jump across the river. nothing in the water from this vantage point. i wonder if there's a craft in the water that we can't see because you can see a wave coming. >> we have the official statement. american airlines flight 5342 collided with eight sikorsky a60 helicopter while on approach to the runway at reagan. that is consistent with the video that i saw online that has been making its rounds online. it is heartbreaking. that would be a regional jet and a military helicopter. >> that's consistent with what senator marshall had put out. >> sean: we appreciate it. our thoughts and prayers are with any of the victims in all of this. stay with the fox news channel for continuing coverage of what looks to be like a terrible crash in washington, d.c. trace gallagher takes it from here.

i am trace gallagher live in los angeles as we have breaking news on the right-hand side of your screen as sean hannity was reporting there's been an air crash just on the other side of the airport. the incoming side of the airport at reagan national also known as dca. the faa is reporting it appears to be a commuter plane. it's american airlines flight 5342 that as it was preparing to land, close to landing that it struck a military helicopter. a sikorsky 860. the plane was not yet iden identified. but it usually flies what is known as a crj-700 a twin jet airline and listed when it took off from wichita to land at

reagan national airport. the plane was also listed as a crj-700. these planes and we don't know how many passengers were on board. but we know they can carry up to around 78 passengers. as you can see, and we will show you video of this, there is other video that shows launching boats into the potomac river to find if there are any survivors. if there are any people in the water at all. that is one of the shots we are looking at, loading people to go in. you see rescue crews and dive teams as well fascinating to look at. on the other side we can actually point out that just a week ago for the inauguration that part of the river was primarily frozen over. so you can see tonight it's an all-hands-on-deck response.

there was a small plane and then we got word from the faa that it is an american airlines commuter flight from wichita heading to reagan national airport. it crashed on approach and struck a military sikorsky 860 helicopter. right now we do not know how many people were on board. i do want to bring in a search and rescue expert armand courtier as well as fox news correspondent richard fowler. i want to begin with you rich what are you hearing now? >> we are on the d.c. side of the potomac river and as i derived their overlooking the airport i saw the cop cars

gathering in the sirens. all on the side heading to the airport with loads of ambulances and emergency vehicles heading towards the scene and at that point in time i saw what was happening and realize there was a crash rate off of of the airport. often times with smaller jet's landing on the runway they often times cut a little bit not far from my house around bolling air force base to make that landing. with the air traffic noise as well as those lengths. it's customary to hear regional jet slammed often into happens all the time depending on the wind patterns. it's customary that you hear them. and something is really happening at reagan national airport. that's when they realize there was an accident.

and my heart goes out to everybody in that accident as i spent a lot of time at reagan airport and of landed on that runway a number of times. it's heartbreaking for those in the district of columbia. >> speaker-01: it really is i want to read this as you stand by as this just in from the faa press office and the warning is the information is preliminary and subject to change. it goes on to say that a psa airlines bombardier tran30 regional jet collided in midair with a sikorsky h60 helicopter while on approach to runway 33 at reagan washington national airport around 9:00 p.m. local time. psa was operating flight 5342 as

american airlines departing from wichita, kansas. what they do not know about this is that there were passengers on board and we don't know how many. we do know that a crj-700 bombardier plane is a twin jet engine. it can hold up to at most 78 passengers it's usually a copilot and one maybe two there and we do a video and we are making sure that the video is accurate. we want to check before we put it on air but there is video of the crash we believe as soon as we can verify with the video being shown to you. and very quickly over to you.

what kind of response and how quick was the response? >> almost instantaneous. we saw emergency cars from all different directions and the geography is very important with the intersection of three states such as maryland and virginia and the district of columbia. and with the federal government and maryland and emergency teams responding as well as virginia teams responding. and as we get more footage you will see teams from three different states with the federal government getting to the scene which is good for many of these people and for those potential victims you see them responding at the same time. with this reagan international airport in virginia and the district of columbia with how it belt out because the geography and the district of columbia. the majority is in arlington. so because of the geography it

benefits from having three states respond to the disaster. >> it really does. richard standby i want to bring in the host of the fox report john scott who is also a licensed pilot. it's great to hear from you as it's been a long time we've been covering these types of plane crashes for around 30 years on fox news channel. when you hear about this, one of the reasons or bring it up,'s in this country i don't believe that there has been a commercial airline disaster since 2009 when the air flight heading to buffalo crashed killing 49 people on that jet. what you believe in what do you know in what do you think about the crash? >> it's very preliminary will be around six month's before we get

anything there but i just have to wonder were the helicopter was and was the helicopter where it is supposed to be. the flights in and out of reagan are so tightly choreographed and the autopilot taking the jets right where it's supposed to be endo- most plants it down on the runway. and at the pilots. brigand has the shortest air -- runaways and commercial area asian so the pilots frying -- flying and they're usually experienced in good at what they do so i have to wonder what the helicopter was doing was in the right place at the right time. >> speaker-01: there is talk about shutting it down because of congestion in and around the area and that is one of the things that the faa and tsb is looked at over the years.

it's a very good question to wonder how does military helicopter as they are but supposed to be in sync. there is supposed to be communication between both of the aircraft. but it appears something horribly wrong occurred. >> and there's a fairly new system in the last few years the faa has mandated what they call ads be which is a surveillance system that allows ground controllers to see precisely where every aircraft is. in the past radar sweeps would be a little slow and a bit off. now the new system adsb tells you exactly for every other aircraft is and it tells the

pilot were other aircraft's are. so unless the helicopter was flying without it for those in the military. that might have some reason the turnoff a transponder put those two pilots the helicopter and jet should have seen each other on displays as well as the ground crew in the tower crew at reagan should have d conflicted them. we talk about a commuter plane and commuter jet like this and back in the old days you would say yet twin engine props and they weren't sophisticated as some of the boeing 737 and the airbus airplanes but nowadays when talking about the bombardier crj-700 twin it's a sophisticated airline. it has every bell and whistle the major airlines and the big

jets have. the glass cockpit which is state-of-the-art and it's one of the reasons it's so precise to fly these days because you are literally looking at a map and you can program the instrument approach into the airport and you can watch on the map the pilot can monitor as a plane is turning itself to align with in this case runway 33 as i understand it but didn't get there. it seems there was an obstacle. >> trace: and just the way jennifer griffin is reporting that the pentagon is checking out a report the u.s. military helicopter was involved in the crash we have told june the military came out and the talk is that a sikorsky was involved.

it's on the opposite side of the river from reagan international so when you have that kind of military base when you have an active airport which is very busy there would be communication between the two, correct? >> there should be. and the problem there is that those systems are only as good as the people running them. i have used the wrong frequency coming into an airport in the past. with one quick oath the -- click of the dial with what happened there and it's a very tragic. and back in the 1980s and air florida it was a 737 went into the potomac. just so terrible this time of

year as the flight a plane was taking off and it clipped the bridge with survivors on that plane and that was coming in. i don't know the altitude as they haven't released that and does video taken and it becomes less likely to be a survivable crash when at some distance in the air. and then suddenly falling. and are gonna talk about a search and rescue specialist about this but as the dive teams go into the water. without search and rescue works right now. >> i did a sample search and

rescue and they would get in there as soon as they can so they should have a pretty good idea where the jet is with video on the air right now weather anybody has that. and from the kennedy center when the two collided. and that rendered the survival much less likely. >> trace: and interesting because you reads the stats and they sent to numbers saying it's a twin and gin medium lift utility -- military aircraft manufactured by sikorsky modified also developed for the u.s. navy and air force and it's also important to note it can carry up to around 15 people

including two crew chiefs and rescue spelled sheltie so if you combine the capacity does capacity of the crj-700 with 78 passengers and potential for crew members and then 15 or higher number or lower number on this black hawk helicopter. you're looking at it significant crash. and loss of life it's so mind-boggling something like this could happen in a tightly controlled airspace as mentioned talking about the fact that there been proposals to crook close reagan airport and move it somewhere else with what happens. with members of congress not wanting that. and then it's a thursday or

friday and fly home for the weekend and 10 minutes from the capital and they are the ones to keep it open. >> trace: it's one of those things where you are at the capital in minutes. and is really convenient and a lot of these debates put on hold and right now you're living at least in the united states and the safest aviation period in history and talking about the last crash being back in 2009 going up to buffalo and at that resulted in dramatic changes with safety and checklists and so on and so forth. and it has been extraordinarily safe. we talk about close calls a lot

and talk about maybe they need to improve the runaways and the communications as it's been really safe and flying in america over the past century. looking at the plane crash that just occurred in south korea a couple of weeks ago and to my mind there was a myriad of mistakes made even in the construction of that particular airport with those type of things eliminated in the united states. and incredible he safe way to get around and is about as safe as you can get. in the crash of a jetliner of helicopter and it really is. if you can standby for us we

would appreciate it we just want to reset for those just joining us as we have two scenes here both live one was moments ago because they are putting boats into the potomac and putting dive teams into the potomac river with the search out full-scale and on the right we are looking why the arlington the other side of the river with the dca at reagan national where we are told a regional jet and see rj run by psa airlines commuter for american airlines flying tonight under the number 5342 from wichita in kansas and reuters is reporting there were 60 passengers scheduled to be on that jet which crashed near reagan national airport were 60 passengers and talking about this with two pilots and the potential of two flight

attendants one or two and the are there talking about 65. with the black hawk helicopter the you h60 and talking about a capacity of 15 height and 17 passengers on board that. let's bring in mark meredith at the scene to give us the latest on what he's hearing and seeing. >> reporter: we herself of the runway at reagan national and the virginia side with the aircraft looking at some of the flight radar apps that track them all over the country as we see the regional commuter that all the major airlines use one from wichita out to dca was something else in the aircraft ranger some of the videos here showing the collision and with the regional jet and showing the

magnitude of the search and rescue effort with that there with it being a marina here and showing up to see what is happening in with the red and blue police lights and the fire department lights with multiple helicopters 300 or 400 feet in the air at least from that vantage point out to the river on the other side. with what the guests are talking about reagan airport is one of the bigger airports here in the dmz across the eastern seaboard and there been concerns about how much traffic was going in and whether they can raise the number of aircraft going out of the airport and this airport is in demand so close to city center from dca downtown in about 10-15 minutes with what

reaction the faa will provide and the national transportation safety board will be leading the investigation but you can name the acronym and all three letters would be out here as they try to figure out what happened there and basically they were trying to get out of there. with union station all the way down to the tunnels with an indication all hands on deck with search and rescue underway. local media is reporting there and being able to confirm that from our vantage point we are still waiting to see a close emergency traffic will be to getting there but we see helicopters going overhead circling every few seconds in an indication where there's a sign related to the crash whether

it's sikorsky or the crj-700. we were also told from congressional sources they have kansas lawmakers on their way out to find out what's happening not just for their constituents but also seeing them through their various committees. d.c. as a sean hannity talked about is such a company town because so many people fly in and out of here. with vice president vance offering prayers and support for the victims here with a search and rescue effort underway piecing together what's going on and there's so many cameras out here at reagan airport it's a beautiful airport because they have a web camera set up and local media using it for weather reports. it would not surprise me whether there were multiple vehicles coming in and approaching from the south near the national harbor area and a typical

approach pattern and from the videos i am seeing there's an indication the aircraft was taking off. and it's happening at the same time it happened just before 9:00 p.m. or around an hour and a half ago. >> trace: mark meredith standby if you will we'll get back to you as the news warrants. this is what we're seeing with an and all hands on deck rescue effort with boats in the water and there were reports as mark was saying there is a potential of a possibility of some survivors and maybe more have been pulled out of the water there. and we don't know if that's accurate but it's a report that we are conveying to you but we don't know if it's accurate and if it is accurate we do not know the condition of those they pulled out or are pulling out of the water. i do want to play the video

because we have kind of zoomed in on this and are being careful. watch the bottom lower of the screen where you will see the collision here and he's bringing it in with analysis an end what they're looking at here. and is that correct and you see the crash going on the screen there. and seeing it on the right hand and what appears to be a crash there below that plane which was taking off and then right below what appears to be a bridge and at that vantage point appears to be close to the water where it

happened. if there's anything to look for good news wise in the lower the plane was to the water and the survivable opportunity is free of the passengers on board and looks like they have a plane and the crj-700 coming down and the helicopter might be going up. and it's a scenario they're looking at. >> trace: it is what it looks like to me and the helicopter was ascending. and pilots of the see rj not to be able to see the helicopter below them with the aviation and the aircraft there and with all

these blind spots in every claim with the helicopter wishing that jetliner. and with everything flashing in the helicopter flying in a black hawk and at the front windows there is low visibility so and it's a very sad. >> it's close to what we have to this in the video you can see right there as there is the explosion. it looks like a plane in jon scott is taking off. when the plane takes off and

coming down. with the helicopter there as the ceiling is as blind with the helicopter there and the plane will be really coming down as the helicopter could potentially see the plane. and with the helicopters there and with a nephew avenue flies blackhawks with the vision not being able to be restricted and with that chopper base that they were talking about is the one that flies around the secretary of defense and the army secretary and its experienced

pilots not necessarily going to be training at random at night over washington, d.c., and the fact they can't see that jet coming is astounding to me. it's clearly a final approach and with enough final approach fixed there and clearly close to landing. and the helicopter smoke on the way. and was bringing him to the conversation but we will try to get them back. john stay with us if you would. we're hearing from the affiliate we have not independently verified this before people pulled from the water after the collision from washington reagan airport.

onboard the helicopter as they are reporting for people were pulled from the water after the collision near washington reagan airport and that in itself to me and it's fairly astounding and we don't know those people are in fact a lie then pulled and we are still waiting for the details as they are pulled from the water with bodies full pulled from the water which is somewhat significant which is at least surprising. and they want to bring in first responder. let's bring in external affairs

officer and are you hearing anything else about it being very transparent with the early going of the crash. with plane crashes valued back in florida back in the 90s and it took days get information out trained to do this as quickly as they possibly can and it's also very disturbing for people who are likely at dca reagan right now for their loved ones to arrive taken to a private room to be counseled and be informed of what exactly happened. what else? >> a somebody who flew the route the last of the amounts and then to the same terminal and from knoxville to d.c. and i was flying very many times seeing

that same aircraft and everything and there's time in the good news is 32 or 33 years ago when we had the florida air crash didn't have his good technology in the first responders had limited equipment now with the sonar scanners and the advanced technologies the rescuers have and d.c. fire it's all arlington and the u.s. coast guard with the advanced technologies and anybody who could survive one of the best chance out there and all the manpower they have out here and setting up an incident command and control the chaos with this i've been trained for these types of things not that they want to have to but

emergency services are ready and they practice this interagency coordination for the command system. and they are divided up into sectors and make assignments and as time goes on. jason standby of the web. do we have him back on the phone with us. no do we have armand back on the phone? okay so instead let's bring in kyle bailey and aviation expert i want to read this to you because we got this from the associated press in audio from the air traffic control tower from the time of the crash quoting here do you have this see rj in sight in reference to the passenger aircraft and another pilot's third calling seconds after the apparent

collision with it beginning to divert other aircraft and it appears there was concern going in whether the black hawk helicopter had seen or could even see this plane which was clearly on final approach. >> correct trace, a good evening these helicopters operate at very low altitudes and as you are discussing earlier with the psa airlines to sending. it is a very difficult thing to see directly below you and with this kind of scenario and with an urban area in very city lights it's often hard to distinguish overwater and around

those other lights. it does look like the helicopter was operating there and the military operates with extreme precision at low altitudes doing this all the time but the responsibility is on both parties and was on the aircraft as well as the helicopter as well for being aware of what's around you. both aircraft's with that system but i do have to say sometimes even on the commercial side of things a little bit of overread lying on these complex systems that we have and often the pilots aren't searching the

skies like they should be and i'm not saying it was a helicopter or an airplane but something to factor in. with this a densely populated area and even with even approaching the runways that night with these it's hard to get the runway lights. and playing a dark winter night and it's very difficult. i want to read this to you colin if he could glean information from it. american airlines 53 e-42 is inbound it was psa flying under the american airlines labeled inbound to reagan national at a about an altitude of 400 feet and speed 140 miles per hour over the potomac river according to data from radio transponder

with the crj-700 jet can be configured to carry around 70 passengers and when you hear that at 400 feet with a helicopter coming up and the dials and warning systems in the world very difficult for a pilot at 400 feet moving multiple miles per hour would it be from some helicopter that was rising into it. and the aircraft obviously has less maneuverability than the helicopter does in the aircraft and the psa airline there it was approaching runway 33 from the southwest over to the northwest and with the banking turn and a

comic eight things as well. with the clear picture of the horizon and with the vision from those windows is obviously a little bit obstructed to sending towards the runway at nighttime. and putting those two together it paints a different picture and we see that and it's really hard to tell where exactly the helicopter hit right from the side as we just didn't have that but you put this together in the audio the air traffic control tower around the time of the crash is that it was asking the helicopter do you have the crj-700 insight which was concerned there and then the american airlines flight 5342

inbound altitude 400 feet speed 440 miles per hour so they are concerned from the tower around whether or not the plane has the helicopter in sight and the vice versa. or if the helicopter has the plane in sight and it is unclear if the plane was contacted or if they had time to contact the plane and say watch out from the side. going a helicopter wrote and looking straight ahead as a helicopter pilot and looking down and looking for a low-level flying aircraft. and usually under the assumption of what's above you in the controlled airspace in close proximity there as the third was coming below you which is very

interesting and with the blind spot below their sort of and it was technology way it is today it is amazing with the bells and whistles we have in both aircraft today and with that crash and with that airline in the large aircraft crash shortly after september 11 freight other than that one crash when i say large mean like a 737. but the regional jets of gotten bigger and bigger and 20 years ago an airplane this size would be similar to what was a dc-9 at the 1970s or 1980s. so people looking and think smaller plane a regional jet you

don't want to be confused as it was so pretty large writ unfolding in excess of 70 passengers. we're talking in instances like this with midair collisions you normally have a lot of fatalities. and if, in fact, there were bodies pulled from the water and survivors they might just be a glimmer of decent news in this horrible situation. normally when that kind of collision goes through my mind would normally expect no survivors. >> trace: kyle if you could standby we have correspondence on the ground and we will get updates from both let's begin with mark meredith who has a major update from the airport. what are you learning mark? >> trace i can see there were three areas set up around the

airport with the search and rescue starting point with two areas across the potomac on the d.c. or maryland side on the runway in the south side of the airport heading towards there with vehicle stationed there before with a rush of them in the last 5 minutes or so heading further into the airfield up against the water with the weight reagan airport is set up. also the new secretary of transportation who i believe leslie is now unseen as well. and with the faa and the tsp we talked about it where they are monitoring what's going on as well as the d.c. mayor who are just now offering prayers and support. from what we saw this is become

the new gathering point of people looking out across the potomac with helicopters above in the last 20 minutes or so an hour ago and 300 feet above the year not necessarily right there skimming the water. instead what we can see is because it's so bright with emergencies out there is the multiple staging points right from the potomac where it's likely they will continue to dispatch resources and from the federal aviation administration that this was a see rj 700 with delta united out from wichita in kansas with the delegation being clear as they are already in town and the senate side were in town making their way out to the crash site trying to figure out what's happening here as the

national transportation board with all the other government agencies having an all-hands-on-deck situation and without much the emergency vehicles are stationed where they're trying to go. and that's up near the potomac coastline itself and it's an indication that looking for anything washed up on shore and the time has passed with wreckage debris and god forbid anybody mayo survived further away from the crash site. with flight and reader applications that allow you to go back in time and where the aircraft was landing near national harbor on the maryland side of town and it looks like as it was coming and there is

aircraft departing dca totally normal as we see them depart every 30 e-45 seconds very busy airport as your guests talked about its own to regional jets because obviously they're able to fly in and out easier and heading towards major hubs like atlanta or miami or their regional subsidiaries heading to the aircraft and were learning how may people might have been on board and it's in the heart of everything and it has height resorts on the buildings and we seen the collision itself i wouldn't be surprised if he saw

these ahead in the days to come with so much focus over local stations and there was a lot of video out there and from the tarmac it seems the aircraft were able to go back to the gates even though it was later in the evening as flights still go out to reagan fairly late until the ten or 11:00 hour and it looks like those stuck on the tarmac already able to return to the gates right now still waiting another update but we can hear the helicopter searching trying to find anybody might have survived the crash. let's go to our senior congressional correspondent. what are you learning. >> la mesa with the statement

from roger marshall and tonight saying we are receiving devastating news of what could be only described as nothing short of a nightmare heading to the nation's capital carrying 60 passengers collided with the military helicopter my prayer is that god wraps his arms as senator more jewel there's marshall's honor out there as we give you an orientation as we are on the south side of the airport this is where the runway comes through heading to the south side and when this is approaching they come from the south to approach and then head to the north. at you the potomac river and then they land on this very short runway notoriously short compared to other runways in the industry as mentioned on the air earlier tonight there's a lot of debate of keeping it open mainly because members of congress

after 9/11. so what happens as they come up and the crash took someplace in this region here that's why you see the rescue units there. around 30 or 40 minutes ago we saw busses escorted out with lights on to the tarmac then to other runways and the reason it was his they were warming busses and it was a major stop they suspended service for as the metro goes up high and tries to interview her with rescue operations from there. looking across the river and it's a refueling station for some of these helicopters which is on the d.c. side of the line in washington, d.c., and the virginia side of the line and looking further in the distance closer to the

washington monument. with the rescue units out there and what happened where the site was and we are hearing some of the radio transmissions and it one point the talk about how it happened very quickly and 60 souls was the language and seeing those helicopters and search and rescue coming across with the big searchlights reflecting off the water. immediately calling for fire boats and waterborne rescue unit in the region heading towards the maryland side there and then to washington, d.c., which are senior congressional producer heading to their and heading down to the republican retreat having meetings with

mike johnson. her flight was diverted to one of the are two reports and to the north and for the local congressman this is from the senators mark warner and that's the and i'm in touch with the officials in my thoughts are with the victims and first responders as they addressed the concerning and tragic incident. tim kaine the democratic senator from virginia says i monitoring the reports of the collision as i am praying for all involved as well as first responders on the scene. this has been mentioned several times as it was the middle of january 1982 when the air florida plane crash short of the 14th street bridge.

it was a snowy day in washington, d.c., so they saw 78 people who died in the tragic plane crash. trace and we should note that the military is now confirming the rest three soldiers and we don't know by the way and if they survived and talk about the airplane having 60 people on board it's an aviation term has nothing to do with whether they are alive or dead at certain plea in aviation term and we are listening to some of the air traffic control recordings what are you hearing? >> i do think he will lead it to it earlier as they are talking to the helicopter crew as i had a call sign as it stands for

priority air transport there with where it's based in flying out of and in an early report handles the secretary defense flight on shoppers. and with p.a.t. 25 is the call sign with the regional jet and heading behind the regional jet and looking at the radar track where it's lined up with what runway 33 on final approach as everything was probably normal

and not trying to assign blame but i am saying that they are asking helicopter and he was instructing at the past behind the jet and it didn't happen and when it happened at the time with the flight 5342 had been cleared to land at 400 feet and the point being this plane the runway appeared to be clear it's

quite common and taking on runway won 43 just couple miles behind them and with this american flight lined up to come in behind them. and then there is this terrible, terrible accident. >> trace: it really is. jon scott standby, you've been invaluable and we appreciate that. the time-stamp is 10:53 eastern in the top right hand of your screen. this crash happened at 9:00 p.m.

it's notable that the water to temperature from reports is 37° and while you've got the doctor here i do think it's a good time to quickly ask him dr. around 37° there is talk that they pulled multiple people out of the water. that was the better part of an hour ago. there's a limit on how far that initial crash even if you survive can you survive in the water. >> 15-20 minutes is generally win the hypothermia is expected to said in at that temperature. these people are in an enclosed aircraft so that cabin might be

warmer than 37° in the cold temperature could actually help them if they are a environment with low oxygen the cold temperature can cause oxygen demand to go down by chilling the body. it might buy them a little bit of time and and could go a couple hundred feet and potentially survive. with the miracle on the hudson with that captain albeit deliberately landing a plane on the hudson river after getting hit and it wasn't a planned it just sent and hit pretty hard but there's a chance at survival. and they pulled the four people out of the water we know their

wares three soldiers on board the black hawk helicopter and on the regional jet and a we haven't gotten exact numbers that we've only been told that for people have been pulled out of the water. thank you. i do want to bring people there and with nasa and crash investigator and going to put the report of what we're hearing and first of all the actual weather at the time of the incident with the visibility 10 miles with windows sustained at 16 miles per hour and the temperature was 50 degrees so much warmer than it has been over the last several days in

d.c. the audio traffic and air traffic controller around the time of the crash i controller is heard to be asking the helicopter p.a.t. meaning priority air transport do you have this the rj insight clearly referencing the passenger aircraft and lastly we should point out they are telling us that 53-42 inbounded to reagan was at 400 feet. speed of around 140 miles per hour when it suffered a rapid loss of output altitude over the potomac according to data from the radio transponder. when you hear that and look at the video. tell me what do you think about this. >> it does appear it was south to the airport landing north which makes sense with the wind and as they are descending it is below 400 feet with the bridge

and after living in dsc for a few years and being at the airport. that aircraft is distending and can approach speeds around 1:30 five, 140 knots. so it does appear that it's not quite clear from the video but what i think has happened is the plane is distending on approach in the black hawk helicopter. as the pilot can't see the aircraft can see it behind the aircraft that's what it appears to me from the black hawk helicopter standpoint so this is an aircraft falling down on the other and ascended and hit the top of the helicopter that's what it looks like to me. >> trace: and it's an important point to make when talking about a black hawk at

copter. yes a joint base bowling on the opposite side of the river from reagan national airport and jon scott pointed out they often go in these blackhawks to refuel and they are back up in the air. when they take off and we are in one for several days when we are looking for survivors during the hurricane in the houston several years ago. and they kind of leaned forward. they are going up and while they are getting an altitude the back of the helicopter comes up. as soon as they leave the base they get a nose down position as they start to rise. is that a fair assessment? >> the aircraft was straight and narrow for a while. flying along the potomac and the aircraft was