Police boats combed the banks of the Potomac River yesterday, slowly scanning the shoreline in the rain as investigators sought clues into the midair collision that killed 67 people and raised questions about air traffic safety around the nation’s capital.
The black box from the Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a commercial jetliner and crashed into the Potomac River has been recovered, investigators announced.
They are reviewing that flight data recorder along with two recovered earlier from the jet.
No one survived the Wednesday night collision.
The remains of 41 people had been pulled from the river as of yesterday afternoon, including 28 that had been positively identified, Washington, DC, Fire Chief John Donnelly Senior said at a news conference.
He said next of kin notifications had been made to 18 families, and he expects the remains of all 67 people who died to eventually be recovered.
The wreckage of the plane’s fuselage will probably have to be pulled from the water to get all the bodies, he said.
“This is heartbreaking work,” Donnelly said, noting that more than 300 responders were taking part in the effort at any one time, including teams of divers and two US Coast Guard cutters, at least one of which carries a crane.
“It’s been a tough response for a lot of our people.”
It was unclear how long the recovery operation would take.
“We’re working as fast as we can,” Donnelly said.
Although Ronald Reagan National Airport reopened, two of its three runways remained closed to keep aircraft from flying over the crash scene, said Terry Liercke, the airport’s vice president and manager.
Roughly 100 flights were cancelled yesterday.
The Federal Aviation Administration also heavily restricted helicopter traffic around the airport, the Department of Transportation said in a statement, hours after President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post that the Army Black Hawk had been flying higher than its allowed limit.
Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the American Airlines jetliner, which collided with the chopper as the plane was coming in for a landing at the airport, which is just across the Potomac from Washington.
The flight data recorder was in good condition and its information was expected to be downloaded shortly, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman told reporters.
He said water got inside the cockpit voice recorder, and while that’s not unusual, it adds to investigators’ work.
The helicopter’s data, contained in a single black box, was now at the NTSB headquarters, Inman said.
Investigators have not yet attempted to open it, but it appears to be undamaged.
Investigators are examining the actions of the military pilot as well as air traffic control, after the helicopter apparently flew into the jet’s path.
Such investigations normally take 12 to 18 months, and investigators have said they will not speculate about the cause of the crash. NTSB officials hope to finish a preliminary report within 30 days.
Other potential factors in the crash, including the helicopter’s altitude and whether the crew was using night vision goggles, are still under investigation, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Fox News Channel.
The FAA yesterday barred helicopters from flying over a roughly 10-kilometre stretch of the Potomac and parts of its shoreline, including over the airport, according to the Department of Transportation statement.
The new limits exempt helicopters on emergency medical flights, active law enforcement and air defence missions, and carrying the president.
They are expected to remain in place at least until the NTSB finishes its preliminary report.
Military aircraft frequently conduct such flights in and around the capital to practice routes they would fly if a major catastrophe or attack were to necessitate the quick movement of key government officials.
The American Airlines jet was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members.
The remains of one of the three soldiers who were aboard the helicopter have been recovered.
Officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas, carrying, among others, nine students and parents from Fairfax County, Virginia schools, a group of elite young figure skaters, their parents and coaches and a group of hunters.
Crash debris has drifted kilometres downriver.
Dean Naujoks, who routinely patrols the Potomac for the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, found floating debris on Thursday that had been pushed by the wind and current into a pair of shallow coves along the Maryland shore.
The wreckage included pages from a flight manual, part of the plane’s cabin wall, a woman’s sweater, dozens of sugar packets with the American Airlines logo and what appeared to be the cushion from a pilot’s seat.
Naujoks, who had law enforcement permission to take his motorboat to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, about three kilometres from the crash site, turned the items over to the FBI.
“Everything is covered in jet fuel,” Naujoks said yesterday.
“The sugar packets made me think of the flight attendants. I’m thinking of the people these things belonged to, and it’s a punch to the gut. It’s just a sad day on the river.”
Inman said at least one air traffic controller who was working at the time of the crash has been interviewed by investigators. He said interviews were ongoing, and it was unclear how many controllers were working at the time.
“Air traffic control interviews are critical,” Inman said.
“That’s the reason why there’s a process in place that began immediately after the accident.”
Investigators will also examine staffing levels, training, hiring and other factors, in addition to looking at controllers’ records.
The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers.
On Thursday, Trump lashed out against diversity hiring, saying — without evidence — that lowered standards were to blame for the crash.
Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation, said the helicopter crew was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying that occurs daily around the city.
The helicopter’s maximum allowed altitude at the time was about 60 metres, Koziol said.
It was not immediately clear whether it exceeded that limit, but Hegseth said altitude seemed to be a factor in the collision.
A day after he questioned the helicopter pilot’s actions and blamed diversity initiatives for undermining air safety, Trump said yesterday that the helicopter was “flying too high”.
“It was far above the 200-foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” Trump said in a post on the Truth Social platform.
Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the US since November 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard and five people on the ground.
Experts often highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the airspace around Reagan National can challenge even the most experienced pilots.
They must navigate hundreds of other commercial planes, military aircraft and restricted areas around sensitive sites.
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