BBC News
Seven -seven people are believed to have died after a passenger aircraft hit a helicopter in the air near Washington DCS Ronald Reagan Airport on Wednesday night.
It is not clear what caused the crash that is being investigated. Authorities have recovered the Flight data recorders from the American Airlines Jet and continue to find bodies in the icy Potomac River where the aircraft fell.
Details emerge about the 64 people on board the aircraft that included top figurative caters as well as four crew members. Meanwhile, the helicopter wore three soldiers.
What happened?
The plane, a bombardier crj700, had traveled from Wichita, Kansas. It served as American Airlines Flight 5342.
The US Army Helicopter was a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk that started from Fort Belvoir in Virginia and belonged to B Company, 12. Aviation battalion.
The helicopter appears to have flight over the permitted height, according to the analysis of the BBC US partner, CBS News.
Recordings of air traffic management talks published online suggested that a controller was trying to warn the helicopter about the American Airlines aircraft in seconds before the collision.
The helicopter pilot seemed to answer to confirm that they were aware of the plane, but moments later hit the two aircraft. Transport secretary Sean Duffy also said he thought the helicopter was aware of the aircraft nearby.
Joining Duffy on a briefing on Thursday, defense secretary Pete Hegeth added that the helicopter was on an annual skills flight that performed a night evaluation – and the crew had night -sighted glasses.
The collision happened around 21:00 local time (02:00 GMT) as the plane approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
An eyewitness, Ari Schulman, told NBC Washington that the plane’s approach looked normal until he saw it knocked hard to the right, with “streams of sparks” running under the craft and illuminating its stomach, which he thought to see “a lot Out, very, very wrong ”.
Another eyewitness, Jimmy Mazeo, remembered to see what looked like a “white flare” in the sky. He noticed that aircraft approaching the airport seemed to have flyed in “irregular patterns”.
After the impact, the passenger plane broke into several pieces and sank several meters into the river while the helicopter ended up on the head of the water.
Hundreds of first respondents in inflatables were deployed to search for survivors. Officials highlighted the challenging conditions where they worked due to ice floating on the freezing-cold river, and stretched with the wreck.
They later said they did not expect to find any survivors and had changed their focus on their mission to focus on recovering bodies.
How many victims are there?
The latest official update says 28 organs have been recovered from the stage so far.
The people who are known to have been on the plane include top figurers, a young pilot, flying and a lawyer traveling home on his birthday.
They consist of a number of nationalities – and several of them have been identified by family members and organizations.
Among the skaters were six people attached to a club in Boston. They were two teens, their mothers and two Russian coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who were former world champions in their sport, the club said.
The plane’s captain Jonathan Campos was named by his aunt, who told the New York Times that flying aircraft had been her nephew’s lifelong dream.
Ryan O’Hara was the crew manager for the helicopter, according to CBS.
What is the status of the investigation?
It remains unclear what caused the crash. Officials have picked up from the Jet Data Record and Cockpit Voice Recorder – known as Black Boxes – and will investigate possible contributing factors, including human error.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began its first full investigation day on Thursday and intends to release a tentative report of 30 days.
Hegeth has said he expected the investigation to determine whether the helicopter flies in the correct corridor and height.
NTSB officials said Thursday that the helicopter seemed to move from one corridor to another in a standard maneuver.
As the official probe continues, the New York Times has reported that the staff with flight control was “not normal” at that time – citing a preliminary Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report.
Normally, two people manage helicopters and aircraft flying in the area, but only one person reportedly did it at the time of the crash, reported new and CBS.
It is also reported by the Washington Post and CNN that only 24 hours before the deadly crash, another jet had to interrupt his landing at the airport after a helicopter got close to his flight road.
What has President Trump said?
At a press conference on Thursday, President Trump said the country was “in grief” before continuing to take a stroke against his political enemies.
He speculated without providing evidence that lowering standards for hiring flight controllers in the few under Joe Biden and Barack Obama presidents may have been a factor in the disaster.
Trump said he and his team had “strong opinions and ideas” about what had happened, but acknowledged that the investigation was at an early stage.
He also announced that he appointed Chris Rocheleau as the temporary leader of FAA. The top job that as well as the position for the administrator and vice administrator has been unemployed since Trump took office.
What is America’s Air Safety Record?
Larger events of this kind are relatively rare in the United States. The latest comparable crash was in 2009, according to a list compiled by Reuters.
That year, a plane crashed onto landing in Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board and a person on the ground.
Airspace over Washington DC is both busy and very controlled. It is used by domestic and international traffic using two airports, and there are additional factors for presidential flights, heavy military traffic and aircraft around the Pentagon.
Passenger airlines must follow fixed airplanes, said BBC’s transport correspondent Sean Dilley. Unlike in uncontrolled airspace, military pilots operate under strictly tuition in air traffic controllers. But unlike their civilian colleagues, they have the freedom to deviate and a duty to “see and avoid” other aircraft.