Hegseth: Army battalion involved in DCA crash grounded for 48 hours

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he has grounded the Army battalion involved in the operation of the Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers that crashed into a passenger plane with more than 60 people on Wednesday night.

Hegseth, in a video released by the Defense Department on Thursday morning, said the 12th Aviation Battalion had been conducting an annual proficiency training flight.

While Hegseth said he was not releasing names at the moment, he noted the department knew the individuals on the flight.

“It was a fairly experienced crew,” he said, adding they were doing a night evaluation. “It’s a tragedy, a horrible loss of life.”

Hegseth added that the battalion was under a 48-hour operational pause on contingency missions amid a review from a senior level investigative team at the Pentagon. The Army is also conducting an investigation along with local authorities.

The Defense chief said he expects the investigation to quickly determine whether the helicopter was flying in the right corridor and altitude.

The Black Hawk was with the Army’s Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Va.

Local authorities said Thursday they don’t believe there are any survivors from the midair collision, which caused a fiery explosion above the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. Emergency crews have pulled at least 28 bodies out of the water.

The passenger plane, an American Airlines flight, was flying from Wichita, Kan., to Reagan Washington National Airport in Alexandria, Va., when the Black Hawk hit the plane around 9 p.m. EST Wednesday just before landing.