An American Airlines plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter outside Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. Wednesday evening. Three soldiers were onboard the helicopter and a massive search and rescue operation is now unfolding in the Potomac River.

A preliminary safety report from the Federal Aviation Administration reportedly found that air traffic control staffing was abnormally low at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 29, according to The New York Times, which obtained a copy of the report.

The plan to add five incoming and five outgoing flights was included in the bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act last year.

DCA is one of the most demanding airports in the world. It also has what’s known as ‘helicopter alley’ with hundreds of police, military, news and rescue helicopters criss-crossing

An airplane collided with a helicopter while trying to land at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night, officials said.

An Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair with an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday.

Political leaders had warned about the dangers of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C. months before an American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on its approach to the airport.

A jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided Wednesday with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.

An NTSB-led investigation is in full swing to identify factors that led to the Jan. 29 midair collision between an American Eagle Bombardier CRJ-700 operated by PSA Airlines on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter.

Two “black boxes” have been recovered from the American Airlines regional jet following its deadly collision with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday evening, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Air crash investigations can take months, and federal investigators told reporters they would not speculate on the cause.