Authorities investigate the cause of clash in the air of a passenger plane and a US army helicopter, which killed 67 people. Researchers are examining the actions of the military pilot and air traffic control.
Rescue teams and divers recorded the Potomac River on Saturday and removed the remains of the clash between a passenger plane and an army helicopter that killed 67 people in the middle of the week.
A coastal guard vessel equipped with a crane waited next to the remains while team member members immersed themselves in the water between a smaller group of emergency vessels.
No one survived the collision on Wednesday night. The remains of 41 people had been recovered until Friday afternoon, including 28 that had been positively identified, the researchers reported. They hope to recover all the remains, although they will probably have to get the fuselage from the plane out of the water to obtain all the bodies, the journalists the Fire Chief of Washington, John Donnelly Mr.
The collision occurred when an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, who had 64 passengers, prepared to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport, just on the other side of the Potomac of the capital of the nation, and collided with a Black Black helicopter Army Hawk that apparently crossed him. The helicopter took three soldiers on board.
Army officials have reported that the helicopter crew was very experienced and knew well the city's congested skies. Military aircraft frequently make such flights to practice routes that would use if they need to evacuate government officials during an attack or a major catastrophe.
The National Transportation Board is scheduled to update reporters on Saturday night.
Researchers are examining the actions of the military pilot and air traffic control. Complete investigations of the National Transport Board typically take at least one year, although researchers hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.
Other possible factors in the clash, including the altitude of the helicopter and if the crew was using night vision glasses, they are still under investigation, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Fox News Channel.
The black boxes of both aircraft have been recovered.
More than 300 rescuers participated in the recovery effort at a given time, officials said.
“This is a heartbreaking job,” Donnelly told reporters on Friday. “It has been a difficult answer for much of our people.”
The Federal Aviation Administration restricted the traffic of helicopters around the airport on Friday, hours after President Donald Trump affirmed in a publication in social networks that the helicopter was flying higher than allowed.
Todd Inman, an official of the Transportation Board, told reporters on Friday that the researchers had interviewed at least an air traffic controller who was working when the clash occurred. He added that the interviews continued and that it was not clear how many controllers were working at that time.
Researchers will also examine personnel levels, training, hiring and other factors, in addition to reviewing controllers records.
The aviation agency has suffered from a shortage of air traffic controllers.
The officials say that the maximum allowed altitude for the helicopter at that time was 200 feet (about 60 meters), although they have not said if the helicopter had exceeded that limit.
But on Friday, one day after questioning the actions of the helicopter pilot and blames diversity initiatives for undermining air security, Trump said the helicopter was “flying too high.”
“It was well above the 200 feet limit. That is not really too complicated to understand, right? ”Trump wrote in a publication in Truth Social.
Wednesday's clash was the deadliest in the United States since November 12, 2001, when a Jet crashed into a residential neighborhood in the Queens district of New York City, just after taking off from Kennedy airport. The clash killed all 260 people on board and five people on land.
Experts regularly highlight that plane trips are usually safe, but the congested airspace around the Reagan National Airport can cause difficulties even to the most experienced pilots.