DC plane crash marks first major commercial crash in US in more than 15 years

The crash involving a regional aircraft and a Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday marks the first major commercial crash in the United States since 2009.

The last crash took place on Feb. 12, 2009, when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed during landing near Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 people onboard.

There have been other deadly incidents in the U.S., such as the Asiana runway crash at San Francisco International Airport in 2013. Three people died when Flight 214 came in to the airport too low and too slow, hit a seawall and sheared the tail section and left engine off the plane as it spun down the runway.

One of the three who was killed was run over by an emergency vehicle responding to the crash.

Nearly 200 people were also injured in that crash, which was blamed on the Asiana Airlines pilots mismanaging the autopilot system, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The last fatality on a plane in the U.S. came in 2018 when a woman was partially sucked out of a Southwest Airlines window.

Passenger Jennifer Riordan died in that incident, when Flight 1380 suffered engine failure and had to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia.