• A Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight during training.
• The Black Hawk, a versatile military aircraft, is used for various operations.
• The Black Hawk has millions of flight hours logged and is known as a "workhorse" aircraft.

The US Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines flight Wednesday evening is one of the most popular and recognizable helicopters in the US military, with variants of the aircraft serving in a range of roles.

Here's what you need to know about the Black Hawk.

What are Black Hawks used for?

The Black Hawk, which is made by Lockheed subsidiary Sikorsky Aircraft, is known as a military "workhorse" because of its versatility. It's used for battlefield medical evacuations, search and rescue operations, troop and cargo movement, and special operations, including high-profile missions by Army special operations.

The Army has been flying the aircraft since 1979.

The aircraft was famously a feature of the 2001 film Black Hawk Down, based on a book of the same name that detailed US actions during the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu.

The US Navy's SEAL Team 6 also used two specially modified Black Hawks, one of which crashed and had to be destroyed, during their 2011 mission to kill 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden.

What are its specifications?

According to Lockheed, the medium-sized aircraft can hold up to 12 fully-kitted troops — and more without gear — and can be reconfigured to fly passengers or injured troops.

Black Hawks usually have a three-person crew, including a pilot, co-pilot, and crew chief. They have an external hook capable of lifting up to 8,000 pounds, and their top speed is around 170 mph.

The Black Hawk helicopter does not have any dedicated weapons systems, but it is equipped with mounts for machine guns and miniguns. It can also be outfitted with rockets and missiles, among other weaponry.

Who makes the Black Hawk?

According to Lockheed, which now owns original developer Sikorsky, the company has built over 5,000 Black Hawks for three dozen nations since the program's inception.

The aircraft is named after the chief of the Native American Sauk tribe and has accumulated over 15 million flight hours.

Various versions of the aircraft have been released over the past four decades. Lockheed is working on even more advanced versions with more powerful engines that the company says could one day allow it to hover or fly autonomously. The Army has been looking into partnerships that could lead to that degree of autonomy.

What's the Black Hawk's safety record?

Given its extensive use by the US military and numerous overseas operators, there have been a number of Black Hawk crashes over the years, including many incidents that have been fatal due to either human error or mechanical issues.

Last year, an Israeli Black Hawk crashed during operations in Gaza. And in 2023, three separate Black Hawk crashes resulted in the death of 16 American service members. Those accidents included one midair collision, one ground crash, and another into the sea.

In mid-2023, Military.com, citing Army data, reported 60 training-related deaths over the past decade.

What happened just outside DC?

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the American Airlines flight and its crew were undergoing annual proficiency training. The helicopter was part of the 12th Aviation Battalion out of Fort Belvoir, Va.

The 12th Aviation Battalion has a unique mission, ferrying VIP military leaders and government officials throughout the National Capital Region.

"It was a fairly experienced crew," Hegseth said in his statement, adding that the crew had night vision goggles, though it's unclear if the night vision goggles were being used at the time of the crash.

US military pilots routinely train with night vision devices, part of larger military mandates that troops of all ranks perform certain proficiency training as part of their annual requirements. Military pilots are expected to be able to land in areas where a well-lit runway or bright aircraft lights could pose tactical risks, like attracting fire, and must train to perform in ultra-dark conditions.

Night-vision goggles sometimes limit depth perception and peripheral vision, and they can be difficult for new users to acclimate to.

For residents in DC and northern Virginia, it's not uncommon to see Black Hawk helicopters flying up and down I-395 or around the Beltway area.

For one impressive shot of the Pentagon, DoD media officials coordinated a trip with the 12th Aviation Battalion in 2023. Planning for the aerial photography included a detailed flight plan coordinated with the Federal Aviation Administration and in-air communications with air-traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to deconflict airspace. These are routine 12th Aviation Battalion flight procedures.

The 12th Aviation Battalion helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight inbound to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday evening. All crew members and passengers are presumed dead. The current death toll is at least 67.

The cause of the collision is under investigation.

A passenger jet carrying 64 people collided with a Black Hawk military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The crash happened at 9 p.m. on January 29 over the Potomac River. Authorities say all passengers are believed to be dead and are investigating the collision.

• An American Airlines flight collided with a Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, DC.
• The nation's capital is home to some of the most congested and highly governed airspace.
• Reagan National Airport has the US's busiest runway, with over 800 flights a day, the MWAA says.

An American Airlines flight and a military helicopter collided late Wednesday in one of the most congested and tightly controlled airspaces in the country.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, just outside Washington, DC, is home to the country's busiest runway, with over 800 takeoffs and landings a day, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority says. It's the closest of three area airports to the city, about 3 miles south of the White House.

Military helicopters also frequently fly low over the nearby Potomac River, transiting between military bases close by and the Pentagon, about 1 mile north of the airport.

Flying into and out of the airport, with short runways and such heavily restricted airspace nearby, is "like threading a needle," one pilot previously told Business Insider.

"It's a beehive of activity," Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines captain and spokesperson for its pilot union, told The Washington Post. "It's extremely compact, and it's a high volume of traffic."

Search efforts for the 64 people on board American Eagle Flight 5342 continued through the night. At a press conference Thursday morning, Washington, DC's fire chief said that no survivors were expected.

The Bombardier CRJ700 was operated by PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary of American Airlines. It collided with a military UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter carrying three people.

Along with New York's LaGuardia Airport, Reagan is one of two in the country subject to a perimeter rule. At Reagan, this limits routes to a distance of 1,250 miles — though Congress has increasingly approved more slots to operate beyond this, which has made the airport busier.

Unions and regulators have raised concerns about the country's air traffic system after several near-misses in recent years.

"We've had so many close calls with runway incursions and commercial flights almost colliding, and when something repeats over and over again, we call that a trend," Anthony Brickhouse, a US aviation safety expert, told BI.

"We've been trending in this direction for two or three years now, and unfortunately, tonight, it happened," he added.

The National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, and the Pentagon have announced investigations.

The crash brings an end to a remarkable period of aviation safety in the US.

It is the first major fatal crash on US soil since 2013. Three people died in July that year when Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed short of the runway at San Francisco International Airport.

Wednesday's collision was the first involving a US airline on US soil since February 2009, when a Colgan Air Bombardier Q400 crashed into a house near Buffalo, New York.

Fifty people died after the aircraft entered a stall and the pilots failed to respond appropriately.

The Federal Aviation Administration consequently revised its pilot-fatigue rules and required that all airline pilots hold an airline pilot transport license — the highest level of certificate.

Since 2013, two flights on US soil had led to fatalities before Wednesday. One Southwest Airlines passenger died from her injuries in 2018 after she was partially ejected through a broken window.

And in 2019, a man died when PenAir Flight 3296 overshot the runway while landing in Alaska.