55 of 67 victims of air disaster near Washington recovered and identified, officials say

Authorities said Sunday they person recovered the remains of 55 of the 67 radical killed successful the deadliest U.S. aerial catastrophe since 2001.

Washington, DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said astatine a quality league that divers inactive request to find the bodies of 12 much victims and are committed to the dignified betterment of remains arsenic they hole to assistance wreckage from the Potomac River arsenic aboriginal arsenic Monday morning.

“Reuniting those mislaid successful this tragic incidental is truly what keeps america each going,” said Colonel Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers. Portions of the craft volition beryllium loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to a hangar for further investigation.

They spoke hours aft families of the victims visited the clang tract conscionable extracurricular Washington, DC, walking on the banks of the Potomac River adjacent Reagan National Airport to memorialize their loved ones.

Dozens of radical arrived successful buses with a constabulary escort adjacent to wherever an American Airlines pitchy and an Army Black Hawk chopper collided Wednesday, sidesplitting each 67 aboard the 2 aircraft. Federal investigators were moving to portion unneurotic the events that led to the clang portion betterment crews were acceptable to propulsion much wreckage from the chilly water.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy connected Sunday said helium wanted to permission national aviation investigators abstraction to behaviour their inquiry.

But helium posed a scope of questions astir the clang portion appearing connected greeting TV quality programs.

“What was happening wrong the towers? Were they understaffed? … The presumption of the Black Hawk, the elevation of the Black Hawk, were the pilots of the Black Hawk wearing nighttime imaginativeness goggles?” Duffy asked connected CNN.

The American Airlines formation with 64 radical connected committee was preparing to onshore from Wichita, Kansas. The Army Black Hawk chopper was connected a grooming ngo and had 3 soldiers connected board. Both craft plunged into the Potomac River aft colliding.

The plane’s passengers included fig skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships successful Wichita, Kansas, and a radical of hunters returning from a guided trip.

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Cpt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were killed successful the helicopter.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday that preliminary information showed conflicting readings astir the altitudes of the airliner and the Army helicopter.

Investigators besides said that astir a 2nd earlier impact, the jet’s formation recorder showed a alteration successful its pitch. But they did not accidental whether that alteration successful space meant that pilots were trying to execute an evasive maneuver to debar the crash.

Data from the jet’s formation recorder showed its altitude arsenic 99 meters, positive oregon minus 7.6 meters, erstwhile the clang happened Wednesday night, NTSB officials told reporters. Data successful the power tower, though, showed the Black Hawk 61 meters, the maximum allowed altitude for helicopters successful the area.

The discrepancy has yet to beryllium explained.

Investigators said they hoped to reconcile the quality with information from the helicopter’s achromatic box, which is taking much clip to retrieve due to the fact that it became waterlogged aft the Black Hawk plunged into the Potomac. They besides said they program to refine the operation data, which tin beryllium little reliable.

“That’s what our occupation is, to fig that out,” NTSB subordinate Todd Inman said.

“This is simply a analyzable investigation,” researcher successful complaint Brice Banning said. “There are a batch of pieces here. Our squad is moving hard to stitchery this data.”

Banning said the jet’s cockpit dependable recorder captured dependable moments earlier the crash.

“The unit had a verbal reaction,” Banning said, and the formation information recorder showed “the airplane opening to summation its pitch. Sounds of interaction were audible astir 1 2nd later, followed by the extremity of the recording.”

Full NTSB investigations typically instrumentality astatine slightest a year, though investigators anticipation to person a preliminary study wrong 30 days.

Inman said helium has spent hours gathering with victims’ families since the crash. The families are struggling, Inman said.

“Some wanted to springiness america hugs. Some are conscionable huffy and angry,” Inman said. “They are conscionable each hurt. And they inactive privation answers, and we privation to springiness them answers.”

More than 300 responders were taking portion successful the betterment effort astatine a fixed time, officials said. Two Navy salvage barges were besides deployed to assistance dense wreckage.

On Fox News Sunday, Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration was looking into staffing successful the Reagan Airport power tower.

Investigators said determination were 5 controllers connected work astatine the clip of the crash: a section controller, crushed controller, adjunct controller, a supervisor and supervisor successful training.

According to an FAA study obtained by The Associated Press, 1 controller was liable for chopper and level traffic. Those duties are often divided betwixt 2 radical but the airdrome typically combines them astatine 9:30 p.m., erstwhile postulation slows down. On Wednesday, the operation supervisor combined them earlier, which the study called “not normal.”

“Staffing shortages for aerial postulation power has been a large occupation for years and years,” Duffy said, promising that President Donald Trump’s medication would code shortages with “bright, smart, superb radical successful towers controlling airspace.”

With the federation already grieving, an aerial ambulance crashed successful Philadelphia connected Friday, sidesplitting each six radical connected board, including a kid returning location to Mexico from treatment, and astatine slightest 1 idiosyncratic connected the ground.

Also Friday, the FAA heavy restricted chopper postulation astir Reagan National, hours aft Trump claimed connected societal media that the Army chopper had been flying higher than allowed.

“It was acold supra the 200-foot limit. That’s not truly excessively analyzable to understand, is it???” Trump wrote connected Truth Social.

Wednesday’s clang was the deadliest successful the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, erstwhile a pitchy slammed into a residential vicinity successful the New York City borough of Queens, conscionable aft takeoff from Kennedy Airport. The clang killed each 260 radical connected committee and 5 radical connected the ground.

Experts regularly item that level question is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded airspace astir Reagan National tin situation adjacent the astir experienced pilots.