Washington DC plane crash: Authorities recover 41 bodies after mid-air collision

Authorities have recovered 41 bodies after a plane crash in Washington DC.

Sixty-seven people were killed when an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter collided mid-air on Wednesday night. So far, 28 bodies have been identified.

Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River after the collision. Some 300 personnel were sent to the scene, but the rescue soon turned into a recovery mission as officials said there were no survivors.

Washington crash: Follow the latest updates

Federal investigators have recovered the black boxes from the passenger jet, while authorities were still searching for similar devices in the helicopter.

Meanwhile, amid questions over how well the airport’s control tower was staffed on the night of the crash, it’s been confirmed that an air traffic control supervisor had let a controller leave their shift early.

The detail, first reported by the New York Times, has been confirmed to Sky News’ US partner NBC News by a source familiar with the investigation.

It means a single controller was handling both plane and helicopter traffic in the area when the two aircraft collided.

It is allowable – but not optimal – for one controller to do both jobs, NBC News reported.

The American Airlines jet was carrying 60 passengers and four crew when it crashed with the Black Hawk helicopter, carrying three soldiers, shortly before 9pm local time on Wednesday.

Flight 5342 was preparing to land on runway 33 at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when it collided with the helicopter in one of the most tightly controlled airspaces in the world.

‘Emergency vehicles sped past me’

A man whose wife was on the flight has recalled how he saw emergency services “speeding past” as he was waiting at the airport to pick her up.

Hamaad Raza told NBC News his wife of two years, Asra, had “texted me [and] said, ‘We’re landing in 20 minutes'”.

“I was waiting and I started seeing a bunch of EMS vehicles speeding past me… way too many, [more] than normal and my texts weren’t going through.”

Trump makes unproven diversity drive claim

Donald Trump has linked a diversity drive at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under previous governments to the crash.

It has since been said there is no evidence to support the US president’s claim.

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Mr Trump suggested the diversity efforts had made air travel less safe.

At a White House press briefing on Friday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr Trump had signed a memorandum directing an immediate assessment of FAA hiring decisions made during the previous administration.

While Mr Trump’s claim appears to have been debunked, there are questions over staffing at Reagan Washington National Airport.

NBC News reported staffing in the air traffic control tower was “not normal”, according to an initial FAA report.

The tower normally has a controller who focuses specifically on helicopter traffic – but at the time of the crash, a source said, one controller was overseeing both plane and helicopter activity.

The FAA, which controls air traffic control as well as certification of personnel and aircraft, is without a permanent administrator. Its former boss Michael Whitaker stepped down on 20 January – the day of Mr Trump’s inauguration.

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Mr Trump has appointed an acting administrator, Chris Rocheleau, in the wake of the crash.

Mr Whitaker had clashed with Mr Trump’s confidante Elon Musk over the SpaceX rocket launches during his tenure at the FAA.

Since starting as head of the administration in October 2023, he was also forced to respond to Boeing’s safety and quality problems, and worked to hire more air traffic controllers due to a shortage of staff.

Read more:
Washington DC plane crash: What we know so far
Air traffic control heard diverting planes moments after collision

At his briefing, Mr Trump blamed former president Joe Biden for lowering standards for air traffic controllers.

“We have to have our smartest people,” he said. “They have to be naturally talented geniuses.”

Mr Trump added: “The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.”

The American Association of People with Disabilities responded to these claims, saying in a statement on X: “FAA employees with disabilities did not cause [the] tragic plane crash.

“The investigation into the crash is still ongoing. It is extremely inappropriate for the president to use this tragedy to push an anti-diversity hiring agenda. Doing so makes all Americans less safe.”

Mr Trump said after being sworn in last week, he signed an executive order which “restored the highest standards of air traffic controllers”.

At a later briefing, he was asked if gender or race played a role. He answered: “It may have, I don’t know. Incompetence may have played a role.”

US transport secretary plans FAA overhaul

Transportation secretary Sean Duffy has said he is working on a plan to reform the FAA .

Alos, Mr Trump’s nominee to lead the US Army, Daniel Driscoll, said at a Senate confirmation hearing that training exercises near an airport like the Washington National Airport may not be appropriate.

Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the US since November 2001, when an American Airlines flight hit a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after take-off from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard.

The Pentagon and US army are investigating Wednesday’s collision, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said on X.