WASHINGTON — It’s been nearly 16 years since the last fatal commercial airliner crash in the United States. 

On Feb. 12, 2009, Colgan Air, a regional air carrier, was operating a Bombardier DHC-8-400 turboprop as Continental Connection 3407 from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo, New York. The flight crashed on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in western New York, killing all 49 people aboard and a man on the ground.

According to the FAA, investigators determined the aircraft experienced an aerodynamic stall on a straight-in, night instrument approach and impacted a house five miles from the airport. 

After that crash, federal officials issued an extensive overhaul of training requirements for pilots. One of the most important changes requires airlines to provide better training on how to prevent and recover from an aerodynamic stall, in which a plane slows to the point that it loses lift.

In 2018, a passenger on a Southwest Airlines jet was killed after shrapnel from the plane’s engine crashed through a window and caused such a drop in air pressure that a passenger suffered fatal injuries after nearly being sucked outside. It was the first death on a U.S. airline flight since 2009. 

It’s been more than two decades since American Airlines, the nation’s largest carrier, was involved in a deadly crash. 

In November 2001, American Airlines 587 crashed shortly after takeoff from New York’s Kennedy International Airport. All 260 people on board and five people on the ground died in the crash.

A passenger jet collided with a helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport on Wednesday evening, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.

There were multiple fatalities, a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press, but the precise number of victims was unclear.

Reagan National Airport will be closed until 5 a.m. Friday. 

Texas Senator Ted Cruz posted on social media that while “we don’t yet know how many on board were lost, we know there are fatalities.”

Wednesday’s incident recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on January 13, 1982, that killed 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.