There were eight minutes to prevent one of the worst air disasters in US history that saw a US Army helicopter collide with an American Airlines plane carrying 64 people and splitting it in half.
An invisible countdown began at 8.40pm local time – the moment that the military Black Hawk aircraft lifted off.
What followed was a fireball 400 metres in the sky above the icy Potomac River in Washington DC.
The American Airlines Flight 5342 had taken off from Wichita, heading for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, just outside the city.
As the passenger plane began approaching the airport from the south, the helicopter was recorded moving from the north.
Responders have worked overnight to pull as many bodies out of the river (Picture: Getty)
Audio from LiveATC.net captured the final communications between the three crew members of the helicopter – call sign PAT25 – before it collided with the CRJ700 Bombardier jet.
‘PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,’ an air traffic controller said at 8.47pm, just 30 seconds before the crash.
Seconds later, another aircraft called in to air traffic control, saying, ‘Tower, did you see that?.’ apparently referring to the crash.
An air traffic controller then redirected planes heading to runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport to go around.
The explosion in midair occurred over the Potomac River, just a few miles from the White House.
Timeline of plane crash with US Army Black Hawk
Here is a timeline of the incident (in local time):
5.18pm – American Airlines Flight 5342 takes off from Wichita, bound for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
8.40pm – US Army UH-60 helicopter takes off. The aircraft is based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia
8.46 – 8.47pm – 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asks the helicopter if it has the arriving plane in sight: ‘PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight?’
8.46 – 8.47pm – The controller makes another radio call to PAT25 moments later: ‘PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ’
8.47pm – The two aircraft collide seconds later
8.48pm – An alert is sounded in Washington, sparking a large search and rescue response
8.58pm – First emergency unit arrives at the scene
12.58am – US officials confirm 300 responders are involved in the operation
One of the air traffic controllers can be heard saying in the audio from around the time of the crash: ‘Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three.’
‘I don’t know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach into 33,’ another controller announced.
‘We’re going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future.’
‘Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river,’ a third air traffic controller can be heard saying.
‘It was probably out in the middle of the river,’ they continued. ‘I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone.
‘I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river. But it was a CRJ and a helicopter that hit.’
The crash was caught on a webcam at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
The clip shows the aircraft exploding in flames and plummeting to earth after it was struck by the helicopter.
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