WASHINGTON – Lynn Vera stood in front of the departure board for American Airlines at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Thursday morning. Red rows lined the screen, marking more flights canceled than delayed.
While she was driving to the airport, Vera had gotten a text from a friend asking if she would fly despite the crash of an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter.
“Too many things happen too fast at our time of life,” Vera, 70, said. “Am I afraid that it’s going to happen again today? No.”
As Vera arrived at the airport, recovery crews searched the nearby Potomac River.
“I just feel for the families and for these young people who had a life of joy and fitness and travel ahead of them,” Vera said. “Just, it’s tragic.”
But she still made the journey to the airport. She flew into Washington the other day from Vermont to visit friends. Now, at 10 a.m., she was on her way to her next destination.
American Airlines Flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter collided midair Wednesday night before plummeting into the Potomac River near the airport. Officials say they don’t believe there are any survivors among the 64 on the plane and three on the helicopter.
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Normally bustling with hurried travelers, the airport’s North Security Checkpoint was relatively quiet Thursday morning.
As the morning hours progressed, travelers slowly began to file into the airport. Foot traffic began to pick up at the luggage check-in. Kiosks began to see more visitors. Conversations – not just overhead announcements and the low rumbling of the metro – carried through the halls.
Vera had no concern that this “freak accident” would impact her as a traveler, she said, but she still felt the reverberations of the emotional event.
Daniela and Macarena Carrera, two sisters from Lima, Peru, arrived at the airport later that morning. They sat on the floor across from the check-in point, guarding their luggage as their parents returned their rental car.
Flying is a big deal for Macarena, 19, who is usually scared of traveling by plane. When their family flew into Washington the other day, it was no different.
Then the helicopter collided with Flight 5342.
But the family still showed up at DCA to fly to Miami, where Daniela, 24, is registered to compete in a half marathon on Sunday.
“I’m shaking inside,” Macarena said through nervous laughter.
“Yeah, it’s pretty scary,” Daniela said. “But what I tell her is the possibility of a plane crash is one in a million.”
While they had different feelings about flying, both sisters had been concerned that their flight would join the nearly 300 flights out of Reagan National Airport that never left the tarmac by Thursday afternoon. Overall, more than 500 flights scheduled to arrive and depart from the airport were canceled, according to FlightAware.
As operations resume inside the airport, investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the deadly crash.