News outlets went into breaking news mode on Wednesday night when an American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac River while approaching Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
As of Thursday morning, officials have indicated that there are no survivors from the horrific incident. 64 people were onboard American Eagle Flight 5342 plane and while the Black Hawk helicopter carried three soldiers.
The collision is likely to be the deadliest aviation accident in the U.S. since the Colgan Air crash in February 2009. That tragedy occurred outside of Buffalo, New York, and resulted in 50 deaths.
CNN was the first network to report the D.C. collision, with Kaitlan Collins breaking the news at 9:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday. (All time Eastern.) Collins immediately brought CNN’s aviation correspondent Pete Muntean on air to provide additional information.
The network continued rolling coverage for the rest of the night, with Laura Coates co-anchoring her 11 p.m. program on location close to the collision scene.
CNN’s @thelauracoates now co-anchoring from the scene of the Potomac River plane-helicopter collision pic.twitter.com/jXRbSK8r1M
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) January 30, 2025
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow alerted her viewers to the incident at 9:34 p.m., with the network going into rolling coverage at 9:47 p.m.
Fox News began its coverage at 9:38 p.m. as Sean Hannity—who was airing a pre-taped interview with Vice President J.D. Vance—quickly pivoted to the breaking news situation in D.C.
The network pre-empted Gutfeld! at 10 p.m. as Trace Gallagher anchored an extended edition of Fox News @ Night until 1 a.m. The network continued with rolling coverage for the remainder of the night.
