Brian Swint, George Glover, and Joe Light

Audio transmissions capture the moment air-traffic controllers warned an Army helicopter that it was on course to collide with an American Airlines Group regional jet midair near Washington, D.C., Wednesday evening.

"PAT25, do you have the CRJ in sight?" an air-traffic controller asked the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, requesting it keep a lookout for an American Airlines Bombardier jet. "PAT25, pass behind the CRJ," he added, using aviation shorthand to refer to a Canadair Regional Jet.

Seconds later, someone can be heard yelling "Oh my," before a voice asks: "Tower, did you see that?"

The audio transmissions were obtained by multiple outlets and reviewed by Barron's.

President Donald Trump in a news conference on Thursday named Christopher Rocheleau, a longtime FAA official who recently return to the agency from a business association, as the acting leader of the Federal Aviation Administration. Trump in his remarks seemed to tie the accident to purported pushes to increase diversity among air traffic controllers and allow people to take the job who had disabilities. Trump said the accident was avoidable and that the government would investigate who bore responsibility.

"You had a confluence of bad decisions that were made and you have people that lost their lives, violently lost their lives," Trump said.

The FAA said it was investigating the incident, which involved a regional jet manufactured by Bombardier and operated by PSA Airlines, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines. It collided with a military Sikorsky H-60 as the flight, which was coming from Wichita, Kan., approached the runway at Reagan National Airport. The type of helicopter involved in the crash is manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft, owned since 2015 by defense and military company Lockheed Martin.

Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River. No survivors are expected to be found. Rescue crews recovered 27 bodies from the plane and one from the helicopter, Washington fire and EMS chief John Donnelly told a press conference.

Reagan National Airport was closed early Thursday. It said in a post on X that it wasn't expecting flights to resume until at least 11 a.m. Eastern time. More than 500 flights into or out of Reagan Airport were canceled, according to data from FlightAware.

The crash may have implications for markets, though that appeared to be contained. Shares of American Airlines fell 1.6% in early trading. Shares of Delta Air Lines and United Airlines also fell, although Southwest Airlines stock was rising after the carrier reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

There were 64 people on board the flight, and three people on the helicopter. Among the jet passengers were figure skaters, their coaches, and relatives who were returning from a training camp, The Wall Street Journal reported.

It's the first time in nearly 12 years there has been a fatal air crash on U.S. soil. The most recent was in July 2013, when three passengers were killed when a Boeing 777 operated by South Korea's Asiana Airlines crash landed in San Francisco.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom posted a video saying he was heading to Washington as the company and authorities investigate the accident, and that the airline is working to help passengers and their families.

Last week, President Donald Trump fired all members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which was set up in the aftermath of the 1988 Lockerbie Bombing to advise the Transportation Security Administration on airline and airport safety.

The former head of the FAA, Mike Whitaker, resigned the day Trump was inaugurated. Trump ally Elon Musk had called for Whitaker to quit in September, over issues surrounding the regulator's approach to SpaceX.

Write to Brian Swint at brian.swint@barrons.com and George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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January 30, 2025 14:29 ET (19:29 GMT)

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