Frantic Search for Survivors
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Welcome to CNN This Morning where we are tracking the latest out of the nation's capital following a tragic mid-air collision between a passenger plane and an army helicopter. I'm Casey Hunt and I'm here in Alexandria, Virginia on the shores of the Potomac River where there is a frantic

search and rescue operation underway looking for survivors. A law enforcement official does confirm to CNN that there are fatalities. At this point, we don't know of any survivors that have been pulled from the freezing water behind me. This midair collision happening when an American Airlines flight, 53-42, was just moments away from landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, DCA,

It sent both aircraft, the American Airlines jet and the Blackhawk helicopter, a training flight plunging into the Potomac. There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board that plane. It was arriving from Wichita, Kansas. There were three crew members on that Blackhawk helicopter at the time of the collision. And now hundreds of rescuers

are battling absolutely frigid conditions. You can see how cold it is out here during these search and rescue operations. The challenges are access

The water that we're operating in is about eight feet deep. There is wind, there is pieces of ice out there, so it's just dangerous and hard to work in. And because there's not a lot of lights, you're out there searching every square inch of space to see if you can find anybody. Divers are doing the same thing in the water. The water is dark, it is murky, and that is a very tough condition for them to dive in.

And law enforcement sources are telling CNN that this rescue operation is becoming more grim by the hour. And again, no survivors have been pulled from that freezing water. And several sources also confirmed to CNN that the plane is in several pieces in the water. Officials are bracing for this crash to become the deadliest aviation disaster in D.C. in decades.

You know when one person dies it's a tragedy but when many many many people die it's an unbearable sorrow. It's a heartbreak beyond measure and I know Senator Moran and I are here just to say we care. We wish that there was more we could do.

All right, joining us now here on the scene, Mary Schiavo. She is a CNN aviation analyst, former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation. We also have Cedric Layton. He's a CNN military analyst, retired Air Force colonel. Thank you both for being here with us on this morning as we cover this unfolding tragedy. And I do just want to reset for anyone, everyone who's waking up here on the East Coast. Mary, help us understand

what happened here we know these two planes collided it's not something thank the lord that we see very often in this country what happened last night what happened last night is american airlines being flowed by psa airlines a canada regional jet uh 700 holds up to 70 people with 64 on board it was coming into land as you know happens you know every few minutes all the time

There were several planes in the air. It was a busy airport. I landed here myself at 7:30. It was very dark, very cold, a little bit bumpy wind, but weather wasn't really a factor in the accident. Also operating in the area was an Army helicopter. It is reported that it was a training mission. There were lots of helicopters in D.C. ferry around, VIPs and all sorts of folks, but this was a training mission.

The air traffic control tower specifically asked, it's reported, did ask the helicopter if the helicopter had this flight, this American Airlines flight in sight. That's very important, that's very telling, it's a key piece of evidence because the aircraft, the commercial passenger service aircraft are always under full air traffic control and what's called instrument control.

air traffic direction so that was flying exactly as the tower or should have been flying exactly as the tower instructed there's no indication it was not so the helicopter was doing what's called see and avoid the tower said do you have this aircraft and get in line or get fly in behind it so it was supposed to find this aircraft in the air see it and then fall in behind it and of course

And of course, we can hear the helicopters overhead right now. And just to give everyone a sense of where we're standing, we can also see the lights from the boats that are part of this search and rescue operation at this hour. Officials have not updated. We're still waiting to see at what point this may

become a search and recovery operation because again we know that no survivors have been pulled from the water but Cedric Layton this this this River it's it's an incredibly beautiful uh stretch right I mean behind us also I doubt the viewers can see it but we can see the Washington Monument the United States Capitol at the other end of the mall is the Lincoln Memorial and this is a beautiful

approach. If you're oftentimes these small planes will take this absolutely beautiful approach down the river past all of these gorgeous D.C. landmarks. The other thing we also know, Cedric, if you live here, is that there is constant helicopter traffic over this segment of the river. It's often extraordinarily low. I know when I sometimes have visitors in town, many of them are taken aback

by how loud the helicopter noise is, how many there are, how low they fly. Tell us a little bit more about what this specific helicopter does, what the unit that was flying it does, what they may have been training for, and how this could have happened. Yeah, Casey, this helicopter, the UH-60, which is a Black Hawk helicopter, belongs to the 12th Aviation Battalion, which is located at Fort Belvoir, Davidson Army Airfield, to be specific.

And what the unit's mission is, is to fly VIPs and other necessary things around the various posts and bases here in the D.C. area. They fly a lot of people in and out of the Pentagon. They fly a lot of special missions for various entities in and around the National Capital Region. And they also provide a service, a logistical service,

for the Pentagon and for other military units. So it's a critical unit and it has had a very good safety record up until this particular incident. They've done a lot of training, there have been a lot of

There's been a lot of aerial activity in the last week to 10 days out of Davidson Army Airfield and several other installations. So there's been a lot of practicing going on for these pilots. We don't know exactly what the nature of this mission was. It almost certainly was some kind of a training mission. We don't know whether the pilots were

familiar with this area, if they had just been newly assigned to the unit or if they were experienced pilots in this particular area. So these are things that are going to have to come out. But it is one of the premier units that ferries VIPs around. Luckily, no VIPs on board the aircraft, the helicopter that crashed.

uh... but uh... that is always a a big risk and you mentioned a lot of helicopters around here i go down any of the interstate said this area and you will see the helicopters that come in and out of us on the locations here and uh... we get used to it uh... by being here but

There's always a danger in aviation and that's something that we're seeing right now, unfortunately. Well, let's not forget that for the family members of those crew members, they are VIPs. These deaths, every single one of them, an enormous, enormous tragedy. Again, we should say there's been no survivors pulled out yet so far, but we are waiting on word of the condition of all the people who are on both of these planes. Cedric, you mentioned something to me earlier last hour about what it's like

and how you focus when you're flying a helicopter and why that might have impacted things because as Mary noted, the pilots were asked, do you have visual confirmation? Can you see this plane? Where are helicopter pilots normally focused as they're flying a mission like this?

Normally they're focused, and this may not be something that's logical to people who don't fly, but they're normally focused on the ground. Because one of the things that a lot of helicopter pilots do, especially in the military, is they fly what's called "nap of the earth." They fly right along the surface of the earth at very low altitude. So they're used to looking down, not necessarily looking either sideways or up.

And that is one of the key things that is really important to note, that they may not have seen the right aircraft. When they were told by air traffic control, did you see this particular aircraft? Did you see it? They said yes. They replied affirmatively, but they may not have seen the correct aircraft.

Right. And for people who don't live in this area or perhaps don't fly into this airport, it is worth noting that the traffic is pretty constant. It's an incredibly busy airport. And even for these this particular type of jet, this CRJ, there's a number of them that fly because of the nature this airport services. A lot of it's honestly here because members of Congress want to be able to fly. There's all these small flights coming from small cities across the country that use these jets. I mean,

as a political campaign reporter i've flown to you know all over the country to all sorts of small cities on these planes and taken this exact approach myself many times mary i want to play what we heard what we have from the the air control tower from the faa the the interaction between them and then we'll talk about it let's watch that

So there you could hear the air traffic controller instruct the helicopter pilot to fly behind the plane and then you could hear him react when he figured out what happened. What did you learn when you listened to that?

Well, I learned several things. One, that they were flying with at least communication with air traffic control. The air traffic controller was certainly trying to keep all the traffic separated, as is the job of an air traffic controller. The aircraft from the transmission clearly had priority, was going into land. It would have priority and under total air traffic control.

And, you know, given maybe perhaps even just a second or more of time, they might have realized, you know, the plane is right there and taken evasive measures. And the helicopter would have been much more maneuverable. And, of course, the aircraft could have taken evasive maneuvers if they saw it.

They probably didn't. The aircraft is a low winger. The wings are below. There's, as I always remind people, there's no rear view mirror on the airplane. And there actually have been discussions over the years to put cameras that you can see a 360 around the plane. We have that in our cars. You'd think that that would be something that would be standard for pilots. No, there was a lot of discussion on that after 9-11, actually.

But and then that lets us know that the air traffic controller was, you know, reminding the helicopter, do you have it in sight? Because the helicopter was doing, you know, old fashioned flying, at least at that part of see and avoid. Let's take a we have a little bit of new information from a witness to this midair collision. Let's listen to that watch.

I looked back again just to see if I could maybe see it land. And this was three seconds later and at that point it was banked all the way to the right. I would say maybe past the right, past 90 degrees. I could see the underside of it. It was lit up a very bright yellow and there was a stream of sparks underneath it. It looked like a Roman candle. It looked like a Roman candle, he says.

Well, and that gives us more clues. Just so many of these ear witness, eye witness, and recordings give so many clues. But the fact that it was a Roman candle means that there was a fire. The fuel tanks, you know, when they're in the wings were perhaps pierced. But whatever happened, happened at that point. And other witnesses in the video show the flashpoint and the fire. But since it was a Roman candle, it was on fire and pierced.

probably at that point a lot of damage had been done and it was not controllable. Cedric, a helicopter like this, give us a sense of

I mean, how big is it compared to the plane, this particular type of bird? So it's smaller, generally speaking, than the CRJ aircraft. And it may have been difficult. I think it was absolutely difficult for the pilot of the airplane to see the helicopter. I don't think the pilot of the airplane was focused on the helicopter at all. The helicopter pilot

should have been able to see the airplane, but we don't know what else was going on. And like we mentioned earlier, was there something else that attracted his attention, his or her attention at that particular point in time? All right, Cedric Leighton, Mary Schiavo, thank you both very much for being with us this morning. Do stand by.

We're obviously going to be covering this breaking news throughout the morning and into the rest of today. Coming up next here, there are some tragic ties between this crash and U.S. figure skating. And that community coming up next will tell you what they're saying at this hour. We're going to be covering this breaking news all morning. Stay with us right here on CNN.

It's a highly complex operation. The conditions out there are extremely rough for the responders. The wind is hard out on the river. So they're out there working. We're keeping doing everything we can to keep them safe.

I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast Terms of Service, Natasha Shule is a cultural anthropologist who studies technology design and addiction. So I'm 53. If I'm scrolling on some form of social media, it's going to be Facebook. She has some answers about why we're so hooked on our devices and some steps we can take to curb our infinite scroll. Follow CNN's Terms of Service wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back to CNN's breaking coverage of this midair collision between an American Airlines commercial jet and a Blackhawk helicopter on a training mission over the Potomac River. Both aircraft plunging into the icy waters in the 9 p.m. hour last night. The search and rescue effort underway. A frantic

search and rescue effort underway as Ronald Reagan National Airport, where that American Airlines plane was trying to land, is at a standstill this morning. There are no flights coming in or out of DCA. It's the area's busiest airport. It's going to be that way until at least 11 a.m. this morning, according to officials. And of course, hundreds of flights

have been canceled or delayed as a result. The emergency responders are frantically searching the Potomac River. We can actually see the lights on those boats just behind me here. We are across the river from Washington, D.C., on the same side as Ronald Reagan National Airport, as, of course, we continue to cover this crash.

We were watching the planes land, and they were all lined up in a row perfectly, you know. And then we sort of saw these white flares start flying out of the sky, so we were kind of concerned. And then shortly after, we saw the planes disperse and go their own ways. They all, like, went around.

CNN's Arlette Saenz joins us live now from Reagan National Airport with more on what we are set to learn from officials this morning. Arlette, what can we, the public, and what can the families of those who were on these two aircraft expect to learn as this morning goes on?

Well, Casey, still so many questions for these families as they are waiting to learn more about what exactly happened in this plane crash. In a little over an hour, we are expected to hear once again from local officials on the latest updates on these operations, the search and rescue operations that have been carried out overnight to try to see if they can pull any survivors out of the water. Now, early this morning, we did receive an update.

saying that there were about 300 first responders who activated to try to mobilize in this search and rescue operation. But the D.C. fire chief saying that they are operating in very dangerous conditions. These waters are very dark, and it is very cold temperatures.

out there and pretty soon in the coming hours, they will start to break here in the nation's capital, perhaps giving some assistance as they continue this operation that's been underway overnight. Now, we are still also waiting to hear more about the NTSB investigation that will be playing out over a considerable amount of time to see if they have any other details

as to how exactly this collision between that passenger aircraft with American Airlines traveling from Wichita, Kansas here to Reagan National Airport collided with that Army helicopter. So a lot of questions for local officials as people are still trying to get a handle of this very fluid situation, trying to determine what exactly happened here and whether there are any survivors from this crash.

Arlette, we should underscore, you know, for people who aren't as familiar with this airport and this area as you and I are, I'm sure you have taken dozens, if not hundreds of flights, perhaps on some of these small jets to some of these smaller cities across the country. It's a unique airport. Members of Congress use it. It's part of why it's here. And many of these direct routes are because members of Congress wanted them to be there. Wichita, of course,

One of those routes we learned from the states, from Kansas' Senator Jerry Moran. He talked to reporters last night a little bit about what this particular route means to him and what it means for his personal connection, the personal connections of many Kansans to people who may have been on that plane. Let's watch what he said. I know that flight. I've flown it many times myself.

I lobbied American Airlines to begin having a direct nonstop flight service to DCA. That flight has been in existence about a year. And it is certainly true that in Kansas and in Wichita in particular, we're going to know people who are on this flight, know their family members, know somebody. So this is a very personal circumstance.

A very personal circumstance, he said. Arlette, what are we learning at this point about who was on that plane? Well, that's the big question going forward. There are many family members who had come here to Reagan National Airport, a different area of the airport where the airline had set up an area for them to come and try to get some answers. They've also set up a hotline for them to call into.

Now, last night, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser would not detail any of the specifics of who might have been recovered from the search and rescue operations that were underway. But we are learning some details overnight about some of the people who were on board. The U.S. figure skating, the national governing body of that sport actually said that several members of the skating community were on that

flight from Wichita, Kansas here to Reagan National Airport. They had been participating in skating events in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Kansas. Russian state media has also said that two world champion Russian figure skaters were also on board that plane. That's just a little bit of the picture.

of who was on this American Airlines flight. So far, we know that there were 64 people aboard that passenger aircraft and then three people aboard that Army Black Hawk helicopter. So we are still waiting to hear more details about who these people might be, who -- whether there are any survivors, and, of course, what kind of answers their families are getting in this very tragic moment.

All right, Arlette signs up for us at Ronald Reagan National Airport. Arlette, thank you very much for that reporting.

And coming up next here on CNN, we are going to speak live to a witness of that midair collision between a Black Hawk helicopter with three on board and that American Airlines commercial jet with 60 passengers and four crew aboard. We're also going to learn a little bit more about what we're hearing from the U.S. figure skating community. All that and more as we continue to cover this breaking news right here on CNN.

Welcome back to CNN's breaking news coverage overnight. We have been covering the collision between an American Airlines commercial jet and a Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission. And there are nearly freezing temperatures here in Washington, D.C. this morning, as you can

here. And as search and rescue efforts are continuing, it's still a search and rescue effort at this hour. Although we have been told here at CNN by officials that no survivors at

this hour have been pulled from the water. And you may be able to see in this video why some of the conditions have been so difficult for these first responders. Over 300 first responders involved because of the ice in the river. This is absolutely freezing. We should note the Potomac River

Oftentimes the winters here in Washington, D.C., relatively mild. That has not been the case this winter. And until just the last few days, much of the Potomac was covered completely or almost completely in ice. We've had some warmer temperatures the past couple of days that started to break it up a little bit. But it really does underscore just how difficult the conditions were facing these first responders overnight.

The conditions out there are extremely rough for the responders. It's cold. They're dealing with relatively windy conditions. Wind is hard out on the river. So they're out there working. We're doing everything we can to keep them safe.

All right. Joining us now is CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam with more on this. And Derek, these lights behind me are actually from some of the boats that are involved in this search and rescue operation. We're, of course, waiting to see when or if that becomes a search and recovery operation, as this does seem to be getting more grim in the words of one official who talked to us by the hour. What have they been facing out there?

Well, there's ice on the water that just gives you an indication of how cold it's been. In fact, just last week, I was in D.C. covering the inauguration for the pure fact that it was so cold, welcoming in the president for his term. Now, this is the conditions at the time of the

crash. There were no visibility issues. However, you heard the fire chief just a moment ago in that sound bite played directly before me that there were and continue to deal with some winds gusting around 25 MPH. And that indeed was the case when this plane crashed just shortly before nine p.m. yesterday evening. So right now temperatures 40 degrees generally clear conditions. But look what's coming

storm system that will impact the search and recovery efforts for tomorrow. Let's get into some more specifics about the water temperature and what the rescue operation operators and personnel are having to contend with. Here's D. C. A. Reagan National Airport. There's the collision site. There's a weather sensor that we've been investigating the time of the crash. Water temperatures were roughly 35 degrees. They maintain those temperatures

It is frigid cold and unfortunately when the human body is encountering those types of water temperatures, we're talking about survival rates here. A grim statistic 30 to 90 minutes for survival rate with those types of water temperatures, air time temperatures or air temperatures for the course of the day will warm into the middle forties and then the winds start to pick up ahead of our next storm system. Casey. All right, Derek Van Damme for us this morning. Derek, thank you very much

For that. All right. Now let's turn to this an NTSB Go team. That's the kind of team that the National Transportation Safety Board Mobilizes in the wake of a tragic incident like this one has been launched to investigate just how this possibly Could have happened and our peat muntin who of course covers aviation for us walked through and explained in

how it is that the pilots of both of these aircrafts may not have been able to see each other in the dark. Let's watch. - A mid-air collision like this is incredibly rare and really has not happened involving a commercial flight in decades. 1978 was about the same time, perhaps a grim piece of irony involving a PSA flight. It's important to note

As we continue to hear about PSA, this airline that was operating this flight on behalf of American Airlines, that is a company that is owned wholly by American Airlines. This is the flight path that you can see here.

The yellow line is of the helicopter. This is the flight tracking data. The orange line is of that American Airlines PSA flight coming into land on runway 33 at Reagan National Airport. This is a common and routine approach typically utilized by air traffic controllers to try and squeeze planes in a little bit faster. This is the image of the fireball that ensued of the helicopter coming right to left.

toward the bright light there, that is that PSA American Airlines flight, and then smash, that is the midair collision and the parts falling to the icy Potomac River below water temperature of about 35 degrees tonight. I pointed this out a couple times prior and I have a few models here to demonstrate.

just how hard it can be for pilots of a commercial airliner, two pilots in that airplane, and the pilots of helicopters to see one another. The blind spot in a commercial airliner is really anything that the pilots are not focused on. When you're descending, you can't see super well below and in front of you. So it is said that

pilots doing a typical approach in a commercial airliner their brains are lighting off with the same frequency as a doctor doing cardiovascular surgery. The blind spots in a helicopter, helicopter pilots typically are looking at the ground and the altitude here was only at about 300 feet so you can see here

As the collision sort of is ensuing, helicopter pilots aren't looking up a lot because of where the rotors are. The pilots are probably locked in on the runway in front of them. And you can see how this sort of disaster is in the making. So it is really so important to underscore how infrequent midair collisions are, but how quickly the recipe, the bad recipe, can be concocted and disaster can take place.

That was our Pete Muntean clearly explaining how something like this possibly could have happened. All right, coming up next here on CNN, we are expecting a news conference from officials here in Washington, D.C., coming up in the next hour to try to learn more about this ongoing search and rescue effort. We're also going to speak live

to a witness of that fiery crash, that mid-air collision between an American Airlines commercial jet and a Blackhawk helicopter on a training mission. Stay right here on CNN. When one person dies, it's a tragedy. But when many, many, many people die, it's an unbearable sorrow. I want the folks to back home to just know that we care, that we love them, and that this is a time when we'll have to join arms together. ♪

This is CNN Breaking News. Welcome to CNN This Morning. I am Casey Hunt. We are covering breaking news overnight. For those of you who are just joining us, emergency crews are battling choppy waters and frigid temperatures. There is a massive search and rescue operation continuing this morning

in the Potomac River near Washington DC we are here in Alexandria Virginia actually just across the river from Washington the boats involved in that search and rescue operation just behind us of course Ronald Reagan National Airport just off to the side here because last night an American Airlines jet it was coming from Wichita Kansas

colliding in midair with a military Black Hawk helicopter just as that plane was trying to land at Reagan National Aircraft. Both of those aircrafts, the plane and the helicopter, crashing into the frigid water.

Crash, crash, crash. This is Alert 3. Crash, crash, crash. This is Alert 3. Sorry, this is Operations. Was that a Gilo and a CRJ? That is affirmative. Gilo, CRJ, fresh in retreat.

The jet had 64 people on board. The helicopter was carrying three crew members. That military aircraft was taking part in a training flight just as this commercial aircraft was landing at DCA.

A law enforcement source tells CNN that no survivors have been found yet. And we are, of course, expecting to hear more from officials coming up in less than an hour now here. The American Airlines CEO, he says he's going to travel here to D.C. to try and support his employees. I'd like to express our deep sorrow about these events. This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines. And our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers,

crew members, partners, first responders, along with their families and loved ones. We're cooperating fully with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation and will continue to provide all the information we can. Our cooperation is without pause and we want to learn everything we can about today's events. That work will take time, but anything we can do now, we're doing. And right now, that means focusing on taking care of all passengers and crew involved, as well as their families.

And of course, you may be able to hear the helicopters overhead here involved in this operation as we stand here. And it's still dark out, of course, but there is orange light on the horizon here. Sunrise officially not until 7:16 a.m. this morning here in the Washington, D.C. area. But you can see some of that light starting to hit the water that, of course,

is going to change the game for the search and recovery, search and rescue effort here. Again, we are waiting to hear is this still a recovery or a rescue effort? Have they decided that this is instead a recovery effort? Because of course we do know that an official told CNN that this is becoming more grim as time has gone by and we have not, no survivors have yet

been pulled from the frigid, icy water behind me here. Let's bring in Renee Marsh, CNN correspondent, who has been covering this investigation for us. And Renee, I know you used to cover aviation for CNN as part of your

regular assignment. What have we learned so far as this effort is underway? And what are we expecting to hear from officials this morning? I think you bring up such a good point about sunrise because remember this all happened last night, 8:48 p.m., cover of darkness. So this is really the first daylight that investigators will be able to kind of examine and see a full picture potential how big

this debris field may be, pieces of potentially the wreckage, all going to be critical in this investigation. And when we talk about who is involved here, we're seeing multiple agencies, the Army, Department of Defense, NTSB, the FAA, all launching their own investigations into all of this.

and what's really going to be critical at this point is finding those black boxes that is going to be a treasure trove of information for these investigators i see we do have these live pictures here it's hard to make out are you able to see what that is yeah we uh we just to give our viewers a little bit of a sense here it's hard it's a little bit hard for us to actually see what's live on our on our air as we are talking over it but what you are

looking at that's a live shot from WGLA, it's a local affiliate here in Washington, DC. What we were just looking at a second ago appeared

anyway to be some of the potential wreckage from the plane. We do know, we do understand from our sources that the plane is in a number of pieces and you and I standing here we can see some of the lights, the red lights that are coming from the boats that are doing this search out in the river. If to our

my right, your right as well, is actually the runway and what Reagan National Airport is on the side of the river that we're standing on, Washington, D.C., in the distance. We can see the Washington Monument and the Capitol. But, Renee, continue. Yeah, I mean, and also, as you point out, the runway is right behind us, but this is...

busy and complicated airspace because you have military aircraft, you have police aircraft, and then you have commercial airliners all coming in, converging on this airspace. So again, back to the investigation and what they're going to want to learn is...

What happened here? Because there is equipment on board commercial airliners to essentially warn when an aircraft is too close and within an unsafe distance. We also know from air traffic control audio that the pilots within that Army Black Hawk helicopter gave permission

verbal confirmation that they had eyes locked on this commercial airliner. They saw it. And we know that just 13 seconds later, that mid-air collision occurred and you actually hear an audible gasp from those air traffic controllers. So what happened within those seconds after the pilots of that Army Black Hawk

helicopter said that they saw the aircraft and between that time and the actual crash. That is the key question for investigators and I can't stress enough how just

crucial and critical these black boxes will be in this investigation. We know that black boxes, obviously the site of the crash is the Potomac River. The good news is those boxes are designed to be water resistant, heat resistant, can endure high temperatures.

So the hope is they can retrieve them, take them to their labs for analysis, and then we start to get this tick-tock of events. And it looks like there's more activity there. Yeah, Renee, I mean, I think that anyone can see. We don't want to speculate too much, but our viewers, of course, this is a live shot of the river and the rescue operations and what appears to be

either a piece of a plane, a piece of a helicopter, perhaps the helicopter in the water. And again, you can start to see this, the light, you can see the light on the river that is coming from the sun. There's some bright artificial light kind of in the background. But again, this is the most that we have been able to see of the surface of the water since this happened in the 9 p.m. hour last night as dawn is starting to break.

here in Washington, D.C. We're just about 25 minutes or so from the actual sunrise here in Washington. Renee, stand by for me for a second because we do have with us this morning an eyewitness to this collision, Roy Best. Roy, if you're with me, thank you very much for spending some time with us this morning. This must have been a very difficult evening to have seen this.

unfold and of course so many families are just anxiously waiting for news of their loved ones now but Roy can you tell us what you saw last night?

Yes, I was staying on the rooftop of my building with some neighbors, and we have a direct site going down to the airport so we can see everything clearly. We were just talking. Next thing you know, I heard a loud explosion. I looked to the left, saw a big, just a big ball of fire, and then wreckage just falling down towards the river. And my neighbor hollered out, oh, my God, that's a plane.

Roy, can you give us a sense, not necessarily too exactly, but are you on the Virginia side of the river, the Washington side of the river? How close approximately do you live to the airport? Yes, I'm in Arlington, Crystal City, so I'm literally right next to the airport.

- Yeah. So Roy, can you describe, I mean, the video that we're seeing, I mean, it's one person we talked to described it like seeing a Roman candle, another called it a fireball. I mean, what did you see? I heard you describe the sound. What did you see in the air?

Yes, definitely a fireball in the air. Fireball and then wreckage just went straight down. Again, it was dark outside, so the visibility was kind of hard to see everything clear, but you definitely saw the fireball and wreckage going down to the river. Have you ever seen anything like this before in your life? Not with an airplane, no, I haven't, no.

Can you talk a little bit about, since you live so close to the airport, one of the things we've been talking about this morning is just how many planes, how many aircraft there are in the airspace here in Washington. I mean, I've lived here going on 20 years now and I'm continually amazed by it. You must see so much of it living so close.

Yes, we're on the rooftop all the time, so we see the planes taking off and landing daily. There's a lot of things going on. It's a busy area. It's a good nation's capital. We see the police helicopters. We see the military helicopters going back and forth to the bases, the pentagons, the different areas. You also got Coast Guard helicopters, so it's a pretty busy airspace.

Yeah, it really is quite remarkable. And Roy, just before I let you go here, can you describe how your friends and others that you were with reacted when you heard, when you saw what happened last night? Yeah, we were in shock. We were in shock.

probably the last few months and over the summer. They actually had a couple of incidents where things were some near on collisions with planes. But you know, you don't figure you never think it's going to actually happen and not just happen that you want to witness it. So we were just in shock and I'm still in shock this morning.

All right, Roy Best, I can't imagine. Thank you very much for spending some time with us this morning as we continue to cover this breaking news. Roy Best, who saw this crash from the roof of his building here in the Washington, D.C. area last night. And we do, of course, want to tell you what you're looking at right now. These are live pictures of the

search and rescue efforts that are still underway at this hour for the 60 passengers and four crew members that were aboard the American Airlines flight coming here to Washington Reagan National Airport from Wichita, Kansas.

collided this plane as it was trying to land with a Black Hawk helicopter, an Army helicopter flying out of Fort Belvoir with three crew members on board. Those three crew members were on a training mission. We did hear the FAA air traffic control speaking with the pilot

of the helicopter just moments before this crash occurred, asking the pilot if he could see the airplane. The pilot saying yes. Questions this morning about whether he was looking at something else, looking at a different plane, a different light in the sky, because of course, just moments later, these aircraft colliding, both plunging into the Potomac River. And this search, of course, has been ongoing just behind us here. And these pictures that you're seeing now are the first

pictures with any daylight of what has been going on here and we think we can see some of the wreckage in parts of the river.

Over 300 first responders came to this scene to try and rescue any of the people who were involved in this crash. And of course, officials from DC Fire and EMS talking about just how difficult the conditions have been for those first responders through the night because of course,

The Potomac River has been iced over almost entirely in recent days because of the Arctic-like temperatures that were here for the week. Of course, you may remember last week for the inauguration here in Washington just how cold it was. They had to move it inside. Those temperatures have come up a little bit in the days since, but so much of that ice still on the river making these efforts just so difficult and complicated. And of course,

At this time, we are learning more about who was on that plane as anyone who may, if they are learning of people who've perished, families anxiously awaiting news. And our Christine Brennan is here. She covers sports news.

for us and she's here because one of the things we do know is that the U.S. ice skating community, the U.S. teams essentially, the program that sends figure skaters to the Olympics and other world-class sporting competitions has been deeply impacted by this tragedy. Christine, can you tell us a little bit more about what we're hearing from U.S. figure skating about this crash this morning?

Yes, Casey, this looks like it's just having a devastating impact on the U.S. figure skating community. U.S. figure skating has said several members of the community were on the plane. I am, of course, working with my sources. I've covered figure skating since 1988.

And I talked to an Olympic coach who told me she was just devastated. We don't yet have numbers. And of course, we're not going to give any names out at this point, but it looks appear appears to look like coaches, young skaters, family members. And it could be quite a large number. And for those who are wondering, you know, the U S nationals just happened over the weekend in Wichita.

And the skaters will see at the Olympics in a year. The Olympic games are in winter of 2026 in Italy, just a year from now. This would not have been those skaters. This is a developmental camp, Casey, that the skaters stayed after the nationals

and the national championships ended on Sunday. And then they were working with coaches and top skaters. So this is U.S. figure skating's future. This would be the young teenagers who we would expect to see bubble to the surface, rise up and compete moving forward even to the 2030 Winter Olympic Games.

It is absolutely tragic what I'm hearing. The community is devastated. And figure skating back in 1961, there was a plane crash that killed the entire world team heading to the world championships back in 61, 60, what, 64 years ago. And so figure skating and tragedies, especially air tragedies, are linked.

That's such an important part of the U.S. figure skating community. Even now, they have memorials. They talk about the 61 plane crash. I just can't get it out of my mind how now this sport is dealing with another tragedy of this magnitude involving air travel. And again, the young kids with their promise and their hopes and their dreams to represent the United States in international competition and the Olympic Games today.

Those were those kids who stayed after the national championships in Wichita so that they could get coaching and have camaraderie with the others and work on their skills as they were going to move forward in this sport that they love so much.

Just absolutely devastating. I got chills when you say that this was the future of this program. Christine Brennan, thank you very much for bringing us that update this morning, although I'm very sorry to have heard that update. And again, here we are waiting on a news conference from Washington, D.C. officials. It is expected at 7.30 a.m. this morning as we wait to hear the status of

this what has been a search and rescue operation throughout the night

but which we are waiting to find out at what point it may become a search and recovery operation because as you can see, they still are desperately searching the river. But at this hour, we know that no survivors have been pulled from the frigid, icy Potomac River. Of course, now the sun coming up behind me, we are set to learn more throughout the day. Stay with CNN as we continue to cover this breaking news coverage. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere.

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