an american airlines flight collides mid—air with a helicopter in washington, dc. the main airport in washington. both aircraft crash into a freezing potomac river, as fire departments and police departments, were looking for survivors in the water, was that it was extraordinarily unlikely. the jet is carrying 64 passengers and crew. it's extremely rare for an incident like this to happen,

particularly in the united states. i'd like to request a moment of silence for the victims - and their families, please. gasping 0h! my god... what happened 7 oh, my god! it's a cold january night in the us capital, washington, dc. at around 9pm, a plane is preparing to land at ronald reagan washington national airport. it's flying under the regional brand name american eagle,

airspace around washington is particularly complex and extremely busy. aircraft transiting the airport. so, washington national airport is the beating heart of the usa capital, and it serves the absolute core of the government and it is right in the heart of the city. it's right on the river. space on the ground, but also in the air. and making sure

there's no accidents, both between the aircraft and also vehicles on the ground. and when they're taking off as well. this is the audio from air traffic control. for that particular type of military helicopter. and this is normal — all aircraft have a different call sign. so, listening to the air traffic controllers, it sounds like there was no response

from the helicopter pilot. replied at the same time that has cancelled out his reply. and was avoiding him. then the next call that you hear, unfortunately, is another pilot that was the collision? my god... what happened 7 oh, my god!

and a pilot alerts the controller to that fact, then the controller does immediately take action and starts diverting aircraft away from the airfield. radar would have seen. initially, the american airlines is a higher altitude, by the instrument landing system. so, it's all done by the aircraft. and you can see that there's a flashing ca, which i would assume means "collision avoidance",

if you were the controller, it might be something that you would tend to ignore because you know that the helicopter is avoiding visually. and at which point, that's where the collision happens. he spoke to an affiliate of the bbc�*s us partner, cbs news, i'm just praying that somebody is pulling her out of the river right now as we speak. that's all i can pray for. i'm just praying to god. when was the last time you spoke with her? i she texted me that they were landing in 20 minutes.

we looked up in the sky before that, and we saw these white flares... we thought they were like shooting stars... i don't know, i couldn't really explain it, but we didn't really it was really insane. around 300 responders were deployed to search for survivors. so, it's a highly complex operation. it's cold. they're dealing with relatively windy conditions. the wind is hard out on the river, so they're out there working.

..doing everything we can to keep them safe. will have been put into action — fire, ambulance and so forth. we know the fbi were involved early on because they had and the purpose there would be to save life. on board the two aircraft. his sorrow about the crash. this is a difficult day for all of us at american airlines, of our passengers, crew members, partners, first responders, along with their families and loved ones.

in a statement, president donald trump thanked the responders for their hard work. not good!" with light aircraft where they're not being controlled by an air traffic controller. prevented this collision, starting with the fundamental it appears that, in this case, the helicopter crew acknowledged that didn't happen. that safety net was disabled. it's extremely rare for an incident like this to happen, _ particularly in the united states. it's the first major. air crash and incident

aircraft, was in the 1980s. so, there is that level- of reassurance for passengers. but according to our us official partner, cbs, there are at least 18 bodies that were recovered from the river. that is what we know so far. but this is very much a developing story, and the rescue operation is still under way. the operation continued through the dark hours, through the cold temperatures and the freezing, freezing

survivors from this accident, and we have recovered 27 people the fuselage of the american airlines plane was inverted. members of the local community expressed their shock. it sounded like, you know, a large car crash. and just lots of sirens and things. coming in and i see the helicopters

all the time going through here. to andrews over there, and itjust... i don't know, it'sjust kind of shocking. the dawn also provides a first glimpse of the crash site in daylight as the rescue mission moves into its next phase. of officials and authorities have been patrolling up and down helicopters flying over the potomac as well, and lots of other emergency vehicles and first responders combing through as much of this river, as much of the river bank as they can to find the remains of all of those who lost their lives as the day progresses, flight operations resume

i mean, it was devastating. you know, i didn't know anyone on the plane, but i know people who knew people on the plane. it's always busy. hopefully they find out i what it is and correct it. details of who was on board the plane start to emerge.

at washington dc. of those 14 skaters, six were from the skating club of boston, two coaches, two teenage athletes and the athletes' mums. with their mothers, jin han and christine lane. two coaches from the club, married couple yevgenia shishkova olympic silver medallist nancy kerrigan and olympic gold medallist tenley albright paid tribute to the lives

the skaters, the people who were on that plane, they're our family, too. we just feel we need to be together. and that's why you see so many hugs today. the world championships in prague. mr president, welcome. thank you very much. thank you. and their families, please. authority figures begin authority figures begin to turn their attention to what may to turn their attention to what may have caused the collision. president donald trump held a news conference in the white house. he was accompanied he was accompanied by his transportation by his transportation secretary, sean duffy... secretary, sean duffy...

i appreciate the confidence i appreciate the confidence you placed in me. you placed in me. thank you. thank you. ..and his defence secretary, pete hegseth. and in that press conference, donald trump did what one would expect a president to do. he expressed condolences with the loved ones. he talked about the tragedy, how this was a nation grieving together, how hearts had been shattered of the nation as they had been shattered in the families of those who had lost their loved ones. but then it took a different turn as president trump moved to politicise the events, which is not something one normally sees so soon after an event, in the first remarks given by a president. he sought to blame his predecessors, president obama and president biden. he also sought to lay the lay the blame for this at the feet of several individuals and several agencies. we must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system. i changed the obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary.

you remember that. only the highest aptitude, they have to be the highest intellect, and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers. that was not so prior to getting there. when i arrived in 2016, i made that change very early on because i always felt this was a job that, and otherjobs too, but this was a job that had to be superior intelligence and we didn't really have that. he raised many questions as to why the aeroplane and the helicopter were flying at the same altitude, as to why those in the helicopter hadn't looked out the window to try and see the aircraft, as to why the air traffic controllers hadn't been able to divert the helicopter away

he seemed to also lay the blame for this crash in keeping with your memorandum ofjanuary 21st, are only the most outstanding, capable people for the jobs that they are being hired into. in other words, competence. yes, sir. elevating competence over everything else instead of conspiracy theories. it's another for the president of the united states - it just turns your stomach. he seemed to insinuate

that it was all of these reasons that had led to the crash. it's most unusual to see a president do something like this before any have been issued, forward his own understanding of what had happened. the department of defence, our investigative team will be on scene as long as it takes, in order to obtain all the perishable evidence and all the fact finding that is needed to bring us to a conclusion of probable cause. our mission is to understand notjust what happened, but why it happened, and to recommend changes to prevent it from happening again. well, the ntsb is a huge organisation. it's a very experienced organisation. the world, often by deploying very

large teams into the field investigations tend to take at least 18 months, and very frequently a lot longer, to the publication of the final report. frequently, the investigative team will know much sooner than that, but the investigative process does tend to be very long indeed. in the evening, officials recover the commercial plane's black boxes. coloured orange or red, the flight recorders which captures many parameters, sometimes many thousands

which the pilots are hearing in their headsets and the audio in the cockpit itself. and very frequently, investigators will find that the flight data recorder tells them what happened, but it's the cockpit voice recorder which explains why. and invariably central to the investigation. the school of law in the autumn. his family said he'll be truly missed. he was a chief warrant officer. that mid—air collisions like this don't happen often. and many experts stress

that air travel is safe. i just... all lives are precious. and well trained - controllers and pilots. safety investigation agencies don't have powers to enforce any change, but they do have powers to make recommendations. important lessons crop up and are acted upon before the investigation is complete. to the various agencies concerned.

it's not necessary to do that. involved with air incidents in the united states over recent years. there was also that incident exactly a year ago with alaska airlines, fortunately, there was no loss of life. air transport system. a prayer vigil is held in an auditorium in wichita, kansas, the city in the us midwest where this plane took off from.

hello there. well, for many of us, it was a fine second and sunshine on offer on sunday. full week of february too. but it's quite a mixed week of weather ahead. it will turn briefly milder, with many of our temperatures

approaching the far north—west of scotland. it's quite blustery here and it's also a mild start to monday morning. we'll keep the largely clear skies here through the night. blustery for the western isles, for north—west scotland, and south—east england. southwards and eastwards. and it's mild, particularly across northern ireland, 12 celsius. some outbreaks of rain. really too cloudy, too windy, too wet for some to see any kind

as we head through tuesday. but we're starting off on a wet note for southern scotland, north—west england, down through western wales up nicely here. there will be some sunshine. staying rather grey but largely dry and mild for south—east england. this is the colder air, of course, digging in behind our cold front, which will be clearing away as we head through tuesday night and into wednesday. then we see high pressure build in from the south, and that is set to stay with us for the rest of the week. start to slip away. cooler air — marked in blue here — starting to push in, the rest of the week. with overnight frosts.

economic �*pain�* will be worth it in the long run. to enter the next stage. and it's music's biggest night. hello, i'm carl nasman. �*some pain�* ahead after ordering 25% tariffs on most goods from canada and mexico. but he defended his america.

in a post on social media, trump said