By Michael R. Sisak, Claudia Lauer, and David R. Martin, Associated Press
Arlington, Virginia. After authorities announced they had retrieved and identified 55 of the 67 persons killed, families of victims of the deadliest U.S. air accident since 2001 visited the crash site on Sunday while divers searched the submerged wreckage for further remains.
Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly of Washington, D.C., stated that authorities are certain that everything will be located. As rescuers get ready to remove wreckage from the cold Potomac River close to Reagan National Airport as early as Monday morning, divers are methodically searching for remains, Donnelly said during a press briefing.
According to Army Corps of Engineers Col. Francis B. Pera, salvage personnel and divers are following stringent procedures and will stop moving debris if a body is discovered. According to him, the respectful recovery of remains comes first.
According to Pera, “what really keeps us all going is reuniting those lost in this tragic incident.” Teams have been working on this endeavor since the start, and we are dedicated to seeing it through to completion.
Parts of the two planes that crashed over the river on Wednesday night—an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three passengers and an American Airlines jet carrying sixty-four people—will be placed onto flatbed trucks and transported to a hangar for additional examination.
Hours after hundreds of survivors arrived in busses accompanied by police officers to the Potomac River bank, close to where the two planes came to rest after collision, Donnelly, Pera, and other officials spoke. The plane was on its way to land from Wichita, Kansas. The Black Hawk was on a mission of training. No one survived.
The events leading up to the incident were being pieced together by federal investigators.
On Sunday, February 2, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia, relatives of the victims of a mid-air accident between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight assemble at the end of runway 33 close to the Potomac River debris scene at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. (Photo by Jose Luis Magana for AP)
Although the National Transportation Safety Board, which is in charge of the investigation, did not host a press conference on Sunday, it did publish a picture of investigators on a small boat inspecting wreckage and another of them looking at a flight data recorder.
Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, stated on Sunday that he wished to give federal investigators room to carry out their investigation. However, when he appeared on morning TV news programs, he asked a variety of questions on the disaster.
What was going on within the towers? Did they have too few employees? Did the Black Hawk’s pilots wear night vision goggles? What was the Black Hawk’s position and elevation? On CNN, Duffy inquired.
Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach of Durham, North Carolina; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O. Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, were on the helicopter.
A party of hunters returning after a guided trip and figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita were among the passengers aboard the plane.
Preliminary data revealed inconsistent readings regarding the airplane and helicopter’s altitudes, the NTSB said on Saturday.
Additionally, investigators noted that the jet’s flight recorder indicated a change in pitch approximately one second prior to crash. However, they made no mention of whether the angle shift indicated that pilots were attempting an evasive maneuver in an attempt to escape the collision.
When the incident occurred, the jet’s altitude was 325 feet (99 meters), plus or minus 25 feet (7.6 meters), according to data from its flight recorder, NTSB officials told reporters. However, the Black Hawk was at 200 feet (61 meters), the highest altitude permitted for helicopters in the region, according to data from the control tower.
The reason for the disparity is still unknown.
After the Black Hawk crashed into the river, investigators said they wanted to resolve the discrepancy using data from the helicopter’s black box, which is taking longer to retrieve due to waterlogging. Additionally, they stated that they intend to improve the tower data, which may not be as trustworthy.
According to investigator in charge Brice Banning, this is a complicated case. This place has a lot of components.
Banning said that just before the disaster, sound was captured by the jet’s cockpit voice recorder.
According to Banning, there was a vocal response from the crew, and the flight data recorder indicated that the aircraft was starting to tip up. About a second later, there were sounds of impact, and then the recording stopped.
Although investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days, full NTSB investigations usually take at least a year.
On Saturday, February 1, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia, Roberto Marquez of Dallas sets flowers at a memorial of crosses he erected for the 67 people killed in a midair accident between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines airplane as a plane takes off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)
Todd Inman, a member of the NTSB, stated that he has spoken with victims’ families for hours. “The families are having a hard time,” he said.
A few wanted to embrace us. According to Inman, some people are just furious and outraged. All of them are simply injured. We want to provide them with answers, yet they still want answers.
At one point, officials said that over 300 personnel were involved in the recovery effort. Heavy wreckage was also lifted by two Navy salvage vessels.
Duffy stated on Fox News Sunday that the Federal Aviation Administration was investigating the number of employees in the control tower at Reagan Airport.
Five controllers were on duty at the time of the incident, according to investigators: a supervisor, a supervisor-in-training, a local controller, a ground controller, and an assistant controller.
One controller was in charge of plane and helicopter traffic, according to an FAA report that The Associated Press was able to receive. When traffic slows down about 9:30 p.m., the airport usually combines those responsibilities, which are frequently split between two personnel. The tower supervisor had previously mixed them on Wednesday, which the report described as abnormal.
Duffy stated that the administration of President Donald Trump would solve the long-standing issue of air traffic control staffing shortages by placing bright, intelligent, and talented individuals in towers that regulate airspace.
All six persons on board, including a toddler going home to Mexico from treatment, and at least one person on the ground were killed when an air ambulance crashed in Philadelphia on Friday, leaving the country already in mourning.
Hours after Trump said on social media that the Army chopper had been flying higher than permitted, the FAA also severely limited helicopter traffic over Reagan National on Friday.
The limit was far over 200 feet. That shouldn’t be too difficult to comprehend, is it? Trump posted on Truth Social.
Wednesday’s tragedy was the deadliest in the United States since a plane crashed into a residential area in the Queens borough of New York City shortly after taking off from Kennedy Airport on November 12, 2001. Five persons were killed on the ground and all 260 people on board perished in the collision.
Although experts frequently emphasize that flying is extremely safe, even the most seasoned pilots may find it difficult to navigate the congested airspace surrounding Reagan National.
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