Families of victims of the deadliest U. Dozens of people walked along the banks of the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport, close to where an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided Wednesday, killing all 67 aboard. They arrived in buses with a police escort, memorializing loved ones as federal investigators work to piece together the events that led to the crash and recovery crews were set to pull more wreckage from the chilly water.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Sunday said he wanted to leave federal aviation investigators space to conduct their inquiry. But he posed a range of questions about the crash while appearing on morning TV news programs. Were they understaffed? The American Airlines flight, with 64 people on board was preparing to land from Wichita, Kansas.
The Army Black Hawk helicopter was on a training mission and had three soldiers on board. Both aircraft plunged to the Potomac River after colliding. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip. Army Staff Sgt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were killed in the helicopter.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday that preliminary data showed conflicting readings about the altitudes of the airliner and the Army helicopter. But they did not say whether that change in angle meant that pilots were trying to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid the crash. Data in the control tower, though, showed the Black Hawk at feet 61 meters , the maximum allowed altitude for helicopters in the area. They also said they plan to refine the tower data, which can be less reliable.
Our team is working hard to gather this data. Sounds of impact were audible about one second later, followed by the end of the recording. Full NTSB investigations typically take at least a year, though investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days. The families are struggling, Inman said. And they still want answers, and we want to give them answers. The remains of 42 people had been pulled from the river as of Saturday afternoon, including 38 that have been positively identified, officials said.
