""DCA is one of the most demanding airports in the world. It also has what’s known as ‘helicopter alley’ with hundreds of police, military, news and rescue helicopters criss-crossing the Potomac River,

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.

The crash near Reagan National Airport has renewed questions about the airport's flight load, considering its small size, among other issues.

A multi-agency search and rescue operation is underway in the Potomac River after a small American Airlines aircraft collided with an Army helicopter near Reagan National Airport, authorities confirmed.

A jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided Wednesday with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is closed, according to an FAA alert posted Wednesday night. A ground stop will prevent planes from landing at the airport through at least 5 a.m. Thursday morning,

The Associated Press is providing live video of the scene of the plane crash near Washington’s Reagan Airport:

A passenger jet has collided with a helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington.

An airspace cluttered with passenger planes and military aircraft. A history of near-crashes. And a growing shortage of air traffic controllers available to manage it all. Some experts, politicians and airport managers have been warning for years of the risks posed by the crowded airspace and volume of flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

A preliminary safety report from the Federal Aviation Administration reportedly found that air traffic control staffing was abnormally low at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 29, according to The New York Times, which obtained a copy of the report.

The plan to add five incoming and five outgoing flights was included in the bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act last year.