What are the deadliest plane crashes in US history? What to know after DC crash
The crash, which the Associated Press reported involved 60 passengers and four crew members on the plane and three U.S. soldiers on the helicopter, is the first collision involving a commercial airliner in the United States since 2009.
As first responders continue to look for survivors Thursday morning, how does the crash compare to other deadly plane collisions in the United States?
Deadliest plane crashes in US history
▪ On May 12, 1979, an American Airlines DC-10 departing Chicago O'Hare International Airport crashed during its takeoff, according to Simple Flying. The crash, which the website said was caused by 'unintended structural damage,' resulted in 273 deaths.
American Airlines Flight 191 remains the deadliest plane crash in American history.
▪ The second-worst accident in the United States came on Nov. 12, 2001, when 265 people were killed during a crash involving American Airlines flight 587, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
The plane, which took off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, crashed in a Queens neighborhood due to structural failure, PBS reported.
▪ Trans World Airways Flight 800 exploded on July 17, 1996, after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 230 people aboard, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
'The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the cause of the accident was an explosion of the center wing fuel tank, resulting from ignition of the flammable fuel/air vapors in the tank,' the federal agency said.
▪ All but one passenger died when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed on Aug. 16, 1987, after its takeoff from Detroit Metro Airport, CBS News reported. There were 154 deaths — 148 passengers and 6 crew members.
The plane rolled to the left, then rolled to the right before colliding with obstacles near the runway, including light poles and a rental car facility, according to the FAA.
▪ Pan Am Flight 759 crashed after takeoff from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on July 9, 1982, killing 153 people, Axios reported.
According to NOLA.com, a weather phenomenon called wind shear was the cause of the accident.
When was the last fatal crash in the US?
Before Wednesday's crash in Arlington, Virginia, it had been nearly 16 years since a commercial aircraft crash in the United States.
Colgan Air Flight 3407 was approaching the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport when it crashed into a home in Clarence Center, New York, on Feb. 12, 2009, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
The FAA said 50 people died in the crash, including 44 passengers. Causes of the collision included 'icy conditions, pilot training and fatigue,' according to Simple Flying.
The crash was said to mark 'a turning point in aviation safety,' according to Air Line Pilots Association.
'The new standards raised the bar for U.S. aviation, improving pilot qualification, experience, and training requirements; mandating safety management systems with enhanced voluntary safety reporting programs; requiring pilot training for high-altitude operations, flight in adverse weather, and stall prevention and recovery; and implementing science-based flight, duty, and rest requirements,' ALPA said.
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This Fourth Of July, Let's Not Forget The Significance Of 1775
American colonists and British soldiers exchange fire at the Battle of Lexington, the first skirmish ... More int the US War of Independence. Next year will mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is a significant milestone for the nation. Still, the build-up to next year's celebration may already be overshadowing a year just as important in the history of the United States as 1776, namely 1775. That isn't to say that we're ignoring some noteworthy events, as last month's massive, and arguably underwhelming, military parade in Washington, D.C., was held to mark the 250th birthday of the United States Army, which was founded as the Continental Army in June 1775. It was just one of several such commemorations that have garnered regional attention, such as this past April's celebration marking the 250th anniversaries of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, followed by the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the Battle of Bunker Hill. 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What Happened In New England Didn't Stay In New England It is also important while New England, notably Boston, is often regarded as the birthplace of the Revolution, the events there helped unite the independence movement throughout the colonies. "We can see that in 1775, many Americans did not want to fight and hoped to live peacefully with their neighbors. But the blood spilled at Lexington and Concord put into motion events that would lead to armed conflict," said Dr. Franklin D. Rausch, professor of history at Lander University in South Carolina. "The establishment of the Provincial Congress, a challenge to the royal governor, here in South Carolina, would increasingly force people to choose sides," Rausch explained. And as armed camps grew, so did the need for weapons and ammunition. That was as true in the southern colonies as it was up north. 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He's estimated to have been about 17 at the war's start. 'They were part of the Acadians who were thrown out of Canada by the British so they were very happy to take revenge out on the British when asked,' Cochran said. 'They were living in Opelousas. They had traveled all the way from Canada down to New Orleans, came up the Mississippi and made their way to Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, and became farmers. Galvez came through, recruiting people and they said, 'Oh, yes, we're ready.' They volunteered right off.' Galvez ultimately recruited more than 1,200 men comprised of 170 veteran soldiers, 330 recruits from Mexico and the Canary Islands, 60 militiaman and local citizens, 80 freed slaves, 600 from among Louisiana's German and Acadian immigrants and 160 Native Americans, according to Cochran's research from HistoryNet. The troops marched more than 100 miles through the dense forests and swamps northwest of New Orleans to the recently constructed six-cannon British Fort Bute on the eastern shore of Mississippi, a few miles south of Baton Rouge. Using muskets and cannons, Galvez's troops helped captured Fort Bute on Sept. 7, 1779, signaling the opening of Spanish intervention in the American Revolutionary War. The battle was estimated to have taken place over nine days. 'It was a very short battle,' Cochran said. 'The battles during the American Revolution were not like battles we know today. There were so few people involved — a few hundred would be a big battle at that time. When we got to World War I, World War II and Vietnam we had some serious battles with so many more people involved.' When the Battle of Fort Bute was won, Galvez released his men back to their families. Marcantel went back home to his wife, but his father-in-law marched on with Galvez and continued to fight with him through Pensacola. Following Fort Bute, Galvez and his remaining men launched an artillery barrage on Fort New Richmond in Baton Rouge using cannons he had hauled upriver on flatbeds in a garden on the opposite side of the fort. 'They attacked Baton Rouge and they were raining cannon fire like hail in a south Louisiana thunderstorm and Lt. Col. Alexander Dickson, who was in command of this Baton Rouge fort, couldn't take it any longer and he raised the white flag and surrendered,' Cochran said. 'It must have been a fearsome fight that they put up.' The British were overwhelmed by the wreckage this caused to the fort and proposed a truce — the terms of which included the surrender of both Baton Rouge and Fort Panmure at Natchez, Miss. The fort's capture effectively ended British military control of the lower Mississippi River. 'Galvez was of military mind and determined to win. He was not going to quit at anything,' Cochran said. According to records, Pierre Antoine Fruge stayed with Galvez all the way to the Siege of Pensacola in 1781, which lasted a couple of months. There is no record of him or of Marcantel ever being injured. Cochran said he came across the information while researching his members for the Sons of the American Revolution. 'The more I discovered about Galvez, the more I wanted to learn about this southern expedition,' he said. The majority of his research has come from and other history books. Cochran said his family has a 'very strong' military background. He has these two ancestors who fought in the American Revolution, three grandfathers who fought in the Civil War and he is a Vietnam War veteran. 'We're just all patriotic,' he said. 'In college when they were looking for people to go to Vietnam, I said, 'Yeah, send me.' I wasn't drafted, I volunteered. I was a member of the McNeese advanced ROTC and I graduated with a civil engineering degree and then they commissioned me in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. I went in as a second lieutenant and I was discharged as a captain.' Cochran said the victories in Louisiana helped secure the southern flank of the American colonies and contributed to the ultimate success of the American Revolution. 'Louisiana was involved in the American Revolution and I think more people need to know that.'
