WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Investigators plan to

push forward on Friday with efforts to retrieve the two aircraft

involved in a crash in Washington that killed 67 people and

raised questions about air safety in the U.S. capital.

Fresh from recovering the so-called black boxes from the

American Airlines ( AAL ) plane that crashed into the Potomac River

after colliding with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday,

divers aim to "salvage the aircraft" and find additional

components on Friday, Washington's fire department said.

"Overnight, boats will remain on scene for security and

surface searches from local, state, and federal regional

partners," it said.

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.

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 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.

Radio communications showed that air traffic controllers

alerted the helicopter about the approaching jet and ordered it

to change course.

One controller rather than two was handling local plane and

helicopter traffic on Wednesday night at the airport, a

situation deemed "not normal" but considered adequate for lower

volumes of traffic, according to a person briefed on the

matter.

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.

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.

President Donald Trump suggested without evidence that

diversity efforts championed by Democrats could have played a

role. Trump, a Republican, has sought to do away with diversity,

equity and inclusion (DEI) programs since coming into office on

Jan. 20.

His comments drew criticism from Democrats.

"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."

Among the crash victims were people from Russia, China,

Germany and the Philippines, including young figure skaters and

people from Kansas, the state from which the passenger flight

took off.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin told Reuters that more than

half of the victims' bodies had been recovered by Thursday. The

airport is just across the river from Washington in Virginia.