Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called for the “highest possible standards” when selecting pilots and air traffic controllers following Wednesday’s deadly plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon and the US Army have launched an investigation into the catastrophic midair collision between a commercial jet and a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night.

Divers are expected to return to the Potomac River as part of the recovery and investigation after the United States’ deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.

In the three years before the deadly collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight near Reagan National Airport, at least two other pilots reported near-misses with helicopters while landing at the airport,

WASHINGTON—Several members of Congress have asked the Pentagon to maintain a "continued operational pause" of helicopter training around from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following the deadly crash Wednesday night between the UH-60 Black Hawk and a commercial jet.

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 night. A D.C. fire official said Thursday that “we don't think there are any survivors from this accident" and "we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.

The crash around 9 p.m. threw one of the world's most tightly controlled airspaces into chaos, 3 miles south of the White House and U.S. Capitol. Officials were probing the cause Friday as they searched the river.

A regional jet carrying 64 people collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter as the plane was approaching a runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night.

By Emily Steel and Sydney Ember Before the deadly plane crash on Wednesday night near Ronald Reagan National Airport, there were at least 10 close calls at the Washington airport in the last three years that were documented in government records reviewed ...

Investigators are seeking clues into this week's deadly midair collision this week, the deadliest aviation disaster in the U.S. almost a quarter century.

National will always be essential but safety demands that air traffic be spread across the region.