The nation is still reeling from the midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, D.C., Wednesday night that killed 67 people. As federal agencies continue to comb the crash site to determine the cause of the deadly accident, details are beginning to emerge about the surrounding conditions.
A preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration states that staffing at the Reagan National Airport’s air-traffic control tower was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” according to the New York Times. The outlet reports that one controller was directing traffic for both helicopters as well as airplanes, work that is usually divided up among more than one person.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board haven’t yet retrieved the flight data from the plane’s wreckage in the Potomac River. “We have not recovered the flight data recorders yet. We know they’re there. They are underwater. This is not unusual for the NTSB. We have many times recovered flight data recorders underwater,” Jennifer Homendy, NTSB chair, said at a press conference Thursday.
The Associated Press reports that American Airlines Flight 5342, which originated in Wichita, Kansas, was carrying multiple members of the international figure-skating community, including couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, two former world champions from Russia. The U.S. Figure Skating Championships had just wrapped up several days prior in Wichita. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the unit manning the Army helicopter is from Fort Belvoir in Virginia and was taking part in an “annual proficiency training flight.”
President Trump held a press conference regarding the tragedy on Thursday during which he suggested, without evidence, that the Biden administration and DEI efforts could be responsible for the crash.
