(NewsNation) — Audio of air traffic control captured the moment that workers observed a Black Hawk helicopter colliding with a passenger jet near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night.
The American Airlines passenger plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members; three soldiers were on board the Army helicopter. All are believed to have died in the crash.
Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, was on approach to the runway when the collision took place.
The collision happened at around 9 p.m. when the regional jet collided with the military helicopter, which was on a training exercise, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
A few minutes before the jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked the American Airlines flight if it could do so on a shorter runway, and the pilots agreed. Controllers cleared the jet to land and flight-tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter crew if they had the arriving plane in sight.
The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later, saying “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ” — apparently telling the helicopter to wait for the Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet to pass. There was no reply. Seconds after that, the aircraft collided.
Air traffic controllers can be heard reacting to the crash before redirecting other air traffic in the area. (You can hear a portion of the air traffic control communications over radio in the video player at the top of this story.)
“Crash, crash, crash,” one air traffic controller can be heard saying. “This is an alert three.”
“I just saw a fireball and then it was gone,” said another.
Air traffic control can also be heard telling a Delta plane to return to the gate as the airport would be shutting down operations “for the indefinite future.” The Delta crew relays that they witnessed the collision.
The American Airlines plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the Potomac.
The body of the plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water, officials said. The helicopter’s wreckage was also found.
Those on board included members of the U.S. figure skating community and Russian figure skaters, among other passengers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.