ARLINGTON,Va (AP)– Police watercrafts brushed the financial institutions of the Potomac River on Friday, gradually checking the coastline in the rainfall as detectives looked for ideas right into the midair collision that killed 67 people and questioned regarding air website traffic security around the country’s resources.
Investigators revealed that the black box from the Army Black Hawk helicopter that hit a business jetliner has actually been recuperated. They are evaluating the trip information recorder in addition to 2 from the airplane as they penetrate the reason for the disastrous collision.
No one made it through the Wednesday evening accident. The continues to be of 41 individuals had actually been drawn from the river since Friday mid-day, consisting of 28 that had actually been favorably recognized, Washington, D.C.,Fire Chief John Donnelly Sr stated at a press conference. He stated near relative alerts had actually been made to 18 family members, which he anticipates the remains of all 67 individuals that passed away to become recuperated.
The wreck of the airplane’s body will most likely need to be drawn from the water to obtain all the bodies, he stated.
“This is heartbreaking work,” Donnelly stated, keeping in mind that greater than 300 -responders were participating in the initiative at any type of one-time, consisting of groups of scuba divers and 2 united state Coast Guard cutters, at the very least among which lugs a crane. “It’s been a tough response for a lot of our people.”
It was vague for how long the recuperation procedure would certainly take.
“We’re working as fast as we can,” he stated. “We need your patience.”
Although Ronald Reagan National Airport has reopened, two of its three runways remain closed to keep aircraft from flying over the crash scene while taking off or landing, said Terry Liercke, the airport’s vice president and manager. Roughly 100 flights were canceled Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration additionally greatly limited helicopter website traffic around the airport terminal, the Department of Transportation stated in a declaration, hours after President Donald Trump declared in a social media sites blog post that the Army Black Hawk had actually been flying more than its enabled restriction.
Investigators have actually recuperated the cabin voice recorder and trip information recorder of the American Airlines jetliner, which struck the chopper as the airplane was coming in for a touchdown at the Washington- location airport terminal. Officials are inspecting a series of consider what National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has actually called an “all-hands-on-deck event.”
Investigators are taking a look at the activities of the armed forces pilot in addition to air traffic control service, after the helicopter evidently flew right into the jet’s course. Air collision examinations generally take 12-18 months, and investigators told reporters Thursday that they would not guess on the reason. NTSB oficials have actually stated they intend to complete an initial record within thirty days.
Authorities were still looking for the helicopter’s black box recorder, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday on Fox News Channel. Other factors in the crash, including the helicopter’s altitude and whether the crew was using its night vision goggles, are still under investigation, he said.
Although some airspace was restricted after the crash, the FAA on Friday barred helicopters from flying over a roughly 6-mile (10-kilometer) stretch of the Potomac and parts of its shoreline, including over the airport, according to the Department of Transportation statement. The new limits exempt helicopters on emergency medical flights, active law enforcement and air defense missions, and carrying the president. They are expected to remain in place at least until the NTSB finishes its preliminary report.
Military aircraft frequently conduct such flights in and around the nation’s capital to practice routes they would fly if a major catastrophe or an attack on the U.S. required quickly moving key government officials.
The airplane carried 60 passengers andfour crew members The continues to be of among the 3 soldiers that were aboard the helicopter have actually been recuperated.
Officials stated trip problems were clear as the jet showed up from Wichita, Kansas, lugging, to name a few, 9 pupils and moms and dads from Fairfax County, Virginia institutions, a group of elite young figure skaters, their moms and dads and coaches and a team of seekers.
Crash debris has drifted miles (kilometers) downriver.
Dean Naujoks, who routinely patrols the Potomac for the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, on Thursday found floating debris that had been pushed by the wind and current into a pair of shallow coves along the Maryland shore.
The wreckage included pages from a flight manual, part of the plane’s cabin wall, a woman’s sweater, dozens of sugar packets with the American Airlines logo and what appeared to be the cushion from a pilot’s seat. Naujoks, who had law enforcement permission to take his motorboat to the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge, about 2 miles (roughly 3 kilometers) downriver from the crash site, turned the items over to the FBI.
“Everything is covered in jet fuel,” Naujoks said Friday. “The sugar packets made me think of the flight attendants. I’m thinking of the people these things belonged to and it’s a punch to the gut. It’s just a sad day on the river.”
One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to an FAA report obtained by the AP. Those duties are often divided between two people, but the airport typically combines the roles at 9:30 p.m., once traffic begins to slow down. On Wednesday, the tower supervisor directed that they be combined earlier.
“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report said.
A person familiar with the matter, however, said the tower staffing that night was at a normal level. The positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, during shift changes or when air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.
The FAA has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers.
Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation, said the helicopter crew was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying that occurs daily around the city.
The helicopter’s maximum allowed altitude at the time was 200 feet (about 60 meters), Koziol said. It was not immediately clear whether it exceeded that limit, but Hegseth said altitude seemed to be a factor in the collision.
< p course= "yf-1pe5jgt yf-1pe5jgtquestioned the helicopter pilot’s actions yf-1pe5jgtTrump yf-1pe5jgtFriday yf-1pe5jgt Truth Social yf-1pe5jgt “flying too high” yf-1pe5jgt
yf-1pe5jgt “>“It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” Trump said.
Wednesday’s crash
deadliest in the U.S.yf-1pe5jgt”>yf-1pe5jgt Nov yf-1pe5jgt “>Belle Harbor A day after he(* )and condemned variety efforts for threatening air security,New York stated in a Kennedy Airport blog post on
was the(* )because(* ). 12, 2001, when a jet pounded right into a suburb of “>___
Gomez Licon reported from Miami. AP writer Lea Skene contributed to this report. Writers Lolita C. Baldor, Tara Copp, Meg Kinnard, Chris Megerian, Aamer Madhani and Michael Biesecker contributed from Washington. Sarah Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland.
___
This story was updated to correct the spelling of Jennifer Homendy’s name, which had been misspelled Hommendy.
Source link yf-1pe5jgt(*)yf-1pe5jgt(*)yf-1pe5jgt”>< p course="yf-1pe5jgt(*) yf-1pe5jgt (*) yf-1pe5jgt (*) yf-1pe5jgt (*) yf-1pe5jgt" > (*), (*), (*), (*).
