Both the captain, Jonathan J. Campos, 34, and co-pilot, Sam Lilley, 28, had been flying for years, according to family and friends.

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, officials said Thursday.

Daniel Izzo, a retired Navy SEAL master chief, has conducted water rescues after plane crashes and says winter conditions in the Potomac River make the situation even more dangerous. "It always seems like something like this happens at the worst possible time," Izzo said. "It happened at night. It happened in January."

The plane collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac, killing 67 people. The four-member plane crew was based in Charlotte.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has been closed until at least 11 a.m. Thursday. Several flights out of Florida have already been canceled.

An American Airlines regional jet collided with a military helicopter as it was approaching Reagan National Airport.

The devastating Air Florida Flight 90 crash on Jan. 13, 1982 and subsequent rescue efforts in the ice-covered Potomac River transfixed Washington and the nation

A view of emergency response to Wednesday night’s fatal crash of a passenger jet landing at Reagan National Airport and an Army helicopter. The body of the plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water in the Potomac River.

Relatives and loved ones have identified the four crew members on the American Airlines plane that collided with an Army helicopter over Washington, DC, according to reports. The crew on American Airlines Flight 5342 was based in Charlotte Douglas International Airport,

The American Airlines’ subsidiary has ties that go back decades in Ohio, and just said it was moving its headquarters to Charlotte.

President Trump said the crash was a "tragedy of terrible proportions" and told family members "Our hearts are shattered alongside yours."