LATEST: Black boxes recovered
LATEST: ‘Young ice skaters’ feared among dead
‘Crash could have been avoided’ – Trump
‘Tower did you see that?’ – nearby pilot to air traffic control
Washington DC plane crash: What we know so far
- A massive recovery operation is underway after a passenger aircraft carrying 64 people collided mid-air with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers near Reagan National Airport outside of Washington, DC
- About 300 first responders are currently searching the freezing Potomac River, where the aircraft crashed
- 27 bodies from the American Airlines passenger jet and one from the military helicopter have been recovered so far
- Both flights were on their respective ‘standard flight pattern’ when the crash took place, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy told today’s press conference
- American Airlines’ CEO seemed to place blame on the helicopter for the crash
- Reagan National Airport will re-open at 4pm today
Transport Secretary agrees with US President Trump that crash was ‘avoidable’
US Secretary of Transport Sean Duffy has agreed with President Donald Trump in his assessment of whether the collision could have been prevented.
“We are going to wait for all the information to come in from this vantage point, but to back up what the President said, in what I’ve seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely.”
Maeve McTaggart
Flight paths of both airplane and helicopter ‘were not unusual’ – press conference hears
“Everything was standard in the lead up to the crash. Now, obviously, something happened here. You’ll get more details as this investigation moves forward, we’ll learn what happened,” said Mr Duffy.
He said the aircraft were both following a standard flight path, but that “something went wrong here”.
He said there was “not a breakdown in communication” between the aircraft.
Maeve McTaggart
US ‘has the safest airspace in the world’ – Transport Secretary
“We have early indicators of what happened here and I can tell you with confidence, we have the safest airspace in the world,” he said.
Maeve McTaggart
‘We don’t believe there are any survivors’
There have so far been 27 people recovered from the American Airlines flight, with one recovered from the military helicopter.
Speaking at a press conference to provide an update on the incident, officials confirmed that it is still not known why the helicopter travelled into the path of the American Airlines aircraft.
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser thanked first responders who “ran towards danger, went into a frigid river and worked through the night” in “tough and heartbreaking conditions”.
The Secretary of Transport Sean Duffy said it was a clear night in DC, with the helicopter travelling in a standard flight pattern.
The American Airlines flight was also in a standard flight pattern to land at the nearby airport.
He said there was nothing unusual about how both aircraft were travelling and the aircraft wreckage is currently being recovered from waist-deep the Potomac River, after which they will be analysed.
He said the US Government and officials “will not rest” until there are answers for the public about what happened as they are eager to provide reassurance to Americans.
DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly confirmed that his teams have recovered 27 bodies from the plane, and one from the helicopter.
“We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” he said.
“We don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident.”
He said the District Office of the Medical Examiner is focused on “reuniting these people with their loved ones”.
Maeve McTaggart
Official press conference to begin in next few minutes in Washington DC
Ice-skaters on board were returning from camp following event in Kansas
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” it said.
Russian media said Shishkova and Naumov, who were married and working as coaches, were returning from Wichita with a group of young skaters.
Russia’s Mash news outlet published a list of 13 skaters, many of them the children of Russian emigres to the U.S., who it said were believed to have been on the plane.
The Kremlin offered condolences to the families of Russians killed and said there were no plans for contacts for now between President Vladimir Putin and Trump.
Reuters
What we know about the final moments of the plane and helicopter before fatal crash
American Airlines flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan National at an altitude of about 400 feet and a speed of about 140 miles per hour when it suffered a rapid loss of altitude over the Potomac River, according to data from its radio transponder.
The Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet was manufactured in 2004 and can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers.
A few minutes before landing, air traffic controllers asked the arriving commercial jet if it could land on the shorter Runway 33 at Reagan National and the pilots said they were able.
Controllers then cleared the plane to land on Runway 33. Flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asks the helicopter if it has the arriving plane in sight. The controller makes another radio call to the helicopter moments later: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.”
Seconds after that the two aircraft collide.
The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the river.
The tower immediately began diverting other aircraft from Reagan.
Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Centre showed two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.
PA