For many, the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, like the one involved in the Wednesday collision over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., is familiar for one reason: the 2001 movie "Black Hawk Down ," based on the 1993 shooting down of U.S. Black Hawk helicopters during the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia.

The soldiers on the helicopter that collided with an American Airlines jet on Wednesday night were from the 12th Combat Aviation Battalion based in Virginia.

The Army official said that the pilots were on a routine training flight along a familiar flight path that isn't particularly complicated.