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 Blackhawk 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 Thursday morning, said the 12th Aviation Battalion had been conducting an annual proficiency training flight.

While Hegseth said they were not releasing names at the moment, he noted he knew the individuals involved.

“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 they were under a 48-hour operational pause on contingency missions amid a review from senior level investigative team from 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 Blackhawk was with the Army’s Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir in Virginia.

Local authorities said Thursday they don’t believe there are any survivors from the collision, which forced 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, Kansas, to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Alexandria, Va., when the Blackhawk hit the plane around 9 p.m. on Wednesday.