DC Plane Crash: 55 Of 64 Victims Found, Last-Second Change In Plane

ARLINGTON, VA — A crane in the Potomac River has removed a large portion of the American Airline Flight 5342 wreckage, which allowed searchers to recover the bodies of more passengers killed in Wednesday's crash between the passenger flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter.

And an early look at data from the plane's the plane’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, along with the helicopter’s black box, showed a shift in its position a second before the crash, officials said.

In all, 67 people died in the crash: 60 plane passengers, four American Airlines crew members and the three-member Army flight crew. As of 4 p.m. ET Monday, more human remains were recovered from the Potomac River; authorities said 55 of the victims have been recovered and identified.

Salvage crews have recovered an engine and large pieces of fuselage and are working to retrieve a wing from the airliner's wreckage, officials said Monday afternoon.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday that preliminary data showed conflicting readings about the altitudes of the airliner and the helicopter.

Investigators also said that about a second before impact, the jet’s flight recorder showed a change in its pitch. But they did not say whether that change in angle meant that pilots were trying to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid the crash.

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Data from the jet’s flight recorder showed its altitude as 325 feet, plus or minus 25 feet, NTSB officials told reporters. Data in the control tower showed the Black Hawk helicopter at 200 feet — its maximum allowed altitude — at the time. Investigators said that about a second before impact, the jet’s flight recorder showed a change in its pitch. But they did not say whether that change in angle meant that pilots were trying to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid the crash.

Army aviation chief of staff Jonathan Koziol said the helicopter crew was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying around Washington.

Full NTSB investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.

Salvage crews have recovered an engine and large pieces of fuselage and are working to retrieve a wing from the wreckage of a commercial airliner involved in last week's midair collision near Washington’s Reagan National Airport, officials said late Monday afternoon. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Col. Francis Pera said crews hoped to recover the jet's cockpit on Tuesday.

Authorities have said the operation to remove the plane will take several days and they will then work to remove the military helicopter involved in the crash. Divers and salvage workers are adhering to strict protocols and will stop moving debris if a body is found, Col. Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers said. The “dignified recovery” of remains takes precedence over all else, he said.

On Sunday, family members were taken in buses with a police escort to the Potomac River bank near where the two aircraft came to rest after colliding.

Multiple members of the U.S. and international figure skating community were onboard the American Airlines plane after attending the national development camp held alongside the U.S. championship in Wichita, Kansas. An estimated 15 skaters, coaches and family members from Maryland and Northern Virginia were killed in the crash, along with seven members of a Maryland hunting party.

The GoFundMe account Support Ashburn Ice, MCI Skating Community Impacted by 5342 was set up to help families with ties to Ashburn Ice House and Medstar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, according to a news release.

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were in the helicopter.

Crews were seen aboard a vessel with a crane in the river early Monday and by around midday they had moved a large piece of the jet. Portions of the two aircraft will be loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to a hangar.

If members of the public see crash debris or human remains they should not touch it, Donnelly said. Instead, call 911 and officials will send someone to pick up the items.

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The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that it will indefinitely close two low-altitude helicopter routes near Reagan Airport to most helicopters, with exceptions being made for police and medical helicopters, Reuters reported.

A top Army aviation official said the helicopter crew was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying that occurs daily around the city.

“Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them,” said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation.

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President Donald Trump said in a Friday morning post on his Truth Social platform that the helicopter was “flying too high” at the time of the crash.

“It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” Trump said.

His comments came a day after he questioned the helicopter pilot's actions while also blaming diversity initiatives for undermining air safety.

Trump on Thursday seemed to blame the Biden Administration's DEI hiring policy and air traffic controllers for the crash. There has been no discussion of what caused the crash so far from federal investigators.

Trump criticized diversity hiring efforts at the FAA, though when pressed about why, he acknowledged that there is no evidence yet that it could be blamed for the collision.

“It just could have been,” he said. "I have common sense."

On two occasions in the past three years, passenger planes had to take evasive action to avoid helicopters while on approach to Reagan National, CNN reported. In both cases, the pilots were warned to the presence of the other aircraft by the plane’s Traffic Collision Avoidance System.

In a third incident involving two helicopters, an air traffic controller’s report said “there isn’t enough staffing to fill all positions in the tower (cabin).”

Staffing in the air traffic control tower was "not normal" at the time of the midair collision near Washington, according to a Federal Aviation Administration report obtained by the Associated Press. Details on this can be found here.

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More on the crash can be found here.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.