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ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Police boats combed the banks of the Potomac River connected Friday, dilatory scanning the shoreline successful the rainfall arsenic investigators sought clues into the midair collision that killed 67 radical and raised questions astir aerial postulation information astir the nation’s capital.
The achromatic container from the Army Black Hawk chopper that collided with a commercialized jetliner and crashed into the Potomac River has been recovered, investigators announced. They are reviewing that formation information recorder on with 2 recovered earlier from the jet.
No 1 survived the Wednesday nighttime collision. The remains of 41 radical had been pulled from the stream arsenic of Friday afternoon, including 28 that had been positively identified, Washington, D.C., Fire Chief John Donnelly Sr. said astatine a quality conference. He said adjacent of kin notifications had been made to 18 families, and helium expects each the remains to beryllium recovered.
The wreckage of the plane's fuselage volition astir apt person to beryllium pulled from the h2o to get each the bodies, helium said.
“This is heartbreaking work,” Donnelly said, noting that much than 300 responders were taking portion successful the effort astatine immoderate 1 time, including teams of divers and 2 U.S. Coast Guard cutters, astatine slightest 1 of which carries a crane. “It’s been a pugnacious effect for a batch of our people.”
It was unclear however agelong the betterment cognition would take.
“We’re moving arsenic accelerated arsenic we can,” Donnelly said. “We request your patience.”
The American Airlines pitchy was carrying 60 passengers and 4 unit members. The chopper had 3 soldiers connected board.
Although Ronald Reagan National Airport reopened, 2 of its 3 runways remained closed to support craft from flying implicit the clang scene, said Terry Liercke, the airport's vice president and manager. Roughly 100 flights were canceled Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration besides heavy restricted chopper postulation astir the airport, the Department of Transportation said successful a statement, hours aft President Donald Trump claimed successful a societal media station that the Army Black Hawk had been flying higher than allowed.
Investigators person recovered the cockpit dependable recorder and formation information recorder of the American Airlines jetliner, which collided with the chopper arsenic the level was coming successful for a landing astatine the airport, which is conscionable crossed the Potomac from Washington.
The formation information recorder was successful bully information and its accusation was expected to beryllium downloaded shortly, National Transportation Safety Board subordinate Todd Inman told reporters. He said h2o entered the cockpit dependable recorder, and portion that’s not unusual, it adds to investigators’ work.
The helicopter’s data, contained successful a azygous achromatic box, was astatine NTSB office and appears to beryllium undamanged, Inman said.
Investigators are examining the actions of the subject aviator arsenic good arsenic aerial postulation control, aft the chopper seemingly flew into the jet's path. NTSB investigations usually instrumentality astatine slightest a year, though investigators anticipation to person a preliminary study wrong 30 days.
Military craft often behaviour specified flights successful and astir the superior to signifier routes they would alert if cardinal authorities officials had to beryllium rapidly moved during a large catastrophe oregon attack.
Other imaginable factors successful the crash, including the helicopter’s altitude and whether the unit was utilizing nighttime imaginativeness goggles, are inactive nether investigation, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News Channel.
On Friday the Army released the names of 2 of the soldiers who died: Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, the unit chief; and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland. Eaves was 1 of the pilots connected the helicopter.
But successful an antithetic move, the sanction of the 3rd worker is not being released for present astatine the family’s request, the Army said.
The FAA connected Friday barred helicopters from flying implicit a astir 6-mile (10-kilometer) agelong of the Potomac and parts of its shoreline, including implicit the airport, according to the Department of Transportation statement. The caller limits exempt helicopters connected exigency aesculapian flights, progressive instrumentality enforcement and aerial defence missions, and carrying the president. They are expected to stay successful spot astatine slightest until the NTSB finishes its preliminary report.
Officials said formation conditions were wide arsenic the pitchy arrived from Wichita, Kansas, carrying, among others, 9 students and parents from Fairfax County, Virginia schools, a radical of elite young fig skaters, their parents and coaches and a radical of hunters.
Crash debris has drifted miles (kilometers) downriver.
Dean Naujoks, who routinely patrols the Potomac for the biology radical Waterkeeper Alliance, recovered floating debris Thursday successful a brace of shallow coves on the Maryland shore.
The wreckage included pages from a formation manual, portion of the plane’s compartment wall, a woman’s sweater and dozens of sweetener packets with the American Airlines logo. Naujoks, who had instrumentality enforcement support to instrumentality his motorboat astir 2 miles (roughly 3 kilometers) from the clang site, turned the items implicit to the FBI.
“Everything is covered successful pitchy fuel,” Naujoks said Friday. “The sweetener packets made maine deliberation of the formation attendants. I’m reasoning of the radical these things belonged to, and it’s a punch to the gut. It’s conscionable a bittersweet time connected the river.”
According to an FAA study obtained by the AP, 1 aerial postulation controller was liable for coordinating chopper postulation and arriving and departing planes erstwhile the collision happened. Those duties are often divided betwixt 2 people, but the airdrome typically combines them astatine 9:30 p.m., erstwhile postulation begins to dilatory down. On Wednesday, though, the operation supervisor combined them earlier, which the study called “not normal.”
However, a idiosyncratic acquainted with the substance said operation staffing that nighttime was really normal. The positions are regularly combined erstwhile controllers request to measurement distant for breaks, displacement changes oregon erstwhile postulation slows, the idiosyncratic said, speaking connected the information of anonymity to sermon interior procedures.
Inman said investigators had interviewed astatine slightest 1 aerial postulation controller moving astatine the clip of the crash. He said interviews were ongoing, and it was unclear however galore controllers were moving astatine the time.
“Air postulation power interviews are critical,” Inman said. “That’s the crushed wherefore there’s a process successful spot that began instantly aft the accident.”
Investigators volition besides analyse staffing levels, training, hiring and different factors, successful summation to looking astatine controllers' records.
The FAA has agelong struggled with a shortage of aerial postulation controllers.
Jonathan Koziol, main of unit for Army aviation, said the chopper unit was “very experienced” and acquainted with the congested flying that occurs regular astir the city.
The helicopter's maximum allowed altitude astatine the clip was 200 feet (about 60 meters), Koziol said. It was not instantly wide whether it exceeded that limit, but Hegseth said altitude seemed to beryllium a origin successful the collision.
A time aft helium questioned the chopper pilot’s actions and blamed diverseness initiatives for undermining aerial safety, Trump said Friday that the chopper was “flying excessively high.”
“It was acold supra the 200 ft limit. That’s not truly excessively analyzable to understand, is it???” Trump said successful a station connected the Truth Social platform.
Wednesday's clang was the deadliest successful the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, erstwhile a pitchy slammed into a residential country of Belle Harbor, New York, conscionable aft takeoff from Kennedy Airport, sidesplitting each 260 radical aboard and 5 radical connected the ground.
Experts often item that level question is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded airspace astir Reagan National tin situation adjacent the astir experienced pilots.
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Gomez Licon reported from Miami. Associated property writers Lolita C. Baldor, Tara Copp, Meg Kinnard, Chris Megerian, Aamer Madhani and Michael Biesecker successful Washington; Lea Skene; and Sarah Brumfield successful Cockeysville, Maryland, contributed.
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This communicative was updated to close the spelling of Jennifer Homendy's name, which had been misspelled Hommendy.
