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Black boxes recovered from plane, helicopter

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Investigators interview air traffic controller

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Deadliest US air disaster in two decades

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Trump said helicopter was flying too high

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities

restricted helicopter flights near Reagan Washington National

Airport on Friday, after a midair collision between an American

Airlines ( AAL ) passenger jet and a military helicopter killed

67 people this week.

Investigators were able on Friday to recover the

helicopter's black box, which captures flight data and voices in

the cockpit, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd

Inman said at an afternoon briefing.

The information from the box, along with the cockpit voice

recorder and flight data recorder from the CRJ700 airplane,

could help authorities piece together what happened just before

the two aircraft collided on Wednesday night and plunged into

Washington's freezing Potomac River in the deadliest U.S. air

disaster in two decades.

The board has also conducted interviews with air traffic

controllers, Inman said, including the lone controller working

inside Reagan's tower at the time of the crash on Wednesday.

Authorities have not identified a cause, and Inman said the

board would not engage in speculation before completing its

investigation.

"The NTSB is an independent, bipartisan board - 58 years as

the gold standard. Our job is to find the facts, but more

importantly, our job is to make sure this tragedy doesn't happen

again, regardless of what anyone may be saying," Inman said,

adding that he had not spoken to President Donald Trump or

anyone at the White House.

Separately, a small private plane crashed near a shopping

mall in Philadelphia on Friday evening, resulting in multiple

casualties on the ground, local media reported.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that he

was monitoring the incident and was headed to the Federal

Aviation Administration to gather more details.

Following the Washington crash, the FAA sharply restricted

helicopter flights near Reagan to reduce the risk of another

collision, Duffy said earlier on Friday, confirming news first

reported by Reuters.

Duffy said the decision "will immediately help secure the

airspace near Reagan Airport, ensuring the safety of airplane

and helicopter traffic."

The FAA is barring most helicopters from parts of two routes

near the airport and only allowing police and medical

helicopters, air defense and presidential air transport in the

area between the airport and nearby bridges.

The restrictions will last at least until the NTSB releases

a preliminary report into the fatal collision, which typically

takes 30 days. At that point they will be reviewed, Duffy said.

American Airlines ( AAL ) CEO Robert Isom said the airline would

work with the government "to make our aviation system even

safer."

Crews have recovered 41 bodies thus far, officials said.

Pulling the debris from the Potomac River will begin "in

earnest" on Sunday, Inman said, an effort that will likely last

all week.

Washington, D.C., Fire Chief John Donnelly told reporters

that 28 bodies have been positively identified and that he

expected all victims would eventually be recovered.

The American Airlines ( AAL ) plane was trying to land when it

collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter, killing all 60

passengers and four crew members aboard. Two of the three

service members killed in the helicopter were identified Friday.

QUESTIONS ABOUT SAFETY

The crash has shone a spotlight on concerns about air safety

and a shortage of tower controllers at the heavily congested

airport that serves the U.S. capital.

The FAA 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. Duffy on

Thursday vowed to reform the FAA.

Airspace is crowded around the Washington area, home to

three commercial airports, multiple military bases and some

senior government officials who are ferried around by

helicopter.

Over a three-year period ending in 2019, there was an

average of 80 helicopter flights per day within 30 miles (48 km)

of Reagan National Airport, with the majority either military or

law enforcement flights, according to a 2021 Government

Accountability Office report.

The helicopter's path has also drawn scrutiny. The military

said the maximum altitude for the route the helicopter was

taking is 200 feet (61 meters) but the collision occurred at an

altitude of around 300 feet, according to flight tracking

website FlightRadar24.

Trump weighed in on Friday, saying that the 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" 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.

Radio communications showed that air traffic controllers

alerted the helicopter about the approaching jet and ordered it

to change course.

The pilot of the American Eagle Flight 5342 had about six

years of flying experience, according to the airline's CEO. The

Bombardier jet was operated by PSA Airlines, a regional

subsidiary.

Terry Liercke, vice president of Reagan National, said two

of the airport's three runways were expected to remain closed

for a week. The main runway at Reagan, which will stay open,

handles about 90% of the airport's flights and is the busiest

single runway in the U.S.

The crash victims included people from Russia, China,

Germany and the Philippines, as well as young figure skaters

returning from an elite national training camp in Kansas, the

state from which the passenger flight took off.