If changes aren't made, that near-miss becomes a mid-air collision,” one aviation safety expert said. “Unfortunately, that's what we had last night.”

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.

Multiple flights from Nashville to Reagan Washington National in Washington D.C. have been canceled following a deadly plane crash near 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

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

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

U.S. politicians expressed grief and sympathy on Wednesday night after a passenger plane from Kansas collided with a military helicopter near Reagan National Airport.