Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a former Blackhawk pilot, talked with CBS News' Nikole Killion about the midair collision of a plane and Blackhawk helicopter.

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.

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

The crew of the Army Black Hawk helicopter involved in the deadly collision with a jetliner had thousands of hours of flight experience.

Ryan O’Hara, a father-of-one, was one of the three soldiers aboard the military helicopter, according to reports

An American Airlines flight crashed into a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter over the Potomac River as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

A few minutes before the jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could do so on a shorter runway, and the pilots agreed. Controllers cleared the jet to land, and flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.

James Brauchle, an aviation attorney, told Fox News Digital that he expected litigation from the victims' families following the American Airlines aircraft and the Black Hawk helicopter crash.

An American Airlines regional passenger plane with a seating capacity between 66 and 78 collided with a helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Jan.

The Army official said that the pilots were on a routine training flight along a familiar flight path that isn't particularly complicated.

He indicated 27 bodies had been recovered from the airplane, and one from the helicopter.