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CNN's Breaking News Coverage on the Midair Collision Between a Passenger Plane and a Black Hawk Helicopter. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 30, 2025 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is CNN Breaking News.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers joining us from here in the United States and all around the world. You're watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm Omar Jimenez and we're following the breaking news.

The mid-air collision in the U.S. Capitol that we're told has resulted in fatalities. No death toll has been released though at this point and authorities have yet to reveal whether anyone survived.

What we do know is at least 67 people were on board the two aircraft that collided in total. Most of them were on an American Airlines passenger plane flying from Wichita, Kansas to Washington, D.C. and three military personnel were traveling in the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.

Now it's too soon to know what caused the collision but according to air traffic control audio the chopper pilot reported that he had the plane in sight shortly before the collision. 13 seconds later gasps were heard on the recording.

Meanwhile a frantic search has been underway for hours for any survivors. These are some of the clearest pictures we've seen of some of those search and rescue efforts in the icy depths of the Potomac River where rescue efforts still underway. So far this mission though has yet to be formally changed from rescue to recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JOHN DONNELLY, WASHINGTON D.C. FIRE AND EMS: So 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: A camera captured the moment of the collision. The American Airlines flight is the large highlighted dot in the center of the screen. The smaller helicopter comes from the left and then you see the moment of impact that fireball erupting in the sky.

I want to bring in Gabe Cohen who joins us from Washington. And Gabe, I mean look, we are past now six hours from the moment of impact at this point and those search and rescue efforts are still ongoing. But what is your sense talking to officials about how the search has been going to this point and what they have found or maybe haven't found?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well look officials briefed the media a couple hours ago Omar, and they were quite somber in their tone. They did not specifically say if there had been any survivors pulled out.

They did not specifically say there were fatalities but I have spoken with a law enforcement source who is at the scene who said that the mood there is just as somber because it has become more clear that this at some point will shift from a search and rescue operation to a recovery effort as I mean look the images the videos that we've shown they really speak for themselves.

The collision video that you showed early on I was speaking to my sources who were on the ground as the investigation was getting underway who said look this really doesn't look good.

And as the night has gone on as it has turned to morning the situation has grown more grim, more grave. And my sources who are at the scene have said at this point it would take a miracle because they haven't been able to pull anybody out.

And as you mentioned the fire chief saying there that the conditions that first responders are dealing with are brutal, it is icy cold in that water it is windy it is choppy. And so at this point we will see as morning comes if the posture of this operation changes at all.

And look we also heard about the emotional side of things. We heard from a Kansas Senator Jerry Moran who spoke about that flight from Wichita to D.C. there's only one direct to DCA from the city of Wichita Kansas every day.

He said he's flown that flight many times. He's been on that plane and that community in Wichita is going to be hit really hard by this. He said he'll likely know some of the victims or their families.

And so a lot of people are going to be touched by this what will likely be the deadliest disaster here in Washington in decades. And the investigation is just underway, the NTSB is going to lead that and there are going to be a lot of questions about how this happened.

What the FAA controller situation was all of those questions though officials have said need to wait because there is this search and rescue operation still happening and they are putting life above all else.

[03:05:07]

That was the answer from the police chief when I asked how they have to balance those things between a rescue operation and preserving a scene for an incoming investigation. And he said look, this -- the search and rescue comes first, they will prioritize people's lives and then everything should be where it needs to be for the investigation for investigators to come in and do their work.

JIMENEZ: And as you've been talking we've been showing live pictures of the scene out on those frigid waters as investigators are still working through what we have heard to this point to still be a search and rescue operation but obviously as time goes on the prospects look more and more grim.

Gabe Cohen, I really appreciate the reporting thanks for being here.

COHEN: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: I want to bring in Richard Quest now, CNN airline and aviation correspondent. He is with us if I believe he is with us from London right now. And Richard I know you've covered the aviation industry for a while and you know we're going to come back to Richard.

So Richard, looking at what we know based out of this scene right now, you've covered aviation for a while what are your first impressions outside of, of course, waiting to see if there is any life that that emerges from those frigid waters?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION AND AIRLINE CORRESPONDENT: Yes of course, it does remind one of the -- of the last crash the Florida plane crash in the waters of the Potomac, it'll be very difficult for anyone to have survived not only the impact, but also the frigid temperatures of the water.

When you look at this, it is particularly straightforward, but at the same time extremely distressing because you have the small commuter plane on its final approach, and quite late on it's told to change its runway from runway one to runway 33. And then the helicopter comes in from the side and strikes the aircraft.

Now what we don't know is what instructions the helicopter previously had been given. You see, if you listen to the air traffic control, it's clear that the helicopter had seen the plane; they specifically say we have it in sight.

They're asked, they're told we have it in sight and the aircraft continues and then you have the collision. So somewhere in those air traffic control instructions somewhere between what the plane was being told to do and what the helicopter was being told to do, there was a confusion probably it seems by the helicopter side but we don't -- we just don't know at this point that eventually led to the crash.

As I say at the moment, one or other of those two aircraft did something they were not supposed to do when we're in the position or were confused about where they were supposed to be. But this is highly dense airspace at the best of time -- (TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES)

JIMENEZ: And it is very dense airspace, I believe we might have lost Richard Quest signal. But of course when you look at the airspace that is typically over Washington D.C. you of course have commercial airlines, you have military helicopters like in this case.

But you also have local police helicopters. You, at times, have news helicopters. You have, of course, if the President is being transported, you have Marine One flying over the city. So one of the more dense and complicated airspaces that we have in the United States despite the size of Washington D.C. overall.

I want to bring in aviation industry expert and analyst Geoffrey Thomas who joins us live this hour from Perth, Australia.

I want to pick up a little bit on where Richard Quest left off in regards to just when you have an airspace. So complicated obviously the communications between air traffic control and various aircraft coming in has to be so intricate. What are the factors that make that job more difficult when you have an airspace like that?

GEOFFREY THOMAS, AVIATION ANALYST: Well, that's an interesting question because picking up from what Richard was saying about the change of runway, you know, I think the confusion element does creep in here.

I mean the instruction given to the CRJ the American Airline American Eagle flight changing runway to from the straight in runway to the cross runway did air traffic control possibly then not alert the helicopter to that change of runway.

[03:10:05]

I mean the helicopter pilot possibly and this is obviously conjecture had heard the communication that this aircraft was coming in. They thought okay they're coming in on a certain runway and there's a change of runway.

There could be some confusion there, but the other dynamic here that possibly hasn't been explored is that the helicopter changed course about six times before from takeoff before it impacted on the CRJ.

So there may be some dynamic in there that we don't obviously yet understand but may be a factor. But the United States is the masters, you are the masters, of complicated airspace. I mean you've got two or three airports in the Washington D.C. area. You've got three airports in the New York area, three major airports let alone the small airports.

In Los Angeles, you've got five major airports as you know as well as Los Angeles. You've got Burbank, you've got you know, you've got Long Beach, you know and it goes on and on. So the system in America is very finely tuned and works very well, not to say that air traffic control is not under pressure. But they do an amazing job and it's a very well-orchestrated system

that you have in the United States and you lead the world in that space.

JIMENEZ: And you know, even with a well-orchestrated system and you know we have seen crashes like this in the past though they are rare, I should note, but every time there is a crash there of course is an evaluation period and then potential moments for improvement and, you know, obviously moments to make sure that something like the nature of a crash does not happen again.

When you look at the nature of this crash where you have a helicopter colliding with what appears to be potentially the rear or towards the rear of this plane at the time of night that it was, are there any elements with which you're most concerned with if you're an investigator or sort of where you would want to start as an investigator?

THOMAS: Well all the commercial aircraft, over 10 passengers are fitted with a system called TCAS which is Traffic Collision Avoidance System that was mandated by the FAA in 1993 and it started it resulted from a tragic crash over the Grand Canyon in 1957 when a United DC7 collided with the Trans World Airways Constellation. And further impetus was followed from a crash of a Boeing 727 PSA with a Cessna 172 over San Diego with a terrible loss of life.

So 1993 we've got this system called TCAS, and what that does for viewers, it takes the signal which is issued by an aircraft called the ADS-B, the signal that air traffic control picks up and it interprets it and it analyzes it and says we're going to crash with this airplane.

So it gives the pilots an alert, I'm being very simplistic here, it gives the pilots an alert and says traffic. Now if no action is taken and a crash is going to happen, it then tells the pilot to climb and tells the other pilot to descend.

Now the CRJ we know has that system, the Black Hawk we understand should have that system, was it turned on? Was the Black Hawk transmitting its ADS-B signal? That's where, I think, investigators will be looking because TCAS should have prevented this accident happening.

JIMENEZ: It'll be an interesting aspect to look into of course we're far from that right now. But obviously, a lot of questions for those watching from the outside on how this could have happened and then at the central point of this a lot of families trying to at this point really hope for a that their loved ones are -- will be pulled out of frigid waters what is now hours after the point of impact.

Geoffrey Thomas, I really appreciate your time and perspective. Thanks for being here.

THOMAS: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: And we just have this update newly into CNN, U.S. Figure Skating is confirming several members of its skating community were on board American Airlines flight 5342. The group says athletes, coaches and families were returning from the national development camp in Wichita, Kansas.

[03:15:04]

A statement says "we are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts."

I want to bring in Tony Stanton, he's a pilot, a flight examiner and a consultant director for Strategic Air. He joins me now from Brisbane, Australia. Thank you for being here.

Look, there's no real good way to get into this here. But I want to start with, based on the flight path that we've seen the video that I'm sure you've seen at this point. What are your first impressions of what we know to this point?

TONY STANTON, PILOT, FLIGHT EXAMINER, AND CONSULTANT DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC AIR: Yes. Thank you Oman. Firstly, my condolences to those impacted by this tragedy. Look, I think it's very clear looking at the flight paths of the aircraft and the radio transmissions that the Black Hawk was asked, in fact, asked themselves to maintain visual separation from flight 5342 for some reason.

And we don't know that reason, for some reason they did not do that despite telling the tower that they did have the aircraft sighted on multiple occasions. And just listening to the interview prior to mine, that's one of the areas that I would be interested in examining as an investigator is what was it that caused the Black Hawk crew not to comply with the clearance that they were provided.

Was it that they cited something that they thought was this aircraft and were mistaken? Was it that they lost sight of the aircraft? Was that they were distracted?

But what's certainly clear from the transmissions with the tower is that they were provided, they did advise that they had the aircraft in sight and they were asked to maintain their own visual separation of the aircraft.

JIMENEZ: And I guess along those lines, look, there are a number of elements of often complicated elements happening at the same time obviously air traffic control is trying to coordinate a number of different planes and other flying apparatuses coming in and out of the airspace at the same time. What when you look at, I guess really my question is, can you can you just explain sort of the communication, sort of, framework of what would have been going on at the time of this crash? Who is talking to who what sort of communications would be being relayed at that time?

STANTON: Sure. Washington tower actually has two radio frequencies in which it talks to airborne aircraft which is a little unusual but it goes to reflect the complexity and the density of the airspace the fact that that tower actually needs two frequencies to talk to airborne aircraft. One frequency is for rotorcraft helicopters and one frequency is for

other aircraft. So in this circumstance you would have had the Black Hawk talking to the tower on one frequency and you would have had flight 5342 talking to the tower on another frequency.

And as I say that goes to show the density of the airspace that they need two controllers to do this, but what that sets up is a barrier of situational awareness between the two pilots it relies on one pilot being given an instruction that is separate yourself from the other aircraft and the tower.

But routinely, you would see and hear as you're flying into a controlled aerodrome, you would be on the same frequency as other aircraft traffic in your local environment. So you have that situational awareness as to what's going on immediately around you, in this case that didn't happen.

JIMENEZ: Yes look, a lot of questions will likely arise when we get to the main investigation of this. But as we mentioned before we started this, there are a lot of people still waiting to, I should say, really hoping for a miracle at this point that their family members are among those that might be pulled from those waters. But of course as the time goes on those chances get grimmer and grimmer.

Tony Stanton, I really appreciate you being here. Thanks for the time and perspective.

STANTON: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: Of course. All right everyone we're going to take a quick break.

But when we come back, we're going to have the latest on our breaking news: the collision between a passenger plane and a military helicopter in the U.S. capital. Stay with us.

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[03:20:00]

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JIMENEZ: Returning now to our breaking news, the collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter in the U.S. capital a massive search and rescue effort is underway.

Right now these are live pictures involving hundreds of emergency personnel on the frigid waters of the Potomac River. 64 people were on board American Airlines flight 5342 and a crew of three was in the U.S. Army helicopter.

Rescuers haven't pulled any survivors from the water to this point. A source tells CNN there are confirmed fatalities and we've obtained air traffic control audio capturing the moment before, during, and after the crash. Now in this segment the tower alerts fire command about what just happened. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Fire command. The accident happened in the river. Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river. It was probably out in the middle of the river.

[03:25:00]

I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone, so I haven't seen anything since they hit the river but it was a CRJ and a helicopter that hit

(END AUDIO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: I mean you can hear them relaying official information, but also trying to process what they had seen in the moment. And some of the first images of the wreckage that we're seeing now in the river may actually help explain how this disaster happened. Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Omar. These are the first pictures that we receive from the scene out there. And you can see the airport in the background here and this is some portion of the plane we don't really know which portion obviously part of the fuselage obviously and a wing out here.

It appears to be upright based on the tilt of the wing out here, this is a similar plane and you can see that sort of feature on the wing so that would suggest that at least this portion of the plane in this crash image is upright. But you can also see the incredibly violent impact up front here.

This plane coming into land would be going somewhere around 150 miles per hour even if it lost half that amount of speed on the way to the water after the initial impact. It would still be hitting right at the top limit at which a human being can withstand impact with water in general, so a tremendous amount of force here.

Those are the images we have of the plane so far, the helicopter you see in this picture over here on this side it does appear to be upside down. I say that because if you look at an image of a Black Hawk helicopter you can see the tires here, you can see the main section that has the crew and sort of a payload section, and then back here you see that little railing and another tire there and these fins back here.

If you look at that image you can see, here's that railing, here's the fin, here are the tires and sort of torn right behind that crew/payload area back there. So we don't know how close this is to the airplane. We believe fairly close the water in this area.

We're told is only about eight feet deep so this is the impact of all of this. What we do know at this point is that if this plane was indeed traveling 150 miles an hour and turned this way, from the time it turned right here toward that runway they may have only had about four seconds even if they had seen the helicopter to have any kind of a reaction to it.

But what's going to happen now is investigators because this is what they always end up doing, they're going to remove all of these pieces one at a time and they will transport them to some sort of big hangar space somewhere where they can lay them all out and then have a clear assessment.

Beyond the human tragedy of this moment a clear assessment of the physics, how did these aircraft come together, what part hit first, how did they fail, how did they strike the water?

Important information in figuring out how this accident happened. Omar?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Thank you, Tom.

We now have reaction to the mid-air collision from the new U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In a social media post a short time ago, he called the incident absolutely tragic and offered prayers to everyone affected. He also said the Pentagon and the U.S. Army have launched an investigation into the collision.

I want to bring in Jason Pack, he's a former FBI special agent he joins us from Knoxville, Tennessee. Thank you for being here.

You know, I just want to start with. Can you just give us a sense of the multi-agency response that is going on here and how much it actually takes to try and get a handle of what, I think, is clearly a very sprawling scene here?

JASON PACK, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT; Omar, good morning. This is a multi-faceted operation on a lot of fronts. The National Capital Region is no stranger to conducting exercises together, training together, and unfortunately when we have incidents like this, the National Capital area comes together and they have tons of resources.

So whether that's Military, Coast Guard, you got D.C. Fire and EMS, you saw the Fairfax County Fire Rescue boats, the Police, the Park Service, you could just go on and on. Probably every agency around there have resources that have deployed.

The NTSB obviously leading the investigation into this. Some people may or may not know the FBI's laboratory division, the evidence response team unit have a memorandum of understanding with the NTSB.

They'll probably be up there to kind of help with the recovery efforts of some of the fuselage later on in the day as the sun rises and we get first light and a first look on the Potomac of just exactly what they're facing out there tonight.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And look we are past or approaching, I should say, seven hours since the moment of impact and look these are frigid waters. We haven't gotten any reports of survivors to this point, the chances looking more grim by the minute really at this point. But hours into a scene like this, there are a few things, obviously, it seems you would prioritize trying to find any signs of human life. There's also the beginnings of potential investigative steps as well.

[03:30:17]

But where would officials be hours in at this point in a search and rescue operation like this?

PACK: So they set up a unified command, obviously, with the heads of all the agencies, the decision makers in one room there. They're planning the mission for tomorrow or the coming hours to see exactly what the priorities are.

The first priority will be getting those voice recorder boxes, the black boxes out of both aircraft, and then taking a look at those. Then you'll want to pull the data from the air traffic control, the radar data, and then you'll finally want to just take a look at any other conditions that would be relevant, like the debris field, planning for doing that.

You're going to have to bring some barges and some cranes in to get those larger pieces of debris. I think some of your photo journals have captured some video and images of some of the smaller pieces of the fuselage being, they're bringing those to the shore and kind of setting them out, documenting those, and they'll probably wind up taking them to a hangar.

I know in past aviation, commercial aviation accidents in the United States, they've brought the pieces back, kind of reassembled them, and then try to put the pieces of the story together, both with the physical evidence from the aircraft and also from the data that they're recovering from the black boxes and other sources.

JIMENEZ: Yes, and look, the investigative side is one thing. To state the obvious, there are a lot of families also trying to wait and see if there are any news of their loved ones coming out of these waters here. Again, we have not seen that, sadly, to this point.

But I want to ask about another aspect of what the FBI does in a situation like this is they have dedicated victim services unit that responds to a lot of mass casualty events. I imagine this would fall into that as well.

Can you just speak to what types of services are available after a situation like this? What interfacing with families is like and how you're able to, I guess, as an FBI or other entity, try to offer whatever form of comfort you can in maybe a truly inconsolable situation?

PACK: Right, Omar. Actually, the airlines have their own teams too. There's a playbook for this that each airlines have, part of their crisis plan.

And I'm sure American has implemented that and they're doing everything they can for the families, for the victims, and for those who are affected by this.

They've said the 800-number they've set up. And so they're actively working to provide as much information from a crisis communication standpoint.

We saw that press conference a few hours ago now. They came out. We've had really quite a bit of information about what happened. We talk about the Florida Air flight 33 years ago or so.

It was often way more hours or days before we got any type of information at all. So now we're getting more information. They want to be measured though, because you want to make sure that you notify family members, at least their family members may be involved in this.

And then as you know more and you confirm the facts, you can offer them the counseling, the resources, clergy, friends and family, whatever they may need to get through this tragedy.

And so certainly our hearts go out to them. And if you're praying folks, you need to say an extra word for the men and women, the first responders out there in the icy Potomac tonight. It's not like diving in Aruba.

You can't see your hand in front of your face. It's murky out there. There's ice in the Potomac. And so when the sun comes up, you're going to see probably debris downstream toward Mount Vernon there, because I think debris can move with the currents there in the Potomac a few couple of miles every hour.

And so as the hours pass, if they don't have the debris field contained, then there may be some that Washington are going to have to plan to recover all that.

So you'll see in the morning, these multifaceted operations where you have the airline and the company's doing that for the family, the NTSB kind of working with both the private sector and the airlines there, and also with the government agencies to, kind of, try to start to piece together what happened.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Jason Pack, I really appreciate you being here. Thanks for the time and perspective.

PACK: Thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Our coverage of the deadly midair collision in Washington continues. We're going to have the latest on what we know, including audio from air traffic control right after a short break. Stay with us.

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[03:35:00]

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JIMENEZ: Welcome back, everyone. We're following breaking news coverage of the plane and helicopter collision near Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. A law enforcement source tells CNN authorities have confirmed fatalities.

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing several hours after the crash by the hundreds of first responders out there. Now, so far, they haven't yet recovered any survivors from the frigid waters of the Potomac River.

Audio obtained by CNN captures the moment the air traffic control operators asked the helicopter crew if they can see the passenger plane.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: PAT 2-5 do you have the CRJ in sight? PAT 2-5 pass behind the CRJ.

UNKNOWN: CRJ, what's up?

UNKNOWN: I don't know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approaching the 3-3.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

[03:40:06]

JIMENEZ: Now, officials say there were 64 people on board the plane and three soldiers in the Army helicopter. The CEO of American Airlines says he'll be heading to Washington, D.C. to assess the collision and support families of those who were on the plane.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT ISOM, CEO, AMERICAN AIRLINES: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And we know there are so many right now trying to either get in touch with loved ones, potentially hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

One man, whose wife was on the American Airlines plane, told CNN's local affiliate, WUSA, that he got a text message from her just before the plane was supposed to land.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMAAD RAZA, WIFE WAS ON PLANE THAT CRASHED: I'm just praying that somebody's pulling her out of the river right now as we speak. That's all I can pray for, I'm just praying to God.

REPORTER: When was the last time you spoke with her? RAZA: She texted me that they were landing in 20 minutes.

REPORTER: Can you show us a text message that you got from her?

RAZA: Landing in 20 minutes. The rest of my text did not get delivered. That's when I realized something might be up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And that is the reality here. Friends and family in a grim limbo right now.

I want to bring in Gabe Cohen, who's standing by in Washington for us. Gabe, I know you were at Reagan National Airport a little bit earlier in the evening, in the hours past.

What was the mood at the airport there? I know you were speaking to officials as well. And what is the latest on the search and rescue efforts that have been ongoing for hours at this point?

COHEN: Yes, well, Omar, definitely an extremely somber mood among those at the airport, the officials who were there, as well as the folks who are part of this search and rescue operation.

The sources that I've spoken with who were actually on the ground there, who it set in pretty quickly what they were dealing with on the Potomac on this cold night in the nation's capital. I do want to say about that clip you just played, it speaks to the grief and the pain that so many families are feeling right now.

We know that family members came to the airport tonight to pick up their loved ones who they were expecting to arrive. And we heard from officials at that press conference at the airport saying that many of those family members ended up in an airport lounge where they set up a center where they could get information, where they could talk to counselors who could help them start to get through this, help them at least stay informed and begin to deal with what they're facing right now.

In terms of the search and rescue operation, look, we've heard about the brutal conditions on the water, those icy, choppy, windy conditions that the divers are dealing with, but even beyond that, the wreckage site is hard to wrap your head around.

The airplane itself is broken up into several pieces. The helicopter, which is nearby in the water, is upside down. It was bobbing up and down in the choppy water, that seven, eight-foot choppy water earlier tonight, which was just making things dangerous, unstable for the divers who were in the water.

And having spoken to a couple law enforcement sources who are on the ground there, they said that things really set in when those first images came back from the rescuers who initially got out there on the Potomac, the people on the boat, the divers in the water, and they could see what they described as stunning images that showed that the plane was broken into pieces. It was hard to distinguish one piece from another.

They really didn't know what they were looking at, and at that point, I think it became clear that they really needed a miracle to pull anyone out of the Potomac tonight. We know at this point, no survivors have been pulled out of the water. I'm told by a law enforcement source that at least 19 bodies have been pulled out, although that number is fluid.

This is an active scene at the moment, but I imagine we are going to see a lot more when the sun comes up in the morning and we get sort of a full-scale view of the wreckage site, because what we are hearing from the people on the ground is just a grim and devastating description of what they are seeing tonight on the water in the nation's capital.

We are expecting this. Officials are expecting this to be the deadliest disaster in Washington in decades, and at this point, they are just looking for answers. The NTSB launching an investigation. So much of, though, can only get underway as this search and rescue operation is still unfolding.

[03:45:00]

JIMENEZ: And here we are coming up on seven hours since the moment of collision, and as you just mentioned, no reports of survivors that we have seen to this point, and as officials still call this a search and rescue operation, though that may change in the hours to come.

Gabe Cohen, I really appreciate the reporting.

I want to bring in Chad Kendall, he's an associate professor in Federal Aviation Administration chief instructor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, Colorado. Thank you for being here.

Look, as I was just talking about with Gabe, this is likely a sprawling scene. This is likely a scene that we'll get a little bit more insight to when we have daylight to work with, but nonetheless, based on the video that we have to this point, the flight path, what are your first impressions of this really awful collision here?

CHAD KENDALL, FAA CHIEF INSTRUCTOR, METROPOLITAN STATE UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having me. As a former --

(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES)

JIMENEZ: And we may have lost Chad's audio there.

But obviously when you look at this scene, there are hundreds still out on these frigid waters of the Potomac right now. These are live pictures that we're bringing in to this point. And again, as we were just talking about with Gabe Cohen, we have not gotten any reports of survivors to this point.

And we are coming up on almost to the minute, seven hours since this collision. The temperatures on this water, freezing temperatures at this point, where even just exposure for a matter of minutes could affect physical abilities, but also further than that can lead to more serious conditions like hypothermia and otherwise.

I want to bring him back in, Chad Kendall. I believe we have his signal back. And Chad, just before we lost you there, you were just going to give your first impressions on this collision based on what we know so far from cell phone video and from the flight path.

KENDALL: Yes, as a former airline pilot, I've flown this airplane, I've flown into Washington Reagan hundreds of times, landed on this runway, and Washington Reagan is a very dynamic airport. There's special use airspace.

Pilots are very busy. Controllers are very busy. It is not uncommon for an aircraft to be cleared to land on runway 33.

Air traffic control may request that for a pilot to provide separation for an airplane to depart northbound and then have a little more room to get an airplane in on to runway 33. Sometimes pilots request to land on runway 33 because it takes them closer to where they're parking. So the track is not uncommon for what we see for the commercial aircraft going into runway 33.

What we've heard from air traffic control is that air traffic control recognized that there was vectors between the pilot and the commercial aircraft and the helicopter that were going to conflict. And we're dealing with visual conditions at this point. We hear the controller ask the helicopter pilot if they have the jet in sight landing at Washington Reagan.

Now, we don't hear the pilot's response, the helicopter pilot's response, because the helicopter pilot as a military aircraft is operating on a different frequency band than the commercial aircraft. Helicopter pilots use UHF, ultra high frequency channel codes. The commercial aircraft is using VHF, very high frequency, to talk to air traffic control.

And so as a pilot, there's some times where you hear the controller give a clearance or ask --

(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES)

JIMENEZ: And Chad, that's been Chad Kendall speaking. We may have just lost his signal again.

But again, as he was speaking to it, it's a very complicated airspace in Washington, D.C., one that he's flown into many times, but very intricate operations going on between air traffic control and obviously the many planes, helicopters in some cases, flying either into D.C. Reagan National Airport or at least through the airspace.

But thank you, Chad, for being with us and your time and insight.

For everyone else, we'll have more on this breaking news coverage, but for now, we'll be right back.

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[03:50:00]

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JIMENEZ: Welcome back, everyone. While we follow the breaking news of the plane crash out of Washington, D.C., we are also following breaking news that we want to bring you out of Gaza, where the release of more hostages is underway.

The first to be freed is 20-year-old Agam Berger. The Israeli soldier was captured at a military base during the October 7th attacks. Also, 80-year-old Gadi Moses and 29-year-old Arbel Yehud are also expected to be released today as well. They were taken hostage at the Nir Oz Kibbutz.

Now, five Thai nationals are also expected to be freed as well. Meanwhile, Israel will release 110 Palestinian prisoners in the coming hours. This, of course, is part of the hostage and ceasefire deal agreed to by Israel and Hamas earlier this month.

Four female Israeli soldiers were released on Saturday. Phase one of this plan, which is what we're in right now, calls for the release of 33 hostages held in Gaza and nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. So we'll continue to monitor that situation.

[03:55:05]

But we also want to get you up to speed with the latest on the midair collision outside of Washington. A new video appears to show the moment of impact with two aircraft ramming into each other. You see the moment of explosion there, the moment of collision with that orange fireball going up into the night sky.

The American Airlines passenger jet and a military Black Hawk helicopter then crashed into the Potomac River. A search and rescue effort is underway, but sources say the prospects are getting more grim. They say some fatalities have been confirmed, but no survivors so far.

The civilian jet had 64 people on board, while three service members were in the helicopter, which was on a training mission.

That wraps up this hour of "CNN Newsroom." We're going to have more on the breaking news. I'm Omar Jimenez, in New York. More coverage ahead.

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