Surveillance cameras filmed the moment an airline collided with an army helicopter over DC, then flipped through the air and plunged into water.
Sixty passengers, four crew, and three US Army personnel are dead after the collision 400ft over the Potomac River caused the worst US air disaster in 23 years.
The American Airlines plane smashed into a US Army Black Hawk helicopter as it came into land at Reagan National Airport just before 9pm on Wednesday.
Passengers aboard Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, included members of the US figure skating team who were returning from the US Figure Skating Championships.
The CCTV footage from two angles showed the Bombardier CRJ700 airline slowly approaching the runway, its lights shining brightly against the night sky.
Suddenly the helicopter entered the frame, traveling much more quickly from the left, heading straight for the passenger plane.
Neither aircraft appeared to change course or have any time to attempt evasive action before a huge, violent explosion lit up the sky.
What was left of the helicopter appeared to continue straight through and crash straight into the water, while the plane splintered into pieces.
The largest piece of the plane flipped end over end, doing almost a full rotation before hitting the water and disappearing.
Smaller pieces of the wreckage slowly rained down, like the debris from a firework display.
The surveillance footage was replayed and filmed on a phone, then later obtained by CNN.
The explosion was also visible on dashcam footage from highways that snake past the airport and along either side of the river.
Footage of the collision from various angles, along with preliminary results of the NTSB investigation, made it appear the helicopter was flying off course.
Insiders told the New York Times the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk was not on its approved route and flying higher than it should have been.
Approval was given for the helicopter to fly no higher than 200ft along the east side of the Potomac River, where it would avoid the passenger jet.
The pilot of the helicopter confirmed sight of the American Airlines flight and was told to stick to its predetermined route and go behind the plane.
Sources said the pilot did not stick to the path however and was a half-mile off course as well as being at an altitude above 300 feet.
A senior Army official told the NYT that the pilot of the Black Hawk flew the route before and was well aware of the tight altitude restrictions and routes.
Much of the wreckage is still at the bottom of the Potomac with more than a dozen bodies – including four trapped inside what’s left of the plane.
Jake Zwieg, an aviation expert who served in the navy, described what the passengers and crew likely experienced in the crash.
‘It was a pretty kinetic crash – we’ve all seen the big explosion and obviously the helicopter’s rotor blades went through the bottom of the aircraft, he said on Fox News.
‘Aircraft turned and crashed into the water. I imagine at most you had probably eight seconds of just absolute terrifying fear.
‘I mean obviously we can’t go talk to any of the victims, but, I mean, probably the most horrific thing that you could live through.’
Zwieg also shared his initial reaction to the fatal collision, relating it back to his own military experiences.
‘As a guy that’s ridden in helicopters, I’m gonna tell you right now – I was down at Seal Team 8 and we had five helicopter crashes down there. Helicopter is not your friend when it’s falling out of the sky,’ he said.
At least 40 bodies have been recovered from a Washington DC aircraft collision which has wiped out entire family units, including a TikTok skating star, a famed athlete couple, and all four airline crew members.
Figure skaters Spencer Lane, 16, Brielle Beyer, 12, and Jinna Han, 13, are among more than a dozen children who died on the plane.
Famed Russian skating couple Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, alongside Lane, Beyer and Han’s mothers also lost their lives.
The bodies of all four flight crew members – including one who was mere months away from a promotion and wedding – were also recovered from the debris.
Bodies of two of the three soldiers who were flying in the helicopter have also been recovered.
Three unidentified Fairfax County students and six parents – two who were staff members – also died, the school district confirmed.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves has been identified as the pilot on board the Black Hawk Army helicopter.
The beloved husband and father-of-two was one of three soldiers aboard the aircraft conducting a training operation.
The crew chief was named as father-of-one Ryan O’Hara.
The female co-pilot has yet to be named.
Eaves’ devastated wife, Carrie, said: ‘I am sure by now all of you have heard the news of the tragedy that has occurred in DC.
‘My husband was one of the pilots in the Blackhawk. We ask that you pray for our family and friends and for all the other families that are suffering today. We ask for peace while we grieve.’
She has shared several photos of Eaves, one of which he was in uniform, and asked her friends to share photos they may have of him in his memory.