Boats comb the Potomac River after D.C. plane crash as investigators search for clues
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ARLINGTON, Va. — Police boats combed the banks of the Potomac River on Friday, slowly scanning the shoreline under rainy skies as investigators sought clues into the midair collision that killed 67 people and raised questions about air traffic safety around the nation’s capital..
No one survived the Wednesday night collision between a commercial airliner and an Army helicopter. More than 40 bodies have been pulled from the river as the recovery effort continued, two law enforcement officials told the Associated Press on Friday. The officials were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Officials also heavily restricted helicopter traffic around the airport, an official said, hours after President Trump said in a social media post that the Army Black Hawk had been flying at a higher altitude than its allowed limit.
Planes continued to take off and land at Ronald Reagan National Airport after the worst U.S. air disaster in a generation, with airport operations gradually returning to normal after a slew of canceled and delayed flights.
Investigators have already recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the American Airlines plane that collided with the helicopter as the plane was coming in for a landing at the airport next to Washington. Officials are scrutinizing a range of factors in what National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has called an “all-hands-on-deck event.”
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. Air crash investigations normally take 12 to 18 months, and investigators told reporters Thursday that they wouldn’t speculate on the cause.
Authorities were still looking for the helicopter’s black box recorder, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday on Fox News. Other factors in the crash, including the helicopter’s altitude and whether the crew was using night-vision goggles, are still under investigation, he said.
A midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Kansas killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft.
Although some airspace had already been restricted following the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration decided to indefinitely bar most helicopters from using the low-to-the-ground routes that run under or parallel to the airport’s flight paths, an official told the AP on Friday. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Military aircraft frequently conduct such flights in and around the nation’s capital for familiarization with routes they would fly in case of a major catastrophe or an attack on the U.S. that would require relocation of key government officials.
“You need to train as you fight, you need to rehearse in ways that would reflect a real-world scenario,” Hegseth said. He stressed that it remained the Pentagon’s duty to also mitigate risks while conducting such training.
The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.
Officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kan., carrying, among others, nine students and parents from Fairfax County, Va., schools, a group of elite young figure skaters, their parents and coaches and a group of hunters.
Details have been emerging about others who died in the crash, including Danasia Elder, a flight attendant on the American Airlines flight, WSOC-TV in Charlotte, N.C., reported.
Her brother-in-law, Brandon Payne, said she was married with two children and had dreamed of getting the airline job.
“She would want y’all to do the same thing she did. Chase your dreams, no matter what. Don’t let nothing scare you, push you away. Just believe in yourself, believe in God, and follow the path,” Payne said.
Debris from the crash has drifted miles downriver.
Dean Naujoks, who routinely patrols the Potomac for the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, on Thursday found floating debris that had been pushed by the wind and current into a pair of shallow coves along the Maryland shore.
He said 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 2 miles downriver from the crash site, turned the items over to the FBI.
“Everything is covered in jet fuel,” Naujoks said Friday. “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.”
Passengers aboard a flight that crashed into the Potomac River included six members of a Boston skating club returning from U.S. competition in Kansas.
One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to an FAA report that was obtained by the Associated Press. Those duties are often divided between two people, but the airport typically combines the roles at 9:30 p.m., once traffic begins to slow down. On Wednesday the tower supervisor directed that they be combined earlier.
“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report said.
A person familiar with the matter, however, said the tower staffing that night was at a normal level. The helicopter and airplane positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, during shift changes or when air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.
The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers.
As the nation reels after a deadly midair plane crash, President Trump speculates and attacks political adversaries and diversity initiatives.
Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation, said the helicopter crew was 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 200 feet, Koziol said. It was not immediately clear whether it exceeded that limit, but Hegseth said altitude seemed to be a factor in the collision.
Trump said in a Friday morning post on his Truth Social platform that the helicopter was “flying too high” at the time of the crash.
“It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” Trump said. His comments come the day after he questioned the actions of the helicopter pilot and blamed diversity initiatives, saying without offering evidence that they undermined air safety.
A look at the deadliest commercial plane crashes in the U.S.
Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight slammed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, N.Y., just after takeoff from John F. Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard and five people on the ground.
The last major fatal crash involving a U.S. commercial airliner occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, N.Y. Everyone aboard the propeller plane was killed, along with one person on the ground, bringing the total death toll to 50.
Experts often highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the airspace around Reagan National can challenge even the most experienced pilots no matter how ideal the conditions. They must navigate hundreds of other commercial planes, military aircraft and restricted areas around sensitive sites.
Baldor, Copp, Gomez Licon and Skene write for the Associated Press. Gomez Licon reported from Miami. AP writers Zeke Miller, Meg Kinnard, Chris Megerian and Michael Biesecker in Washington; Claudia Lauer in Arlington; Brian Melley in London; John Hanna in Wichita; and Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Md., contributed to this report.
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