Recovery efforts continued in Washington after plane crash – as it happened | Washington DC plane crash

Key events

Closing summary

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24 hours before a deadly collision, another plane narrowly avoided a helicopter

More from the Associated Press on an incident that happened at Regan Airport 24 hours before Wednesday night’s deadly crash:

Just over 24 hours before Wednesday’s fatal midair collision, a different regional jet executed a go-around maneuver when descending to land at Reagan Airport due to a military helicopter in the same area.

Flight tracking sites and air traffic control logs show the Embraer E-175 was cleared to land at the airport’s Runway 19 and advised about a helicopter in its vicinity. It executed a go-around after its automated collision avoidance system ordered what is known as a ‘resolution advisory’ to avoid nearby traffic, which put the aircraft out of proper alignment for landing. It landed safely minutes later.

The military helicopter, callsign PAT1, was advised of the descending airplane. Flight tracking sites show the plane flew roughly 1,000 feet (300 meters) above the helicopter, a normally acceptable separation.

Airline pilots are trained to respond immediately to resolution advisories, which are designed to avoid a potential mishap, but occasionally sound alarms for traffic that does not pose an immediate threat to safety.

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After the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced that investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, the agency has said it will have a preliminary report within 30 days.

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Radio communications showed that air traffic controllers alerted the helicopter about the approaching jet and ordered it to change course, according to reporting by Reuters news agency.

One controller rather than two was handling local plane and helicopter traffic on Wednesday night at Reagan National, a situation deemed “not normal” but considered adequate for lower volumes of traffic, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The decision to combine duties in the evening is not uncommon, the source said. The New York Times first reported the “not normal” designation. A shortage of air traffic controllers in the United States in recent years has spurred safety concerns.

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Two Chinese citizens were among the victims of a midair crash in Washington between a US commercial airliner with 64 people on board and a military helicopter, state media reported Friday citing the Chinese embassy, Agence France-Presse reports.

“Following preliminary enquiries” the embassy said the Chinese citizens were “among the victims in the mid-air collision of a passenger plane and a helicopter near Reagan National Airport Wednesday night”, Xinhua news agency said.

Senator Maria Cantwell said that the dead on the plane also included citizens from Russia, the Philippines and Germany.

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Updated at 20.51 EST

Interim summary

Many questions remain in the investigation of what caused the collision of a commercial airline from Kansas and an army helicopter near Washington’s Reagan airport on Wednesday night. Here’s a summary of recent developments:

With the 67 people aboard both the American Airlines flight and the army Black Hawk helicopter all presumed dead, the collision is being called “the deadliest aviation disaster” in the US since 2001. At least 28 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River, with recovery operations ongoing.

The flight data and cockpit voice recorders have been recovered from the commercial airline flight, and will provide key evidence about what happened. The National Transportation Safety Board said earlier on Thursday that it was too soon to determine the causes of the disaster and pledged to release a preliminary report within 30 days.

Early scrutiny focused on an initial Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report on the incident which called the staffing levels at a DC air control tower “not normal,” since one controller was reportedly handling both helicopters and planes.

But the Associated Press and CNN have both reported that sources told them this level of staffing was, in fact, “normal” or “not uncommon.” The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers and identified fatigue as a factor that might lead to mistakes, the Associated Press noted.

A day before Wednesday night’s midair collision near Reagan airport, a different jet there had to abort its landing and make a second approach after a helicopter appeared near its flight path, the Washington Post reported.

The US army saw an increase in very serious aviation incidents during the last fiscal year, with 15 flight and two ground incidents that resulted in deaths of service members, destruction of aircraft, or more than $2.5m in damage to the airframe, the Associated Press reported,

Donald Trump and members of his administration claimed, without evidence, that diversity efforts at the FAA under the Biden and Obama administration could be to blame for the crash, with Trump specifically claiming that the FAA had been accused of being “too white,” and suggesting efforts to hire Americans with disabilities were irresponsible.

Not stopping with rhetoric, Tump signed an executive order to stop “woke policies” in federal aviation.

The Trump administration’s choice to draw an unfounded connection between a deadly tragedy and diversity initiatives at a press conference sparked broad condemnation from Democratic politicians, who called the comments “disgusting,” “despicable,” and “racist,” with Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries saying that Trump was “blaming women and people of color for the deadly plane crash.”

With multiple figure skaters and their families among those killed in the collision, members of the figure skating community around the world mourned those lost.

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NTSB says investigators have recovered cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced that investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the airplane involved in Wednesday night’s midair collision with an army helicopter near Reagan airport in Washington DC, Reuters reports.

The recorders are now at the NTSB’s labs for evaluation.

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Updated at 19.58 EST

“You want me to go swimming?” Trump asks at press conference on tragic crash.

While Donald Trump’s behavior at a press conference responding to the deadliest air disaster in a generation might not be surprising, it was still “breathtaking in its audacity”, as one observer put it.

While most of the attention was focused on the administration’s choice to, without evidence, blame the plane crash on federal government diversity programs, multiple network journalists have also been highlighting another exchange today.

Trump responded to a journalist’s question about whether he was going to visit the scene of the plane crash with this comment: “What’s the site? The water? You want me to go swimming?” as longtime White House reporter Jonathan Lemire, among others, noted.

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Updated at 19.15 EST

‘Black box’ from flight AA5442 has been recovered, senator’s office tells CNN

A transportation reporter for CNN has reported that “one of the ‘black box’ recorders from flight #AA5342 has been recovered from the Potomac River,” according to Senator Maria Cantwell’s office. This will be a key piece of evidence in understanding what happened on the flight.

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Updated at 18.59 EST

Reagan Airport is a key commuter hub for members of Congress.

The worst US aviation disaster since 2001 happened at a Washington airport that is a frequent flyer hub for members of Congress, Politco reports, noting the airport “is a 10-minute drive from Capitol Hill”.

Even before the crash, Congress was deeply involved in the management of the airport, with members of Congress even lobbying for convenient direct flights to their home districts, “as Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) did for the inbound-from-Wichita jet that crashed into an Army helicopter”, Politco reports.

That’s likely to mean plenty more Congressional oversight and involvement in the aftermath of the tragedy, the Washington outlet notes.

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Updated at 18.51 EST

Previous flight at Reagan airport reportedly had to abort landing because of helicopter

Only one day before Wednesday night’s midair collision near Reagan airport, “another jet trying to land there had to make a second approach after a helicopter appeared near its flight path, according to an audio recording from air traffic control,” the Washington Post reports.

That flight, identified as Republic Airways Flight 4514, did eventually land safely, the Post reports.

On X, Washington Post investigative reporter Carol Leonig called this news important “for revealing just how dicey the DCA airways are”.

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Updated at 18.53 EST

‘Let the investigation take its course,’ airline pilot union head urges

Michael Sainato

As Donald Trump is suggesting, without evidence, that efforts to improve diversity in the federal government led to a deadly plane crash, the head of a major airline pilots’ union is asking the public to focus on “fact gathering”.

The collision of an army Black Hawk helicoper with a commercial airline last night is “ the first major fatal passenger accident of a US carrier that we have faced in the United States in well over a decade,” Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), said in a statement.

“A lot of details and speculation will come out in response to this tragedy, but we must remember to let the investigation run its course,” Ambrosi said.

“Extra pressure will be on each of us as our passengers – and our fellow crewmembers – have this accident on their minds. However, as we do day in and day out, ALPA pilots will continue to lead the way with professionalism and an overarching commitment to safety.”

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Updated at 18.26 EST