The trials mark the first time one of the new GE Aerospace T901 Improved Turbine Engines has been powered up inside a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk as part of a US Army plan to overhaul its fleet of the iconic utility helicopters.

For many, the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, like the one involved in the Wednesday collision over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., is familiar for one reason: the 2001 movie "Black Hawk Down ," based on the 1993 shooting down of U.S. Black Hawk helicopters during the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia.

The UH-60 Black Hawk is the helicopter involved in a crash with a passenger jet on Wednesday night near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.

A Black Hawk helicopter can transport up to "12 fully equipped, seated troops in combat," according to Lockheed Martin, the weapons company that builds the helicopter. There are about 5,000 of these helicopters in use by the United States Military.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls the deadly aircraft collision involving a Black Hawk and a civilian airliner "a tragedy" in a statement obtained exclusively by Fox News.

A tragic collision between a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet near Washington DC has shocked almost everyone.

Military spokesman Ron McLendon II said the Army is joining an investigation into the crash headed by the National Transportation Security Board.

A passenger plane carrying 64 people has collided midair with a military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC. The PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 jet collided with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter at around 9pm on Wednesday (02:00 GMT Thursday), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.

The American Airlines jet was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members when it collided with Black Hawk Army helicopter built by Connecticut's Sikorsky.

The Blackhawk that struck an American Airlines flight landing at Reagan airport had three soldiers on board and no VIPs or senior officials were involved.

Trump said that he based his claims that the crash could be blamed on diversity policies within the FAA on his "common sense."