The Fort Belvoir helicopter crew aboard the U.S. Army Black Hawk involved in Wednesday's air disaster over the Potomac had years of flight experience and was conducting annual proficiency training before the fatal collision.

ATLANTA — After an American Airlines passenger jet and Army helicopter collided over the Potomac River in Washington D.C. on Wednesday night, several flights between Atlanta and Washington, D.C. have been impacted on Thursday.

"The Army pilot made a grave error," Timothy Lilley said. "It hurts me because those are my brothers, and now my son is dead."

Sam Lilley graduated in 2018 with a degree in marketing but decided to become a pilot. He had earlier graduated from Richmond Hill High School, just south of Savannah, Georgia, where he had been an active member of Coastal Community Christian Church.

A midair collision between an Army helicopter and a passenger jet killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft, officials said, as they search for answers in the nation's deadliest aviation disaster in nearly 25 years.

Authorities say there were no survivors after the two aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River in the country's deadliest aviation disaster since 2001.

The mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter near Washington, D.C. killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft, according to a preliminary report by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Tragedy strikes as American Airlines flight and US Army Black Hawk helicopter collide, killing all 67 people on board. Victims include a young fiancé, a Harvard law graduate, and several young legal associates.

Airlines have issued travel waivers to help passengers whose flights into and out of Washington, D.C., were affected following a deadly midair collision on Wednesday.

A student of Cedarville University, which is located northeast of Cincinnati — in Greene County, Ohio, has been identified by the school as one of the victims of the crash, according to HTV station WLWT in Cincinnati. In a prepared statement, the university said one of its students, Grace Maxwell, was among the victims.

A Georgia high school says that one of the soldiers involved in the mid-air collision was a former student and a member of their MCJROTC program.