WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – U.S. authorities said on Thursday it was not yet clear why a regional jet crashed into a U.S. Army helicopter at a Washington airport, killing 67 people in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years.
President Donald Trump said, without providing evidence, that federal diversity efforts could have been a factor, reiterating a theme that has become a focus of his presidency. Rights groups and Democrats accused him of politicising the disaster.
The investigation into the crash, opens new tab in the nation’s capital has just begun. The American Airlines Bombardier carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with the Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River as it prepared to land at Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday.
The names of all the victims have not yet been released, but they included a number of promising young figure skaters and people from Kansas, where the flight originated.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both aircraft had been flying standard flight patterns and there had been no breakdown in communication.
“Everything was routine up to the point of the accident,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin told Reuters. Washington’s primary airport is located just across the river in Virginia.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said they were just beginning their work and would have a preliminary report within 30 days. They said they had not yet recovered the “black boxes” on the aircraft that record flight data.
“This is an all hands on deck event,” chair Jennifer Homendy told a press conference.
At the White House, Trump criticized the helicopter pilots and suggested air traffic controllers were to blame.
“We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas,” he said.
Radio communications show that air traffic controllers alerted the helicopter about the approach jet and ordered it to change course.
However, a shortage of air traffic controllers in the United States in recent years has spurred safety concerns. At several facilities, controllers work mandatory overtime and six-day work weeks to cover shortages. The Federal Aviation Administration has about 3,000 fewer controllers than it says it needs.
The New York Times reported that a preliminary FAA review found that a controller at the airport was handling both helicopter and plane traffic at the time of the crash, though those jobs typically are split up.
CROWDED FLIGHT CORRIDOR
Airspace is frequently crowded in the U.S. capital region, home to three commercial airports and several major military facilities, and officials have raised concerns about busy runways at Reagan National Airport. There have been several near-miss incidents at the airport that have sparked alarm, including a near-collision in May 2024.
Trump accused his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden of lowering hiring standards and suggested the Federal Aviation Administration’s diversity push could have weakened its capabilities.
Asked if the crash was caused by diversity hiring, he said: “It just could have been.”
The Trump administration has not provided any proof to back these assertions, and there is no evidence that efforts to make the federal workforce more diverse have compromised air safety.
Trump has moved quickly to quash federal diversity initiatives since taking office on Jan. 20, drawing criticism from rights advocates who fear he is rolling back progress the United States has made to overcome its history of discrimination.
“The President has made his decision to put politics over people abundantly clear as he uses the highest office in the land to sow hatred rooted in falsehoods instead of providing us with the leadership we need and deserve,” Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP civil rights group, said in a statement.
Trump cited FAA policies stating that physical and mental disabilities would not on their own disqualify applicants from a controller’s position. Those policies were in place throughout Trump’s initial 2017-2021 White House term, according to aides to Biden’s transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg.
Buttigieg called Trump’s remarks despicable. “As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying,” he said on social media.
CRASH CAUSE UNCLEAR
Trump’s remarks contrasted sharply with those of other officials, who said there was no immediate indication why the crash took place.
American Airlines (AAL.O), opens new tab CEO Robert Isom said the pilot of the American Eagle Flight 5342 had about six years of flying experience. The Bombardier CRJ-700 jet was operated by PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter was flown by a “fairly experienced crew” of three soldiers who were wearing night-vision goggles on an annual training flight. Officials said they were grounding other flights from the Army unit involved in the crash and would reevaluate training exercises in the region.
‘A FIREBALL’
Air traffic control recordings appear to capture the final attempted communications with the helicopter, call sign PAT25, before it collided with the jet.
“PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,” an air traffic controller says at 8:47 p.m. ET (0147 GMT) on Wednesday, according to a recording on liveatc.net.
Seconds later, another aircraft calls in to air traffic control, saying, “Tower, did you see that?” – apparently referring to the crash. An air traffic controller then redirects planes heading to runway 33 to go around.
“I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river,” an air traffic controller says.
Webcam video of the crash showed the collision and an explosion lighting up the night sky.
It was the deadliest U.S. air disaster since November 2001, when an American Airlines jet crashed after departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, killing all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.
Reagan National’s main runway is the busiest in the United States, with over 800 daily takeoffs and landings. The National Transportation Safety Board has investigated nine accidents or incidents at the airport this century, including two that were fatal, records show.
The airport is only two miles from the White House and half a mile from the Pentagon, where 189 people died when Al Qaeda hijackers crashed American Airlines flight 77 on Sept. 11, 2001.
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said he had long been concerned about the busy airspace, where civilian and military aircraft must navigate the unique security concerns of the U.S. capital.
“I’ve been praying that there wouldn’t be something like last night but kind of dreading in my heart that there would be,” he told reporters.
Written by David Shepardson and Steve Holland
