into 33,” she says.
At the time of the crash, Reagan National Airport reported clear skies, visibility of 10 miles and winds sustained out of the northwest at 16 mph, gusting to 26 mph. The temperature at the time was 50 degrees.
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The Army told Fox News Digital that the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, carrying three soldiers, was “from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir” and was conducting a “training flight.”
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The collision marked the first time there has been a crash involving a U.S. commercial flight since 2009.
Colgan Air Flight 3407, a flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York, stalled and crashed during a landing approach near Buffalo Niagara International Airport on Feb. 12, 2009. The plane slammed into a house.
Fox News’ Greg Wehner and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
