‘Heartbreaking’ search for those killed in DC aircraft collision takes its toll

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Police boats combed the banks of the Potomac River on Friday, slowly scanning the shoreline in the rain as investigators sought clues into the midair collision that killed 67 people and raised questions about air traffic safety around the nation's capital.

No one survived the Wednesday night collision between the commercial airliner and an Army helicopter. The remains of 41 people had been pulled from the river as of Friday afternoon, including 28 that had been positively identified, Washington, D.C., Fire Chief John Donnelly Sr. said at a news conference. He said next of kin notifications had been made to 18 families, and that he expects the remains of all 67 people who died to eventually be recovered.

The wreckage of the plane's fuselage will probably have to be pulled from the water to get all the bodies, he said.

“This is heartbreaking work,” Donnelly said, noting that more than 300 responders were taking part in the effort at any one time, including teams of divers and two U.S. Coast Guard cutters, at least one of which carries a crane. “It’s been a tough response for a lot of our people.”

It was unclear how long the recovery operation would take.

“We’re working as fast as we can,” he said. "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 also heavily restricted helicopter traffic around the airport, the Department of Transportation said in a statement, hours after President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post that the Army Black Hawk had been flying higher than its allowed limit.

Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the American Airlines jetliner, which struck the chopper as the plane was coming in for a landing at the Washington-area airport. Officials are scrutinizing a range of factors in what National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has called an "all-hands-on-deck event."

Investigators are examining the actions of the military pilot as well as air traffic control, after the helicopter apparently flew into the jet's path. Air crash investigations normally take 12-18 months, and investigators told reporters Thursday that they wouldn't speculate on the cause. NTSB oficials have said they hope to finish a preliminary report within 30 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 plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members. The remains of one of the three soldiers who were aboard the helicopter have been recovered.

Officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas, carrying, among others, nine students and parents from Fairfax County, Virginia schools, a group of elite young figure skaters, their parents and coaches and a group of hunters.

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.

A day after he questioned the helicopter pilot's actions and blamed diversity initiatives for undermining air safety, Trump said in a Friday post on Truth Social that the helicopter was "flying too high" at the time of the crash.

“It was far above the 200 foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” Trump said.

Wednesday's crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard and five people on the ground.

Experts often highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the airspace around Reagan National can challenge even the most experienced pilots. They must navigate hundreds of other commercial planes, military aircraft and restricted areas around sensitive sites.

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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.

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This story was updated to correct the spelling of Jennifer Homendy's name, which had been misspelled Hommendy.