Federal authorities are asking questions as to how the collision between an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter could have occurred.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said they have launched an investigation into the cause of the crash.

The president at points acknowledged that it was too soon to draw conclusions as he encouraged the nation to pray for the victims. But he moved nonetheless to assign blame.

An American Airlines flight crashed into a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter over the Potomac River as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

There was a mid-air collision between a commercial airliner and a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter Wednesday night over the Capital Region. “The FAA and NTSB will investigate,” the statement added.

We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital.

WASHINGTON — More than a dozen bodies have been pulled from the Potomac River after a plane collided with a military helicopter in midair and crashed into the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on Wednesday night.

A plane collided in midair with a helicopter approaching Reagan Washington National Airport, near the Potomac River, Wednesday night, officials set. A rescue operation was underway, officials said. Multiple 911 callers reported the crash near the river just before 8:55 p.

Wednesday’s fatal collision and two other incidents dramatically illustrate the challenges pilots and air traffic controllers face in the complex, security-sensitive skies above the nation’s capital.

At least one aircraft crashed Wednesday evening over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan International Airport outside Washington, D.C., officials said, grounding all flights at the airport. The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department reported in a social media post that a small aircraft crashed in the Potomac River in the "vicinity" of the airport.

No survivors found in crash between Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines jet over Potomac River near DC