A regional American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided over Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night in the nation's first major commercial airline crash since 2009. There are confirmed fatalities from the collision,

Aviation experts have warned for years about near collisions at airports around the US, citing air traffic control shortages and airspace congestion.

The PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 collided in midair as it approached the D.C. airport around 9 p.m. local time, according to the Federal

A jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., sending the two aircraft plummeting into the Potomac River. Everyone on board the two aircraft is feared dead, officials said Thursday.

A grainy snippet of video footage taken in the dark of night, seemingly by an airport CCTV camera, appears to show the fatal mid-air collision of an American Airlines passenger plane and a

D.C. police confirmed a crash had taken place over the Potomac and that search and rescue operations were taking place in the river. Donald Trump later weighed in.

"I walk here every day. I see helicopters going around. I see planes coming in like crazy. I never thought that would happen."

Officials said all 60 passengers aboard the plane, the four flight crew members and three soldiers in the helicopter are dead.

Airlines have issued travel waivers to help passengers whose flights into and out of Washington, D.C., were affected following a deadly midair collision on Wednesday.

"Just the horror that the parents are going through. It just that blows me away. It makes me so sad for the families," said Joanne Kispert, 74, whose father died in the 2001 crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in New York in 2001.

Robert Isom said said airline is focused on passengers, crew members, first responders, families and loved ones.

At least 28 bodies have been recovered after an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington,