Fatal crashes of commercial aircraft in the U.S. have become a rarity. The last was in 2009 near Buffalo, New York.

A flight to Washington D.C. scheduled to leave the Northwest Arkansas National Airport on Thursday morning was canceled.

The red line shows the final approach of American Airlines 5342 to runway 33 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Before Wednesday’s crash near Washington, D.C., there had not been a fatal collision involving a commercial aircraft in the ...