Watch: Traffic control radar shows moment of Washington DC plane crash

Traffic control radar shows the moment of the plane crash in Washington DC. Donald Trump has blamed ‘diversity’ for the collision. Photos / Getty Images / Twitter

• Footage shows an American Airlines plane colliding with a military helicopter, killing 67 people.
• The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating, emphasising a careful, fact-based approach.
• Donald Trump blamed diversity hires and the helicopter’s pilots, contrasting the NTSB’s cautious stance.

Footage of an air traffic control room screen shows the moment the American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter in Washington DC.

The collision occurred yesterday as the airliner came into land at Reagan National Airport after a routine flight from Kansas, and first responders are still working to recover the bodies of the 67 people who were killed.

🚨#BREAKING: Shared to me anonymously shows the Playback from official Air Traffic Control radar

📌#Washington | #DC

Watch as exclusive playback, sent anonymously by @avgeekjake to Rawsalerst, reveals official Air Traffic Control radar footage displaying the Collision Alert.… pic.twitter.com/s2SvT2OTPJ

— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) January 30, 2025

US investigators say it will take time to understand the cause of a deadly midair collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter, a sharp contrast to President Donald Trump’s snap pronouncements on the crash.

“We conduct an important safety mission where we take a very careful approach,” National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy told journalists. “We look at facts... and that will take some time.”

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NTSB board member Todd Inman likewise said there would be no immediate conclusions on the cause of the disaster.

“We don’t know what we know just yet. We do not know enough facts to be able to rule in or out human factor, mechanical factors, that is part of the NTSB investigative process,” Inman said.

Emergency response units search the crash site of the American Airlines plane on the Potomac River after the plane crashed on approach to Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. Photo / Getty Images

Trump took the opposite approach earlier in the day, blaming the helicopter’s pilots, night-vision goggles and above all diversity hires as he launched an attack on his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, for championing diversity practices.

“Because I have common sense, OK?,” Trump replied when asked how he had reached the conclusion that programmes to counter racism and sexism had played a role.

The Bombardier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary, with 60 passengers and four crew on board, was approaching the airport when the collision happened. Photo / Getty Images

The message was amplified by Trump’s Vice President, JD Vance, and new defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who took turns at the podium to repeat that diversity measures kept capable Americans out of responsible jobs.

🔴 Footage from the airport camera shows the devastating air crash.
With images of the wreckage.#planecrash #WashingtonDC #Washington #TRUMP pic.twitter.com/3yfJYwsQiT

— Taymur Malik (@Taymur959) January 30, 2025

– Agence France-Presse