Dozens of people are dead after a regional jet collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter Wednesday night over Washington, D.C., officials said, the nation's first major commercial airline crash since 2009.

Sixty passengers and four crew members from the plane and three Black Hawk helicopter personnel are feared dead as a recovery mission is underway.

The helicopter involved in the fatal midair collision on Wednesday night may have flown off its approved path, The New York Times reports.