WASHINGTON — A regional jet flown for American Airlines Group Inc. collided in a deadly midair crash with a military helicopter around Washington, DC, halting operations at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and prompting a search and rescue operation in the Potomac River.

The plane, operated by subsidiary PSA Airlines, collided with a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter while on approach to Reagan airport at around 9 p.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement Wednesday night.

The flight departed from Wichita, Kansas, with 60 passengers and four crew on board, American Airlines said.

There were three airmen aboard the military helicopter out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, according to an Army official who asked not to be identified discussing details that hadn’t been publicly disclosed.

“While we don’t yet know how many on board were lost, we know there are fatalities,” said Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FAA.

The aircraft involved was a CRJ-700 jet, which typically seats 65 people and is generally used for shorter trips.

The PSA jet was flying at 228 kilometers per hour about 400 feet above the Potomac River on approach for landing on Reagan airport’s runway 33 before data stopped recording, according to Flightradar24 data.

Reagan airport has suspended all aircraft take-offs and landings in response to the incident, the airport operator said in a post on X. The airport said it would remain closed until 5 a.m. Friday local time.

Emergency personnel were swarming the airport and bright red notices flashed on terminal screens, alerting passengers that an emergency had led to flight cancellations.

The DC Fire, Police and EMS Department emergency teams said they are responding to multiple calls that were received reporting an aircraft crash in the Potomac River in the vicinity of the airport.

American Airlines said it it is in contact with and assisting first responders. It also has set up a toll-free information line for family members of passengers on the flight.

American Eagle is a network of six regional carriers operating for the larger airline, three of which are owned by American.

PSA Airlines is the smallest of those three, operating 130 aircraft on an average of 600 daily flights. It’s based in Dayton, Ohio.

Reagan airport is in Arlington, Virginia, just across the river from the nation’s capital and just south of the Pentagon. The Army for years has flown night and day helicopter missions for years in the Northern Virginia skies near Reagan Airport.

The incident is an immediate test for President Donald Trump’s administration in his second week in office. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was sworn into his job just days ago, and Sean Duffy, who as Transportation secretary oversees the FAA, was confirmed on Tuesday.

Trump said on Wednesday night that he had been “fully briefed” on the incident and is monitoring the situation. Hegseth said the agency was actively monitoring the situation and was “poised to assist.”

The crash revived memories of an air disaster in January 1982 when an Air Florida Boeing Co. 737 struggled for altitude after taking off with ice in it engines and on the wings, struck the 14th Street bridge and then slammed into the frozen Potomac. Seventy four people who were aboard the plane were killed, and another four on the ground.

The last passenger airplane to crash in the U.S. was Colgan Air Flight 3407 near Buffalo, New York, in 2009. The flight, carrying 45 passengers, was a regional feeder to Continental Airlines.

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(With assistance from Siddharth Philip, Danny Lee, Skylar Woodhouse, John Harney, Derek Wallbank, Richard Clough and Tony Capaccio.)

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