An American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on Jan. 29, killing all 64 plane passengers and all three Army soldiers aboard the helicopter.

The jet, American Airlines Flight 5342 en route from Wichita, Kan., was preparing to land at DCA, Washington, D.C.’s main passenger airport six miles from Georgetown University’s campus, when it collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on a routine training mission. The aircrafts subsequently plunged into the Potomac river, launching a massive search-and-rescue and recovery operation.

Kate Halabi (SFS ’27), a Wichita native, said she has taken the same American Airlines direct route to D.C. since it began flying last winter. Halabi said the crash particularly devastated the tight-knit community of Wichita, a city of 396,000 where she said many families can trace their roots back generations.

“All of those different connections are so spread out across this web of people, that there are just such large shock waves across the community that’s grieving a lot. So no one’s untouched by it,” Halabi told The Hoya.

Halabi said she had previously met one of the victims, Kiah Duggins, a civil rights attorney and Wichita native who had presented to her eighth-grade class about attending law school.

Halabi said the impact of the tragedy continued to resonate with her as she reflected on the small proportion of people — including herself and her older sister — who consistently travel between DCA and Wichita.

“It’s so scary because you know that the number of people who are coming probably have a lot in common with you, probably are there back and forth all the time and are probably pretty connected to the community,” Halabi said.

After receiving an alert from social media, Harry Morelli (CAS ’27) watched from his window in Reynolds Hall as over 300 emergency responders rushed to the scene.

“I could see, and also hear, just a flurry of sirens,” Morelli told The Hoya. “And I could see a bunch of blue lights just heading all past the Lincoln Memorial.”

Morelli said he and his roommate, rattled by the crash, immediately turned on the news.

“We just sat there and watched it for 30 minutes, in awe that a huge piece of news was happening not even 20 minutes away from us,” Morelli said. 

Though aircraft collisions remain incredibly rare, passenger jets have barely missed helicopters on at least two instances within the past three years as they have struggled to navigate DCA’s crammed airspace. 

The jet’s passengers included several who were commuting to or from Wichita or the District — including Elizabeth Keys (LAW ’20), a Georgetown University Law Center graduate and Washington, D.C.-based attorney.

Several young figure skaters who competed in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita were also traveling on the plane with their coaches and families.

Amelie Wilson-Bivera (CAS ’27) has skated for 14 years and currently competes for the Washington Figure Skating Club, home to several of the skaters on Flight 5342. Wilson-Bivera said she and her friends frantically contacted them to check in — but were met with silence.

“Everyone was making calls, praying that our friends would pick up and that they weren’t on that flight,” Wilson-Bivera wrote to The Hoya. “But it went straight to voicemail. We will never hear from them again.”

Wilson-Bivera said her initial reaction was shock and denial, before the loss of teammates — who had become like family after countless hours spent competing and training together on the ice — sank in.

“I kept waiting to wake up and realize it was all just a nightmare,” Wilson-Bivera wrote. “At the rink, I’d see the faces of some of the people who were lost. But I’d skate closer, and it was someone else.”

President Donald Trump expressed his condolences about the tragedy and called for a moment of silence in memory of its victims last Thursday. In line with his quest to undo diversity initiatives in the federal government’s hiring processes, Trump then blamed the crash on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) initiatives to promote hiring people with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities spearheaded by former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden – policies his own administration continued.

Yet, as more information surrounding the incident has emerged, including reports of understaffing at DCA’s air traffic control tower and indications that the helicopter may have been flying above its altitude limit, Trump’s claims remain unproven. 

Halabi said she found the debate surrounding Trump’s claims deeply distressing as her community attempts to grapple with the tragedy.

“You wonder whether that’s going to divide the community, instead of what would have been a united community,” Halabi said. “It’s just so frustrating, because there are people in Kansas who are searching for answers about what happened, and all they’re being met with is politicization.”

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the crash and is expected to release a preliminary report offering insight into its causes at the end of the month. Officials reported Tuesday that they have recovered the bodies of all 67 victims and much of the airplane’s wreckage from the Potomac.

Georgetown’s campus is located next to one of the main flight paths in and out of DCA, and the roar of planes as they descend is background noise as students rush about their days.

Halabi said that, since the crash, she cannot help but notice the planes. 

“They circle campus every single day. It’s something you don’t think about. But since the crash, I just get really jarred in a way that I never have before,” she said.

Colleen Schweninger contributed reporting.