*

64 people were aboard passenger jet, three on U.S. Army

helicopter

*

Deadliest U.S. air crash since 2001, officials say no

survivors

*

Trump faults government diversity efforts

*

Passengers included U.S. and Russian figure skaters

(Adds black boxes found)

By David Shepardson, Steve Holland, Jeff Mason and Trevor

Hunnicutt

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, without providing evidence, said

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 politicizing the

disaster.

The investigation into the crash in the nation's capital has

just begun. The American Airlines Bombardier jet 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 Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on

Wednesday night.

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. Senator Maria

Cantwell said that the dead on the plane included citizens from

Russia, the Philippines and Germany.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators said they

would have a preliminary report within 30 days. Investigators

recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder

from the Bombardier CRJ700 airplane, NTSB said.

The agency has begun collecting wreckage, including

portions of the helicopter, and is storing it at a hangar at

Reagan National. Washington's fire and emergency department said

its divers had searched all accessible areas and would conduct

additional searches to locate aircraft components on Friday.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both aircraft

had been flying standard flight patterns on Wednesday and there

had been no breakdown in communication.

"Everything was routine up to the point of the accident,"

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin told Reuters. The airport is

located just across the river from Washington in Virginia.

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 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 Reagan National, a

situation deemed "not normal" but considered adequate for lower

volumes of traffic, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The decision to combine duties in the evening is not

uncommon, the source said. The New York Times first reported the

"not normal" designation.

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.

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. Several near-miss incidents

at the airport 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 ) 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.

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 ( AAL ) 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 showed.