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Deadliest US air disaster in two decades

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67 people killed in crash

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Trump says helicopter was flying too high

(Adds controller shortage, Duffy, Trump comments in paragraphs

1-11)

By David Shepardson and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) -

Crews worked to pull the remains of the U.S.' deadliest air

disaster in two decades from Washington's Potomac River on

Friday, searching for the cause of an incident that has raised

questions about air safety and a shortage of tower controllers.

Fresh from recovering the so-called black boxes from the

American Airlines ( AAL ) plane that crashed after colliding with an

Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday evening, killing 67,

divers aim to salvage the aircraft and find additional

components on Friday, Washington's fire department said.

Authorities have not pinpointed a reason for the collision,

which happened as the regional jet was trying to land at Ronald

Reagan Washington National Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration is about 3,000

controllers behind staffing targets. The agency said in 2023

that it had 10,700 certified controllers, about the same as a

year earlier.

One controller rather than two was handling local plane

and helicopter traffic on Wednesday at the airport, a situation

deemed "not normal" but considered adequate for lower volumes of

traffic, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy vowed to

reform the FAA

.

"I am in the process of developing an initial plan to

fix the @FAANews. I hope to put it out very shortly," Duffy said

on X on Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is studying the

cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the CRJ700

airplane, which carried 60 passengers and four crew members, all

of whom perished in the crash. The three members of the

helicopter crew also died.

The military said the maximum altitude for the route the

helicopter was taking is 200 feet (61 meters) but it may have

been flying higher. The collision occurred at an altitude of

around 300 feet, according to flight tracking website

FlightRadar24.

President Donald Trump weighed in on Friday by saying the

military helicopter involved in the crash was flying too high.

"The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot.

It was far above the 200 foot limit. That's not really too

complicated to understand, is it???" Trump said in a Truth

Social post.

Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate

Commerce Committee, questioned the safety of military and

commercial flights separated by as little as 350 feet (107 m)

vertically and horizontally. She also urged the government to

reconsider allowing so many helicopter flights next to such a

busy airport.

Radio communications showed that air traffic controllers

alerted the helicopter about the approaching jet and ordered it

to change course.

American Airlines ( AAL ) CEO Robert Isom said the pilot of

the American Eagle Flight 5342 had about six years of flying

experience. The Bombardier jet was operated by PSA Airlines, a

regional subsidiary.

Seven U.S. pilots told Reuters that the landing at Reagan

airport is unique due to congested space along with an inability

to communicate directly with military aircraft, which operate on

different radio frequencies. The airport also has shorter

runways.

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.

The

crash victims

included people from Russia, China, Germany and the

Philippines, as well as young

figure skaters

and people from Kansas, the state from which the passenger

flight took off.

Trump suggested without evidence on Thursday that diversity

efforts championed by Democrats could have played a role. Trump,

a Republican, has sought to do away with diversity, equity and

inclusion programs since coming into office on Jan. 20.

His comments drew criticism from Democrats and activists.

"How can he make these brash statements when an

investigation is barely under way?" said Rev. Al Sharpton,

president of the National Action Network civil rights group. "It

doesn't matter if these were DEI hires or Ivy League hires. What

matters is the families who are grieving, who do not want to see

this moment politicized by a president bent on peeling back DEI

policies."