DC plane crash updates: 55 victims recovered and positively identified

President Donald Trump posted on social media overnight, "This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented."

Asked about Trump’s comments, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters Thursday, "To back up with the president said, what I've seen so far -- do I think this was preventable? Absolutely."

Duffy said that "everything was standard in the lead up to the crash."

"It is not standard to have aircraft collide. Want to be clear on that, but prior to the collision, the flight paths that were being flown from the military and from American that was not unusual for what happens in the D.C. airspace," Duffy added.

Duffy said that there was no breakdown of communication.

"I don't want to say too much on the communication between the helicopter and the tower and the airline and the tower, but I will say this: There was communication," Duffy said. "It was, I would say, standard communication, so there was not a breakdown" in communication.

"The helicopter was aware that there was a plane in the area," he said.

Officials did not give any information on the flight history and experience of pilots on both aircraft, but did say that the captain had over six years of experience with the airline and the first officer had almost two years.

Runway operations at the airport are expected to resume at 11 a.m.

-ABC News' Ayesha Ali

No survivors are expected from the plane crash, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said.

Crews are switching to a recovery operation.

Twenty-eight bodies have been recovered, including 27 from the plane and one from the Black Hawk helicopter, Donnelly said.

Sixty-four people were on the plane and three were on the military helicopter.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it was a clear night and the helicopter was in a "standard flight pattern," as was the plane.

The plane fuselage was found "inverted" and in three different sections in waist-deep water.

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation of the deadly mid-air collision of American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Blackhawk helicopter, according to a statement from Joint Task Force-National Capital Region.

Ron McLendon II, a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region, said the U.S. Army and the Federal Aviation Administration will assist with the investigation.

"The NTSB will lead the investigation. We are working with local officials and will provide any additional information once it becomes available," McLendon said.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler

A source briefed on the search-and-rescue operation described a gruesome scene with large numbers of bodies recovered.

Sadly the source had no information on any survivors. But he emphasized that there has been a desperate attempt to find victims alive.

-ABC News' Pierre Thomas