Hundreds of families are in mourning after an American Airlines regional jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Jan. 29, with both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C.
No one survived.
Sixty-four people were on board the plane, which departed from Wichita, Kansas. Three soldiers were on the helicopter.
Sen. Cantwell to Duffy: Conflict of interest to involve Musk in FAA
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., wrote a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, saying that involving Elon Musk in the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety system or process is a "conflict of interest."
"FAA has the legal responsibility for safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses," Cantwell wrote.
"Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket launches share the airspace with commercial airplanes, and the FAA has the responsibility for keeping the entire airspace safe. SpaceX has been fined by the FAA for failing to comply with specific requirements in its launch license," Cantwell said. "Mr. Musk, in turn, called for the firing of Mike Whitaker, the FAA Administrator who the Senate confirmed 98-0 because the FAA issued a fine against SpaceX for not following the rules. We have ethics and recusal laws for a reason -- to prevent corporate interference in protecting the public interest."
A salvage vessel carrying wreckage moves from the site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Feb. 5, 2025, in Arlington, Va.
Ben Curtis/AP
-ABC News’ Clara McMichael
Feb 06, 2025, 1:55 PM EST
Cruz: Helicopter ADS-B data was turned off
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chair of the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee, told reporters he learned that the data from the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) tracking system for the military helicopter was "turned off" when the committee was briefed by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday.
Cruz said he raised questions at the briefing on why the ADS-B data on the Black Hawk was turned off, noting that the FAA rules allow military aircraft to disable the system only under certain circumstances.
Salvage crews lift a piece of wreckage from the water, near the wreckage site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Feb. 5, 2025, in Arlington, Va.
Ben Curtis/AP
Cruz said he "asked the Army to reconsider and assess with what frequency is the Army turning off ADS-B out on military missions, particularly missions that do not have a sensitive national security component."
"The NTSB has recommended ADS-B in and ADS-B out on all aircraft, and that's something I expect the committee to consider and assess," Cruz said. "All of these are reasonable, important questions to ask in the wake of this accident. At the same time, I would caution what I said before: We need to look to the evidence and actually understand what happened here."
When asked if he supports reducing operations around Reagan airport, Cruz said, "There's no indication from the investigation that congestion was the cause of the accident."
"In this instance, it appears the Black Hawk helicopter was flying at a dramatically different altitude than where the helicopter was supposed to be, and the investigation needs to proceed. We need to understand why that is the case. The NTSB believes they will learn more when they recover the Black Hawk helicopter itself," Cruz said.
Cruz also said he asked the FAA to conduct a review of helicopter routes not just at Reagan, but at airports across the country.
Senators described the briefing as "very thorough," based on what the NTSB and FAA could share amid the ongoing investigation.
An aircraft lands on the runway as a salvage vessel carrying wreckage moves from the site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Feb. 5, 2025, in Arlington, Va.
Ben Curtis/AP
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said the Army was working with the NTSB in a positive way, noting that there was no finger pointing at each other during the briefing.
"I have long advocated for more air traffic controllers, but I've also advocated for a better technology, and I think that both of those things will play into the solutions," Klobuchar said.
-ABC News' Ayesha Ali
Feb 06, 2025, 12:18 PM EST
Olympic figure skaters to honor DC plane crash victims in tribute show
Champion figure skaters are coming together for a tribute show called "Legacy on Ice" to honor the victims of the plane crash.
More than a dozen of the victims killed in the crash were young skaters, their parents and coaches returning home from a national figure skating development camp.
The event will be on Sunday, March 2, at 3 p.m. at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Olympians Tara Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton and Johnny Weir are among those participating.
The show will raise funds to support victims' families, first responders and aviation professionals, U.S. Figure Skating said.
Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are providing a closed-door briefing on the crash to the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee.
Salvage crews lift a piece of wreckage from the water, near the wreckage site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Feb. 5, 2025, in Arlington, Va.
Ben Curtis/AP
Sen. Maria Cantwell, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said any involvement from Elon Musk in transportation policymaking represents a "clear conflict of interest."
"The last thing I want is that guy trying to control the airspace," Cantwell said, citing Musk’s businesses, which are regulated by the sector, and his effort to push out the former FAA administrator, who was confirmed unanimously, she said.
The NTSB should play a larger role in policy, Cantwell said, "not because we don't think that FAA is doing some part of that job," but because of the safety board’s proximity to the issue.
"We just don't think [the FAA is] doing it as aggressively enough," Cantwell said. "And we think that the people who've investigated the details of the accident know exactly what we should be doing."
Cantwell mentioned an exemption the Department of Defense was given in the rule-making process that may have relieved some technology requirements. Had full standards been met, she said, it "may have given the Black Hawk and everybody around it more data and information."
