Wednesday’s fatal collision and two other incidents dramatically illustrate the challenges pilots and air traffic controllers face in the complex, security-sensitive skies above the nation’s capital.

An American Airlines regional passenger jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into the Potomac River after a mid-air collision near Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night, officials said.

A jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while preparing to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D

An American Airlines plane and a U.S. Army helicopter collided near Reagan National Airport and crashed into the Potomac River, according to officials.

Investigators have recovered the flight recorders—also known as black boxes—from both the commercial jet and the military helicopter involved in the mid-air collision near Reagan National Airport in Washington,

An American Airlines flight and a military helicopter collided and crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport Wednesday evening.