The Army official said that the pilots were on a routine training flight along a familiar flight path that isn't particularly complicated.

Sixty passengers and four crew members from the plane and three Black Hawk helicopter personnel are feared dead as a recovery mission is underway.

An American Airlines regional jet went down in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after colliding with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, with no survivors expected.