By: Juliana McDaniel
Finished: March 17th 2025
January 29th 2025 an American Airlines Flight number 5342 and a United States Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed midair over the Potomac River in Washington D.C . All 64 people aboard the flight 3 people in the helicopter died when the collision happened at 8:47 pm only 0.8 kilometers away from the nearest airport – Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (Wikipedia Contributors). Ever since the Jeju plane crash in Soul Korea on December 29th 2024 (Writer), there have been 13 fatal plane crashes in 2025 (Fitzpatrick). It seems that there is a great increase of plane crashes in 2025, with even a BBC news article stating “This NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) data shows a general fall in air accidents in the US from 2005 to 2024 despite a significant increase in the overall number of flights over this period.” (Cheetham). But what sets apart the Washington D.C. crash apart from the rest?
What makes this crash highly unusual is the fact the airplane was flying over one of the safest airspaces in the world, and crashed midair with a military vehicle. The United States has one of the best military in the world, so for a crash like that is bizarre (Taras). So as most countries would do, the US is making some changes. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has banned all non-essential helicopters around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (Looker). This is important because a repeat or even repeats of this incident are highly dangerous. Not only is the FAA implementing one rule, but they have also announced Friday (March 24th 2025) that they will try to completely eliminate unnecessary and general air traffic by the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The only reason for a necessary flight over or around the airport would be for “life-saving medical reasons, priority law enforcement or presidential transport.” (Looker). In addition, the runways 15 and 33 which the American Airlines Flight was supposed to land on will be blocked from all aircraft (Looker).
Bibliography
Cheetham, Joshua. “Are Planes Crashing More Often?” BBC, 22 Feb. 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ym8n4lzp6o.
Fitzpatrick, Alex. “Is It Safe to Fly? NTSB Data Says Yes.” Axios, 21 Feb. 2025, www.axios.com/2025/02/21/is-it-safe-to-fly-plane-crashes.
Looker, Rachel. “FAA Bans Non-Essential Helicopters around Reagan Airport.” BBC, 14 Mar. 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62z6v8deryo.
Taras, Zach. “What Is the Strongest Military in the World?” HowStuffWorks, 25 Sept. 2024, science.howstuffworks.com/strongest-military-in-the-world.htm.
Wikipedia Contributors. “2025 Potomac River Mid-Air Collision.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Feb. 2025.
Writer, Staff. “South Korea Plane Crash Probe Hindered by Missing Black Box Data.” Nikkei Asia, Feb. 2025, asia.nikkei.com/Business/Transportation/South-Korea-plane-crash-probe-hindered-by-missing-black-box-data. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.