Midwest
DC plane crash timeline: Midair collision involves 67 passengers, crew members, soldiers
An estimated 67 people are presumed dead after a Black Hawk helicopter collided with a commercial American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday evening.
A total of 64 people, including four crew members, were aboard passenger American Airlines Flight 5342, and three soldiers were on the Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk that came from Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
AMERICAN AIRLINES PLANE, ARMY HELICOPTER COLLIDE OUTSIDE REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT NEAR WASHINGTON DC
Here is a timeline of events leading up to and immediately after the Wednesday night crash.
Jan. 29
5:18 p.m. CST
AA Flight 5342 departs Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ITC) for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) at 5:18 p.m. CST, or 6:18 p.m. EST, according to air traffic control records from FlightRadar24.
Jan. 29 D.C. plane-helicopter collision map.
8:39 p.m. EST
An Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter departs Fort Belvoir as part of a training exercise. A senior Army official told Fox News the soldiers were part of a “fairly experienced” Black Hawk crew, and they had night vision goggles aboard the helicopter.
8:40 p.m. EST
Flight 5342 began to descend into DCA from the south.
DC PLANE CRASH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUDIO REVEALS MOMENT CONTROLLERS SAW DISASTER: ‘TOWER DID YOU SEE THAT?’
8:46 p.m.
Air traffic controllers ask Flight 5342 to land on Runway 33, and pilots acknowledge the order.
ATC AUDIO:
8:48 p.m. EST
An air traffic control official asks the Black Hawk (PAT-25) pilot whether he can see the commercial aircraft.
“Do you have the CRJ in sight?” the controller asks, and the helicopter pilot confirms he sees the passenger plane and requests “visual separation,” meaning he is trying to get out of the flight’s path, according to FlightRadar24 audio.
VICTIMS IDENTIFIED IN DC PLANE CRASH INVOLVING AMERICAN AIRLINES JET AND MILITARY HELICOPTER
“PAT-25, do you have the CRJ in sight?” the controller can be heard saying to the helicopter pilot 30 seconds before the crash.
The controller makes another radio call to PAT-25 moments later: “PAT-25, pass behind the CRJ.”
ATC AUDIO REVEALS MOMENT CONTROLLERS SAW DISASTER:
8:48 p.m. EST
Army UH-60 and Flight 5342 then collide over the Potomac River, causing an explosion midair at an altitude of about 300 feet that was caught on camera.
Air traffic controllers can be heard reacting, and asking, “Did you see that?”
8:53 p.m. EST
The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) receives phone calls reporting a plane crash over the Potomac.
REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT CRASH: MILITARY BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER COLLIDES MIDAIR WITH AMERICAN AIRLINES JET
MPD, D.C. Fire and EMS, and “multiple partner agencies” begin coordinating a search and rescue operation.
Emergency vehicles stage at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night on Jan. 29, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Kevin Wolf/AP)
9:00 p.m. EST
DCA closes due to an “aircraft emergency.”
9:09 p.m. EST
The DC Fire and EMS Department posts an update on X stating, “Confirmed small aircraft down in Potomac River vicinity Reagan National Airport. Fireboats on scene.”
Rescue workers respond to the scene on the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
10:51 p.m. EST
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posts a statement from President Donald Trump to X.
“I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport. May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise,” the statement reads.
Emergency response teams, including Washington, D.C., Fire and EMS, Washington, D.C., Police and others, assess airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on Jan. 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Andrew Harnik/Getty)
12:30 a.m. EST
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser holds a press conference with other law enforcement personnel and announces that a passenger aircraft collided with a military aircraft.
DC Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly announces that officials “have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter.”
Law enforcement continue their investigation into the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River as it was attempting to land at the Reagan National Airport on Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, collided in midair with a military helicopter while approaching the airport. According to reports, there were no survivors among the 67 people on board both aircraft. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
“Despite all these efforts, we are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” Donnelly says.
Jan. 30
8:30 a.m. EST
Officials hold a press conference in Washington, D.C., saying all 67 passengers, crew members and soldiers on board both aircraft are presumed dead.
“We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” Donnelly says during the briefing. “We don’t believe there are any survivors.”
11:00 a.m. EST
Flights resume landing at DCA; the first aircraft lands at the airport at 11:02 a.m.
A Department of Homeland Security source tells Fox News Digital that there are “no terror concerns” after the collision, and officials suspect the crash was “just a tragedy.”
An internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report reviewed by The New York Times says staffing at the air control tower at DCA was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.”
Onlookers watch as emergency crews respond to the crash site near the Potomac River after a passenger jet collided with a helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The controller who was handling helicopters Wednesday night was also instructing planes that were landing and departing from the airport runways, the Times reported. Those assignments are typically assigned to two controllers.
Jan. 31
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told “Fox & Friends” on Friday that officials “will get to the bottom of what happened here.”
“It’s completely unacceptable in our nation’s capital or anywhere. The military trains, and it trains robustly. And we’re not going to stop training, even though there’s a pause on this unit, on this exercise, which is an important one. And we should have that pause until we get to the bottom of this,” Hegseth said. “…We have to train safely. Something like this can never happen. And it’s completely unacceptable.”
Hegseth adds that he does not “know exactly how the staffing occurred in that particular air traffic control tower.”
WATCH:
“It sounds like there was a shortage [of controllers], and the investigation will tell us more about that,” he said. “But the environment around which we choose pilots or air traffic controllers, as the president pointed out correctly yesterday, better be the highest possible standard — the best of the best who are managing … a flight a minute and managing radio traffic.”
The Federal Aviation Administration reportedly restricts helicopter flights near DCA, telling Reuters the agency is prohibiting most helicopters from areas of two routes near the airport, only allowing first responders into the area.
The routes are believed to be the same ones the Army Black Hawk helicopter was traveling along Wednesday night when it collided with the American Airlines passenger jet.
Law enforcement continue their investigation into the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River as it was attempting to land at the Reagan National Airport on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
The FAA also said to lawmakers that the restrictions will remain in place indefinitely as it conducts an investigation, according to Reuters.
“Our union fully supports this action by the FAA,” the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA said. “Operations should change, at the very least until we learn more about what led to the deadliest U.S. aviation accident in 24 years. 67 souls were lost not even 48 hours ago — we should not operate as if nothing happened.”
Prior to the deadly collision, there had been a military aircraft-involved crash in Alaska on Tuesday. Officials said a U.S. Air Force F-35 fighter jet crashed in Alaska after the pilot managed to safely eject from the aircraft.
There have been at least 238 deaths and 227 injuries stemming from non-combat U.S. military aircraft crashes since 2012, according to the FAA.
There have also been multiple “close call” incidents at DCA since 2023.
Fox News’ Greg Norman, The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read the full article from Here
Marquette poll shows Wisconsin voters unfocused on governor race
A Marquette University Law School poll reveals Wisconsin voters lack focus on the governor’s race, with most undecided 5 months before the primary.
MADISON – Former Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. CEO Missy Hughes is dropping out of the Democratic primary race for governor and endorsing Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez.
Hughes, who was the most moderate candidate in the Democratic field for governor, suspended her campaign days after placing last in a straw poll of party delegates at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin state convention in Madison.
Her endorsement of Rodriguez comes as some Democrats are eyeing an alternative to state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who leans further left than current Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. Hong and Barnes are considered frontrunners in the primary race.
In a statement, Hughes flicked at the approach of Hong and other candidates to her left who have proposed significant changes to state government.
“I believe there is great hope in these small efforts to find common ground. I wanted to make sure that Wisconsinites understand we have created something valuable and that investing in ourselves and our communities is well-deserved,” Hughes said. “We do not need to tear it all down, and there is real and important work to do to improve what we already have.”
Hughes suggested Rodriguez would make more reasonable decisions as governor than her primary opponents.
“This job is about running the state, and getting things done. As you consider what is important to you, I urge you to look beyond the talking points, social media posts, and gilded promises and consider what you think is essential to do the job,” she said. “Stop asking, ‘Who will win?’ and start asking who you trust to make big decisions that impact our families and the wellbeing of our loved ones, neighbors and communities.”
This developing story will be updated.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
Milwaukee, WI
Milwaukee Mayor Johnson says he’s not aware of FBI interviewing city election officials
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson says he is unaware of any city election officials, current or former, who have sat for an interview with FBI agents seeking to discuss the 2020 election.
“I know there’s been outside counsel that has been engaged on this as well, which I’m grateful for, the partnership we’re having with some of the outside counsel there,” Johnson said on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “But my understanding as of this moment is no.”
Agents are said to be specifically asking questions related to Milwaukee’s nearly 180,000 absentee ballots and the processing of those ballots at the city’s central count location.
The ballots have yet to be destroyed. The county’s corporation counsel has cited an ongoing lawsuit as the reason for preserving the ballots.
Johnson said he doesn’t know all the details about why the ballots are still there, but he wants the privacy of Milwaukee voters to be protected.
“If there was or is an opportunity to destroy that, to secure the sanctity of the vote for the people in Milwaukee, so that they know that their vote is private and the federal government can’t figure out who folks voted for, I think we should do that,” Johnson said.
Meantime, Don Millis, the Republican chair of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, is urging Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to intervene and destroy Milwaukee’s 2020 absentee ballots.
Millis told “UpFront” he had a “very constructive conversation” with Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson and learned there were 265,000 absentee ballots from which it could be determined who voters cast their ballots for, not just for the presidency, but other offices as well.
“No one’s entitled to see those,” Millis said. “Our constitution was built on the idea of a secret ballot, and I’m just frustrated that this hasn’t happened. I just wish the decision makers who are in charge of this would see that and move more quickly.”
Millis added, “Best case scenario would be tomorrow. But I just don’t think that’s going to happen. I think it’s going to probably be weeks or months before that happens.”
Millis said the law permits the ballots to be destroyed.
“No one has a right to see them, and so if there is quote unquote litigation, those are documents that should not be sought to a litigation hold,” Millis said. “And it would seem to me incumbent upon the court to see it that way and give permission for Mr. Christenson to do what he’s authorized and required to do.”
Millis said there has been staff-level discussion with the attorney general’s office.
“I’d be satisfied if he chose to intervene, to take the steps that need to be taken,” Millis said.
Milwaukeean Tyanna Buie is one of 30 artists selected to have work featured in the Obama Presidential Center, which officially opened Friday.
“It still hasn’t set in yet,” Buie told “UpFront.” “It still feels like a dream. I remember when I was first contacted, they never said what the project was.”
Buie recalled that conversation, when she was told “You’re good to go.”
“I said, ‘Who is they? What are we talking about?’ And that’s when they said, ‘Oh, we didn’t tell you. It’s the Obama Presidential Center,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness.”
Buie said her piece is in a room themed “fired up for change.”
“And it was also a space where people can sit, lounge and just take it all in,” she said. “Just the scale of the magnitude of everybody’s work is phenomenal, so I’m grateful to be included, but also super excited for people to see it.”
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