Plane crash in Washington, DC: Progress in the investigation and identification of victims
President Donald Trump confirmed that there were no survivors. Investigations into the incident are progressing, and authorities reported that the black boxes from the commercial flight were located. They also recovered a cockpit voice recorder.
Search efforts in Washington
Authorities are continuing recovery efforts and moving forward with the investigation into the mid-air collision between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter. President Donald Trump confirmed that there were no survivors. The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, and the helicopter, flown by a pilot with 500 hours of experience, had three people on board.
">The investigation and recovery efforts remain active and our divers have searched all areas that are accessible.
— DC Fire and EMS Department (@dcfireems) January 31, 2025
Tomorrow, divers will work with NTSB to conduct additional searches to locate aircraft components, to support the investigation, and begin operations to salvage the…
President Trump and members of his cabinet, such as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, promised investigations in their areas of expertise to get to the bottom of the matter.
"We'll ensure that nothing like this ever happens again ... We'll restore faith in American air travel," said President Trump, who called the tragedy a "confluence of bad decisions."
Meanwhile, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson reported that the commercial flight's black boxes have been located. Investigators also recovered a cockpit voice recorder, according to The Washington Post.
In addition, questions are mounting about staffing and other irregularities related to previous flights.
Another flight forced to abort landing the previous day
A day before the fatal crash over the Potomac River, another plane approaching Washington's Reagan National Airport was forced to abort its first landing and turn around after a helicopter flew close to its flight path, according to air traffic control audio picked up by CNN.
This was Republic Airways Flight 4514. According to the information, it was descending 1,600 feet on its approach to the airport's runway 19 when air traffic control warned of a nearby helicopter.
"We had an RA, Brickyard 4514 is going around," the pilot radioed the tower referring a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) resolution advisory warning.
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, the helicopter that crashed
The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk has been in U.S. service since 1979, accumulating more than 45 years of operation. It is a utility helicopter for tactical troop transport as well as medium-sized loads.
Throughout its history, it has become one of the backbones of the U.S. airmobile forces. It operates with a crew of four, counting two gunners. Its armament can be optional depending on the missions it is assigned to.
It is capable of carrying up to 11 people with their individual loads. It can carry weights of up to 2,640 lbs. It has a flight range of approximately 367 miles and reaches speeds of 183 miles per hour.
Despite its already long service history, the Pentagon has deemed the Black Hawk highly reliable in its operations and plans to extend its use in the military through 2070 with several upgrades that would give it an autonomous flight mode, in addition to switching to the T901 engine, which offers 50% more power and a 25% reduction in fuel consumption.
As for staffing, a preliminary investigation report, reviewed by The New York Times, explained that the level of air traffic control tower staffing at the airport "was not normal for the time of day and level of traffic."
The report stated that staffing shortages at the time forced a single controller to simultaneously manage aircraft landing and takeoff operations and helicopter traffic, a job that usually must be done by two controllers.
In a separate report, The Wall Street Journal indicated that the operator, shortly after 8:47 p.m. Wednesday, relayed a question and instruction to the military Black Hawk helicopter, which just 19 seconds later struck the American Airlines jet.
Newly confirmed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asserted that the crash could have "absolutely" been avoided: "We are going to wait for all the information to come in from this vantage point, but … what I’ve seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely."
For his part, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom assured that "we don't know why the military aircraft came into the path of the PSA aircraft."
Passengers
On Thursday, it was learned that some of the passengers were professional figure skaters. Two of them are world champions in this sport, according to information that has surfaced.
They are Russian-born ice skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. They were married. They won the world pairs figure skating world championship in 1994 and had lived in the United States since that same decade. They were working as coaches.
According to Russian media, the couple was returning from a competition and traveling with a group of young skaters. Other skaters identified were Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, according to the AP.
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