WASHINGTON (UNITED STATES) (ITALPRESS) – An airliner belonging to Psa Airlines, a regional airline that is part of American Airlines, carrying 64 people from Wichita, Kansas, collided in flight with a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk military helicopter shortly before 9 p.m. local time (3 a.m. in Italy) as it was on approach to Washington’s Reagan Airport and crashed into the Potomac River. At least 18 people died in the crash, whose bodies were recovered by rescuers in the icy waters of the river. No survivors would be found at this time. The causes of the crash are still unclear. It appears that the plane was at an altitude of just over a hundred meters and on final approach to the runway, but the control tower shortly before the landing phase reportedly instructed the military Black Hawk to pass behind the airliner, which had been directed to runway 33. Conditions at the crash site are described as “extremely difficult” for the approximately 300 rescuers involved. U.S. President Donald Trump said in a post on his social profile that the crash “should have been avoided. The plane was on a perfect and routine airport approach line. The helicopter had been going in the plane’s direction for a while, the night was clear and the plane’s lights were on, why didn’t the helicopter lift off or lower, why didn’t it execute a turn? Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking it if it had seen the plane? This is a bad situation that a priori should have been avoided. It’s not good.” (ITALPRESS).-Photo: Ipa Agency-
