Musk has publicly clashed with the FAA and its former chief, Michael Whitaker. The Federal Aviation Administration is facing its first major aviation disaster in 16 years without a leader because Elon Musk helped push him out.

An Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a regional jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday evening, U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News.

While landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday shortly before 9 p.m., American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River.

An aviation expert is calling for taking "a bulldozer to the front of the FAA" after the fatal collision between an American Airlines flight and an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

Aviation experts have warned for years about near collisions at airports around the US, citing air traffic control shortages and airspace congestion.

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.

Donald Trump gave a briefing on the Jan. 29 helicopter-airplane crash on Jan. 29, in which a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter collided midair with American Airlines Flight 5342 as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

An Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair with an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday.

On Jan. 29, a CRJ700 regional plane collided with an Army Black Hawk Helicopter over Washington, D.C. There are not believed to be any survivors

President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed, without citing evidence, that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration -- under Democratic presidents -- were partly to blame for the tragic plane and helicopter collision in Washington on Wednesday night.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement saying that A PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while approaching Washington National Airport at about 9 p.