An American Airlines regional jet went down in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after colliding with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, with no survivors.
Map of the area around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the layout of Runway 33, which the regional American Airlines jet was approaching at the time of the collision with the Army Black Hawk helicopter, according to officials.
ABC News, Google Earth, Flightradar24, ADS-B Exchange
Forty-one sets of remains have been recovered and 28 of those victims have been positively identified, Washington, D.C., Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly Sr. said at a news conference Friday.
Next of kin notifications had been made to 18 families as of 6 a.m. Friday, he said.
Search efforts are seen around a wreckage site of a deadly midair collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter, in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Jan. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Va.
Alex Brandon/AP
All 67 people on board the plane and the helicopter were killed in the Wednesday night crash.
Donnelly said crews expect to recover all of the bodies.
It appears crews will need to remove the plane fuselage from the river to recover the remaining victims, he said.
Salvage work on removing aircraft from the water will start as early as Saturday, he said.
Fire and EMS has received 911 calls from people who spotted debris in the water; body parts have not been recovered from those 911 calls, he added.
This image provided by Dean Naujoks shows debris floating in Potomac River south of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Alexandria, Va., Jan. 30, 2025.
Dean Naujoks/AP
-ABC News' Jeff Cook
Jan 31, 2025, 2:18 PM EST
Reagan fully staffed with air traffic controllers
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has 25 Certified Professional Controllers as well as three Certified Professional Controllers in Training who have been fully certified at other facilities. The tower is authorized to have 28 controllers.
Jan 31, 2025, 1:58 PM EST
Trump intent on increasing staffing at air safety agencies
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump is "intent on ensuring that we are increasing staffing" at air safety agencies, despite the administration trying to cut the federal workforce and offering buyouts to workers.
"That's why he signed a very strong executive order on his second day in office, immediately terminating DEI hiring practices at the FAA," Leavitt said. "He also, following the tragic crash, as you all know, in the Oval Office yesterday signed a memorandum, directing an immediate assessment of the FAA to ensure the federal government is maintaining the highest personnel and aviation safety standards."
Jan 31, 2025, 1:51 PM EST
White House: Investigation is ongoing into whether controller was DEI hire
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the investigation is ongoing into whether the controller was diversity, equity and inclusion hire.
This comes after President Donald Trump on Thursday claimed without evidence that DEI initiatives could be a factor in the crash.
A view of the air traffic control tower at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in the aftermath of the collision of American Eagle flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River, in Arlington, Virginia, Jan. 31, 2025.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
DEI or any similar program does not apply to hiring for air traffic control, which requires rigorous health examinations and a multiyear training process. Applicants must pass a medical exam, an aptitude test and a psychological test that is more stringent than that required of a pilot, said Chris Wilbanks, FAA deputy vice president of safety and technical training.
Trump on Thursday pointed to a New York Post article as he accused Democrats of pushing to hire people with severe mental disabilities at the FAA. But the diversity language referenced in the article was on the FAA website during the entirety of Trump’s first term and has been on the site for more than a decade, according to Snopes.
The cause of the crash has not been determined.
Leavitt said Trump believes commercial flying "is still indeed safe, and Americans should feel safe."
"With that said, two things can be true at the same time, and we certainly have seen the deterioration of federal hiring standards at the Federal Aviation Administration," Leavitt said at a press briefing Friday. "And the president wants to increase those standards. He wants pilots in this country who have the great responsibility of flying American citizens by the tens of millions every single day, to be chosen for that position based on their merit and their skills. And so, the administration will continue to prioritize this."
