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.

Military spokesman Ron McLendon II said the Army is joining an investigation into the crash headed by the National Transportation Security Board.

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