Families visit US air disaster crash site as officials say 55 of 67 bodies recovered

Washington, D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly stated at a press conference that divers are still searching for the remains of the other 12 victims, and they are committed to recovering the remains with dignity, preparing to lift the wreckage from the Potomac River as early as Monday morning local time (Monday evening Australian Eastern time).

Colonel Francis B. Pella of the Army Corps of Engineers said, "Being able to reunite those who lost their lives in this tragic event is what drives all of us." Parts of the aircraft wreckage will be loaded onto flatbed trucks and transported to a hangar for further investigation. Families of the victims arrived at the crash site outside Washington, D.C. hours after the incident, mourning their loved ones along the banks of the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport.

Dozens of people arrived near the scene in buses escorted by police. Last Thursday, an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided here, killing all 67 people on board both aircraft. Federal investigators are working to piece together the events that led to the crash, while rescue crews are preparing to recover more wreckage from the icy water.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that he wants to give federal aviation investigators space to conduct their investigation. However, in an early morning television news program, he raised a series of questions about the crash. "What was going on inside the tower? Were they understaffed? ... The position of the Black Hawk, the altitude of the Black Hawk, were the Black Hawk pilots wearing night vision goggles?" Duffy asked on CNN.

The American Airlines flight carrying 64 people was preparing to land from Wichita, Kansas. The Army Black Hawk helicopter was on a training mission with three soldiers on board. The two aircraft collided and crashed into the Potomac River. Passengers on the plane included figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip.

Army Sergeant Ryan Austin O'Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Lloyd Ives, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland, and Captain Rebecca M. Lobach of Durham, North Carolina, died in the helicopter accident. The National Transportation Safety Board stated on Saturday that preliminary data indicated a conflict in altitude readings between the airliner and the Army helicopter.

Investigators also stated that the jet's flight recorder showed a change in its pitch angle about one second before impact. However, they did not say whether the change in angle meant that the pilot was attempting an evasive maneuver to avoid a collision. National Transportation Safety Board officials told reporters that data from the jet's flight recorder showed that it was at an altitude of 99 meters, plus or minus 7.6 meters, when the crash occurred.

However, control tower data showed that the Black Hawk helicopter was at an altitude of 61 meters, which is the maximum allowable altitude for helicopters in the area. This discrepancy has not yet been explained. Investigators said they hope to resolve the discrepancy with data from the helicopter's black box, the retrieval of which will take more time because the Black Hawk was submerged in the Potomac River. They also said they plan to refine tower data, as it may be less reliable.

"Our job is to figure this out," said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board. "This is a complex investigation," said Bryce Banning, who is leading the investigation. "There are a lot of pieces here. Our team is working to collect this data." Banning said that the jet's cockpit voice recorder captured sounds before the crash. "The crew made verbal responses," Banning said, and the flight data recorder showed "the aircraft began to increase its pitch angle. About a second later, an impact sound can be heard, and then the recording ends."

A full investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board typically takes at least a year, but investigators hope to release a preliminary report within 30 days. Inman said that he has spent hours meeting with the families of the victims since the crash. Inman said that the families are struggling. "Some people want to give us hugs. Some people are just angry and upset," Inman said. "They are all hurting. They still want answers, and we want to give them answers."

Officials stated that more than 300 rescue personnel were involved in the rescue efforts at any given time. Two Navy salvage barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreckage. On Fox News Sunday, Duffy stated that the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the staffing situation at the Reagan Airport control tower.

Investigators stated that five controllers were on duty at the time of the crash: a local controller, a ground controller, an assistant controller, a supervisor, and a supervisor in training. According to a Federal Aviation Administration report obtained by the Associated Press, one controller was responsible for both helicopter and airplane traffic. These duties are usually shared by two people, but the airport typically combines them after 9:30 p.m. when traffic slows. On Wednesday, the tower supervisor merged these duties early, which the report said was "not normal."

"Air traffic controller shortages have been a major problem for years," Duffy said, promising that President Donald Trump's administration would address the shortages with "smart, good, outstanding people in the towers controlling the airspace." Just as the nation was already in mourning, an air ambulance crashed in Philadelphia on Friday, killing all six people on board, including a child returning home from treatment in Mexico, and at least one person on the ground.

Also on Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration sharply restricted helicopter traffic around Reagan National Airport, hours after Trump claimed on social media that the Army helicopter was flying higher than permitted. "It was way over the 200 foot limit. This is really not too hard to understand, is it?" Trump wrote on Truth Social. Wednesday's crash was the deadliest U.S. crash since November 12, 2001, when a jet crashed into a residential neighborhood in Queens, New York City, shortly after taking off from Kennedy Airport. That crash killed all 260 people on board and 5 people on the ground.

Experts often emphasize that air travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded airspace around Reagan National Airport can challenge even the most experienced pilots.