american flight, everything was standard in the lead up to the crash. now, obviously there was something happened here. you'll get more information and more details as this investigation moves forward. uh, we'll learn what happened. but again, those who live in the dc area, we see military helicopters fly up and down the river. it's a standard path that they fly. they're used to aircraft landing at dca. and there's a procedure in place because this happens every day. something went wrong here. i look forward to the time and point when we can give you that information. um, but i don't want to comment on that right now senator. >> senator warner, you all have been very vocal about your concerns about busy runways here. air traffic. i know it's still early in the investigation. i'm just curious if the steps that you all plan to take to address that we have raised this issue continuously. >> we've got very busy

airspace. i think we will ask questions, but at the appropriate time. we are in this period right now where families are still being notified. we're trying to figure out what happened. there'll be time for those discussions, i think. >> yeah, i'd just say the same thing. we've been pretty plain about our concerns, but it is a good time to speculate. right now. we have faith that the ntsb will provide the answers about this. >> okay, you walk. >> here and i'm going to say. >> three in the middle. and then. >> we're going to have to wrap one, two, three after. >> this one. thank you. >> chief i. >> know again i can imagine it must. >> be traumatic. >> for your first responders. and that is how are they doing right now. and are you already offering any services to help them as they process this? >> so thank you for the question. i our first responders are resilient people. but yes, this call will be hard for them. our peer support teams are already engaged with the responders, and we'll be following up on that to make sure that they're okay. but i think the concern is real. >> okay.

>> um. >> what kind of communication was it between the helicopter and the tower? the plane. >> in the tower. >> and the helicopter in the plane? >> i don't want to say too much on the communication between the helicopter and the tower and and the airline and the tower. but i will say this. there was there was communication. uh, it was, uh. i would say standard communication. so there was not a breakdown, if that's your question, in communication between the military helicopter and the american airline flight, there was there was communication between the aircraft and the tower. >> where there was a helicopter in the area. >> uh. the i would say the helicopter was aware that there was a plane in the area you mentioned that. >> so the president you said yesterday that he called the briefing room. has he returned to the briefing room since then? have you spoken also a question

about the national security advisor, mike waltz. he's saying that there was 30 bodies that had been recovered, that he just said that to the white house. curious. i know you're in the sequester right now, so that's hard for you to update, but i do have a question when posed the can do the body. >> can use the body first. >> so in terms of body recovery, we as we recover bodies, we have a process. and we're not counting any bodies until they're in the possession of the medical director. so there may be some fluctuating in numbers that other people would report. but our numbers from the medical examiner. >> so in regard to the president in the briefing room, i've been with this team for the last hour, plus, as we've worked through the details of the information we wanted to give you, but it is my understanding that either this morning he was going to be in the in the situation room or the situation room is obviously briefing the president. he has been kept in full appraisal of what is taking

place. >> okay. last two of you and you, ma'am. >> first, you mentioned that the aircraft was on a standard flight pattern, which is curious. when the airport opens at 11 today, will. planes beyond that flight pattern, are they being directed to try a different way to. do you want to? okay. >> well, i mean. safety is paramount and i don't have that information quite yet from the faa. so i don't want to provide any information or i don't want to provide an answer or inaccurate information on what routes will be flown out of dca. >> okay. last one, two questions really quickly. what do you know about the experience and history of the pilots of both. >> american. airlines plane. >> and the. >> army and black hawk helicopter. and then for. >> secretary duffy last night. >> the. >> president had. said that. >> this could have been. prevented and questioned why. >> air traffic control didn't

tell his helicopter what to do. >> is that something that investigators. >> have determined should have happened in this situation? so do. >> you want. >> to can. >> quickly, secretary, just just quickly. i don't have a lot of information to release, but these were experienced pilots. i know that the captain was had six years with, with psa or almost six years with psa and the first officer almost two years. um, and again, standard approach. and that's about all i can say. thank you. >> in regard to the military, i don't have information in regard to the experience of the military pilots. i would just note that this was classified as a as a training mission. sometimes people could think that a training mission is someone who is inexperienced in the cockpit. uh, this is we call these these missions that are flown in the dc area as our pilots are getting hours and experience training missions. so don't read into that, that we had how many hours the pilots on

the military aircraft had. and you had another question for me, that was. >> last night. the president had said that this could be prevented, and also that air traffic control questioning why they. may not have communicated with the helicopter, telling them what to do. >> so so we are going to wait for all the information to come in from, from this vantage point. but, uh, to, to back up what the president said, what i've seen so far do i think this was preventable? absolutely. >> thank you. thank you. we're in acting faa director. >> all right. you've been watching a news conference from officials in washington, dc from reagan national airport for the very latest on the crash of american airlines flight 5342. in the headline, the major headline very much no survivors. they do not believe anyone survived from this accident, which means that 64 people on the american airlines flight and three on the helicopter have perished. officials tell us they've recovered 27 bodies from the plane so far, and one

from the helicopter. they've located the aircraft in the river. the fuselage from the american airlines flight is inverted in three different sections in waist deep water. that's the most concrete information they provided. beyond that, still huge questions, i have to say. and for that, let's bring in cnn aviation analyst peter goelz, former ntsb managing director, because, peter, what we heard was that the american airlines flight was in a standard flight pattern. what we heard is that the training helicopter, the black hawk, was in a standard flight pattern. what cannot be standard is that they were in the exact same place at the exact same time. and sean duffy, the new secretary of transportation, told us the helicopter was aware of the plane in the area, but he would not go so far as to say that the plane was aware of the helicopter. what do you read into all of this? >> well, obviously, uh, there is

nothing, uh. that is firm. >> at this point you know, you look. >> at this, this. >> terrible tragedy. >> and there's. really, uh. inexplicable given the oversight. >> of. >> this airspace the psa plane was. clearly on a traditional approach, and i think the attention is going to be on the black hawk. and that's that's where the the investigators are going to zero in on. >> i don't know if you were able to hear this news conference, peter, and there was not a lot of information. they told us the ntsb, which is taking this over completely, will be briefing later in the day. and i imagine this is where we'll get some of that information. but what questions do you have based on what you heard so far? >> well. >> i think the two most

important things. are one, confirming that the aircraft that psa was in the proper approach, it looks like it was there will be tower. confirmation taped and we will know whether the plane was in its proper approach. then the second question is, was black hawk under any kind of, uh, control or control? uh, monitoring? and was it in its proper place? altitude and. location? those are the two most important aspects. you know, there was a lot of discussion last night about tcas, which is the, uh, automatic collision avoidance system. that system.

essentially shuts down for the aircraft at 1000ft. so tcas was probably not in play last night. people, uh, in the cockpit, the flight crew seeing a void and rely on the controller. >> peter goelz, thank you very much. standby. sarah. >> all right. we do have a team of reporters on this breaking news story. rene marsh, who has been on the scene, has just left that scene because it's now part of the crime scene. arlette saenz and alayna treene are also with us. i want to start with you, rene. you have been on the phone with the ntsb. what are you hearing from the ntsb at the moment? >> so a lot of moving pieces. clearly lots of agencies involved in this investigation. so a lot of coordination is necessary. but their primary concern right now is that they do not in any way want to impede

on the search and recovery mission. so they are being very careful before they go all in on their investigative work not to get in the way for the recovery of these bodies. we heard in that press conference, 27 bodies have already been recovered from the commercial regional jet and one from the black hawk. so clearly more work to be done as it relates to the recovery. and again, ntsb being very mindful of that. we do know that they plan on having a briefing today, but level setting expectations, we are not expecting to get this problem solved, this this mid-air collision solved. we won't have multiple answers. they will mainly be walking us through process and how they will be going about this investigation. and when ntsb arrives, their primary goals are, number one going to be going to the scene to start investigating and taking a

closer look, analyzing the pieces of these two aircraft, the fuselage, we heard that there are three parts of the fuselage, um, found in the potomac that is going to hold some critical clues for them. also, they want to take a closer look at that. and then of course, you have the black boxes. that is going to be your treasure trove of information. we are going to hear things like what the what the pilots were saying inside of the cockpit at the time. both of these aircraft are equipped with black boxes. the ntsb will get that these black boxes are able and designed to withstand heat, as well as water. so, you know, the concern of these being submerged in water, um, not necessarily a high concern at this point. and then that will be analyzed. and the reason why that is so critical is because we have a lot of gaps in this story right now. we have air traffic control audio, where we know, essentially that the pilots of

this black hawk helicopter saw this commercial regional jet. they communicated that to air traffic controllers. but then we also know just 13 seconds later was this mid-air collision. so what happened within that time? and so these black boxes will help to fill in the blanks and fill out this timeline, which will be critical. the other thing that we have to keep in mind here is just patience, because i have covered so many of these investigations, and we oftentimes do not have answers in a day, two days, or even three. sometimes we don't get the full picture to a year from now. so, um, the good news is that they are there. they are ready to go. but this will be some time before we have all of the answers. >> i just want to quickly ask you, because you have covered so many of these, what stood out to me from american airlines ceo has said, we do not know why the military aircraft came into the path of the passenger jet, which seems to indicate that the

passenger jet was on its normal trajectory and it was the the military aircraft potentially, that may have swerved into into their lane, if you will, what stood out to you as you listened to the press conference today when you heard some of that? and we should just remind people that we are now in a recovery phase. there is no chance. according to the fire chief, that there are survivors. they have already taken out 27 people from the plane and one body from the helicopter. >> yeah. i mean, sara, you bring up such a good point because this airspace is a busy one. it's also a complicated one because you have all of these different aircraft that are operating within this airspace. you have military aircraft, you have police aircraft, and then you have the commercial aircraft. and again, reagan national, quite a a busy airport. so all of that comes

into play. and then on top of that it was nighttime. so these are all complications that come into play for this specific airspace. but as far as who is in the what position was the the chopper or the helicopter at the right altitude, in the right position? those are all going to be critical questions, and we just simply can't say at this point. but it is notable that american airlines made that distinction. but again, until this investigation concludes, we just cannot definitively say exactly what went wrong. >> rene marsh working her sources, going to stay in close touch. renee, thank you so much. let's get over to arlette saenz. and arlette, we were talking to you just before the press conference began. you were there at the press conference and d.c. fire and ems made clear, i mean, listing out all of the agencies that were involved in trying to help. um, in, in rescuing people overnight as they announced, though, it is now switching from a rescue to a

recovery operation. so what happens next? >> yeah, kate, that was the tragic news out of this press conference. as they have said, that they've shifted from a search and rescue to a recovery operation. the d.c. fire and ems chief saying that it does not believe that there are any survivors from this collision between that american airlines flight from wichita, kansas, here to reagan national and that army helicopter. now, what we know so far is that they have pulled out at least 28 bodies as they've been conducting this search. that includes 27 people who were aboard that american airlines flight. and then another soldier who had been on board that army blackhawk helicopter. some of the next steps that will happen is that they will continue these recovery efforts. they said that they're confident they will be able to find all of these individuals, but that it could potentially take some time, could potentially require bringing in additional equipment

to help with that search. they will also begin notifying the families, trying to reunite them with the remains of their loved ones. as they're facing this now very tragic situation. now, we do have some pictures of some of the individuals who were aboard that flight, a u.s. figure skating had said that there were athletes, coaches, family members who had been who had traveled to kansas for some type of skating event, that some of them were on board this flight. russian state media had said that there were two world class figure skaters from russia who had been on this flight. and then at this press conference, i was also able to ask both transportation secretary duffy as well as the american airlines ceo, whether they had any knowledge about the backgrounds of these pilots, how much experience they have. the american airlines ceo, isom, told me that they have one of the pilots had about six years

of experience aboard that american airlines flight that was operated by psa. the other pilot had about two years. so this is painting a bit of the picture of who was aboard that flight as it collided with that army helicopter overnight. but still, so many questions about how exactly this incident occurred. transportation secretary duffy stressed that the flight patterns around here for those two aircrafts were standard, but still a lot of questions about the communication potentially between those aircrafts, between air traffic control as well as people are now trying to piece together what exactly happened here and also provide some answers to the families who are now suffering from this tragic loss. >> all right. arlette saenz at the site of this news conference. arlette, thank you so much for being there. let's get right to the white house. alayna treene standing by there for the latest. we heard from secretary of transportation sean duffy that the president and others have been monitoring this all night from the white house. what are you hearing? >> that's right.

>> and i did just speak recently here at the white house with the national security adviser, mike waltz, who said that he was in the situation room with the president very late last night. we did hear while transportation secretary sean duffy, i would note who's it's only his second day on the job. he was sworn into office as transportation secretary on tuesday. he said as well that it is his understanding that donald trump will be back in the situation room early this morning if he is not already monitoring the situation. now, one key question i have, and i've asked the white house, this, john, is whether or not we should expect to hear from the president today publicly if he will make any sort of remarks from the white house on this, as well as whether or not. white house press secretary karoline leavitt is expected to brief. these are all questions that as of now, we do not know the answer to. i do also want to point your attention, though, to what we saw president donald trump post just after midnight regarding this crash. again, we were told that he was in the situation room with law enforcement or

excuse me, with top u.s. officials giving him the the updates on what was going on at the scene after this collision. this is what donald trump posted. he said that he believed that the airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. he went on to say that it was a clear night, and this is the part i wanted to focus on. he said that this is a, quote, bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. not good. now someone did a reporter just during that press conference moment moments ago asked transportation secretary duffy whether or not he agrees with the president that this should have been preventable. we did hear duffy say that he believes that in his mind, yes, they are still learning information, but it does seem like this should have been preventable. so again, i think we're going to be trying to get more updates on this as it all comes together. and another thing as well to note, not only sean duffy is very new into his role as transportation secretary, but we also know the secretary of defense, pete hegseth. he was just sworn in over the weekend. of course, his involvement in this is going to be crucial given that this was a u.s. army

helicopter that collided with that commercial aircraft. so a lot of things that i think we are still waiting to learn more on as we get more updates, but we expect donald trump to continue to be in the situation room this morning. as duffy laid out. >> on your last point right there, secretary pointed out that the helicopter was aware of the plane. that bit of information from secretary duffy moments ago. alayna treene at the white house. we know you're there. keep us posted when you hear anything new. sara. >> all right. joining us now is former transportation secretary under president obama, ray lahood. thank you so much for joining us. i'm just curious. we've just listened to this this press conference where we heard sean duffy, the u.s. transportation secretary, say, look, this was a clear night. so it doesn't look like there was any weather issues. the helicopter was in a standard flight pattern, as was the aircraft in a standard pattern. but then you see this horrific crash that has now confirmed to have left 64 people dead. when

you consider that on the aircraft and three in the helicopter, what are your questions? what is your main question about what happened here? a rare mid-flight collision. >> well. >> first of all, my my thoughts. >> are with. >> the families. >> of the. >> passengers and. >> we are praying for these families that. >> they can. >> get through this very, very terrible. >> situation. secondly. >> as has been. >> mentioned. >> this is one of the the most tricky, trickiest airports to fly in and out of because of the vectoring that has to take place to avoid monuments and the white house and, and, and other other places that the, the where the airport is located and then complicated by the fact that, um, the involvement of an army helicopter um. obviously this is

going to be a complicated, uh, and it will take a long time for the ntsb to come up with the answers that we're all looking for. but i want to just say one thing. no place else in the world do we have an organization as professional with career, professional people as the ntsb, the national transportation safety board is the best. they will get to the bottom. they will of this. they will get to the answers that we're all looking for, because these professional people do this day in and day out and have done many investigations. and i think the american people and all of the folks that are watching this program should know we have the best organization for getting the answers that we want, and they will. it's going to take a good long period of time for it to happen. but ntsb is the best. >> secretary, it's kate bolduan here as our correspondent just

noted, the transportation secretary now sean duffy, he was just he has just gotten on the job. and from that level of experience that you have, i believe that you also were faced with a tragic plane crash shortly after you were sworn into office at the beginning of the obama administration, a commercial plane crash in buffalo. what does sean duffy and the department of transportation, what do they need to do real quick to make sure that they get this right, as they're still trying to get their feet underneath them? obviously, with the new administration coming in. >> kate. good. very good point. and the last major air crash that occurred in our country occurred on our watch. the colgan air crash at buffalo, new york. 49 people perished. every one of those people when they left their destination flying to buffalo, felt that they were going to land in buffalo safely.

and it didn't turn out that way. and if anything good came of that crash, it's that we worked with the families and we worked with congress, and congress was able to pass legislation for pilot rest and some real reforms that i think have have taken hold. and until this crash, we haven't had another crash. and so we need to wait to see what the ntsb does. i think the other little bit of a handicap here is that the faa does not have an administrator. president trump needs to nominate someone. congress needs to pass on that person and approve that person. so but what sean has at his disposal, he has a very highly professional staff at d.o.t. and at faa who have dealt with these these issues. but we need to get an faa

administrator approved to become a part of sean's team. but and we also what i said earlier, kate, we have the ntsb very, very professional organization that will get to the bottom of this. >> mr. secretary, it's john berman here to the extent that, you know and can explain, we get that the faa and control towers handle civilian flights and routing, particularly around washington, dc, and they have conversations, presumably with military aircraft as well. but how are military helicopters exclusively? how are they handled in terms of air traffic around the district? >> anytime there's an aircraft in the vicinity, in the region, whether it's dulles, whether it's, uh, baltimore, whether it's they're all a part of the airspace, whether it's, uh, reagan, they're all controlled

by, uh, the air traffic controllers in the region. and these people are the best. i, i know these air traffic controllers. i know the air traffic control system. again, these are very professionally trained people. and they guide planes in and out as as someone who served in congress for 14 years and flew in and out of, of reagan twice a week from illinois and back. i can tell you this is a very tough airspace because you have dulles, an international airport. you have baltimore, an international airport, and then you have reagan, an international airport. and reagan is particularly difficult because all the vectoring that needs to take place to avoid, as i said earlier, the monuments, the white house and and the airspace is tough. but having good, capable air traffic controllers who do have who do have the responsibility for the military aircraft, i john, i think one of the things that will come out of the ntsb report

is recommendations on, you know, how much aircraft is can be flying around in this region, uh, and particularly in the lanes that the helicopters use. uh, so but it is all controlled by the air traffic controllers. >> ray lahood, former secretary of transportation. great having you on. thank you so much for being with us. >> let's go right now to senator mark warner. obviously, senator from virginia. we saw senator, we saw you there. you're still there at the press conference talking about, well, sharing in the tragedy that this is what what happens now? what's the role what's the role of congress in all of this? because very quickly, senator, you know that the investigation needs to happen. and everything we've heard from everyone this morning is after we have answers, fixes need to be made. >> standing right next. >> to me. absolutely. but first of all, remember, we're less

than 12 hours after this tragedy. um, the families of the loved ones i think are still being notified. the bodies are still being recovered. i do want to obviously express my condolences to those families, but also commend the remarkable work of our first responders, folks who don't live in the dc area. we've got a whole lot of jurisdictions. we've got virginia, maryland district, the feds, dod, and a whole series of local jurisdictions. they all came together last night. um, i live four miles away from the airport. i drive by it every day going to the capitol. um, last night we were driving by about the time the crash took place. i didn't see the crash happen, but i'd never seen as many red lights racing, both to national and across the river in maryland. those folks went into very cold water, and they're going about and obviously very challenging part of of the of the recovery at this point,

there will be time to ask those other questions. i heard your earlier commentator individuals, senator kaine and i, and the whole delegation has been concerned about the enormous amount of air traffic. but we have at this moment, no idea what role, if any, that played in this tragedy. >> senator warner, i do want to expound on that just a bit, because you and your colleague tim kaine have talked a lot about the concern of the number of aircraft that has been coming through that area. i think tim kaine said it's pressed to the gills with 25 million passengers coming in and out of there. and he says it's really only meant for about 15 million passengers. do you think that there must be change, considering what happened here we wouldn't be operating at these levels.

>> um, if faa, the airports authority and others didn't believe it's been safe, we haven't had an incident like this for decades. we all remember the i can still remember back in the 90s when we had a plane literally go into the potomac. um, i would add, we were pushing back about adding additional flights. um, to my knowledge, those additional flights have not been added at this point. um, so i'm not going to jump to any conclusion, but we obviously both have been on record that we are at bursting at the seams at national. and candidly, the decision about adding flights or changing flights ought to be left to the faa. uh, who makes those decisions based on safety? >> senator, it's john berman and i almost hesitate to ask this. we know there were members of the u.s. figure skating federation on board that flight. we've heard from kansas senator jerry moran, who said that kansas, they're almost certainly going to know people who are on board that flight from wichita to reagan. do you have any information yet that

there were citizens of the commonwealth on that flight? has anyone reached out to you to find out information about their loved ones? >> that they have not reached out directly to me. i think they're going to go to the american airlines. they put up a number. um, but i've got to imagine, you know, flying into international. we obviously serve virginia, district in maryland, but i've got to assume there are residents from the commonwealth and from our adjacent jurisdictions. but i don't know any numbers or names. >> senator, we normally speak with you about intelligence matters, of course, from your high ranking position and former chairmanship of the senate intelligence committee. speaking about national security and the safety of all american citizens. and one thing that this does just at its core is shake, shake people's sense of security and safety in a very different way. in talking about flying, you heard the reporters at that press conference asking, can people be confident that they can, that they can fly today?

just speak to if you can, because you know this, because you deal with this in a way that very few people do. just that sense of insecurity that people may be feeling right now. >> i completely understand that people are climbing on airplanes here at dca after 11:00, or for that matter, anywhere across the country. um, you know, nervousness, trepidation. that's a human reaction to this. i will say, based on any kind of statistical analysis record, you know, america's skies are the, i believe, the safest in the world. but we've got to make sure we keep those air traffic controllers where a few thousand short. we need to make sure that we don't slack back on, you know, folks working at the faa who are in critical, critical roles. and that's something that i know. those of us from virginia, but also, i think, i hope the vast majority

of members of congress will be supportive of. >> senator mark warner. thank you so much for your time and taking the time for us this morning on this very tragic moment in our history and in aviation history. we are going to have much more on this. just to remind you what we have just heard, this has changed. according to the chief of fire and ems in dc from a rescue operation to a recovery operation, it is believed there are no survivors from this mid-air crash. we'll be right back. i lay on my back. >> frozen. >> thinking the darkest thoughts, and then everything changed, dana said. you're still you and i love you. >> super man. the christopher reeve story sunday at eight on cnn. >> a sleep number bed is perfect for couples. the climate 360 smart bed is the only bed that cools and warms on each side, and all our smart beds adjust

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on ben shani. >> watch on tnt, trutv and stream br sports on max this is cnn breaking news. >> we continue with the breaking news on the tragic mid-air collision of an american eagle passenger plane and an army helicopter. this is at reagan national airport just outside of washington, dc. we're looking at live pictures of ongoing. operations in the in the potomac river. now, officials just updated us that the window to find any survivors is over. they have now moved from a search and rescue operation to a recovery operation. no survivors among the 64 people on board that american eagle flight 5342, no survivors on board that army blackhawk helicopter, which had three soldiers on board at the time. listen to this. >> we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident. and we have recovered

27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter. the district office of the medical examiner has a lead on reuniting these bodies. and these people with their loved ones, and we will continue to work to find all the bodies and collect them and reunite them with their loved ones. >> the investigation into what went oh so wrong is still very early and in its very early stages. here is more of what we know about how we got to where we are. the american eagle flight 5342. it took off from wichita, kansas last night. it was on its final approach into dca just before 9 p.m., and that is when the collision happened with the u.s. army black hawk helicopter. we have earthcam video of the moment of impact. the spot shadow you see is on. we believe the plane. and then you will see an explosion. air

traffic control audio also reveals the could the communication reveals the control tower was speaking with the helicopter pilot, who reported that they had the plane in sight. and then a 16 second pause. >> steve fake james risch. pat 2-5 pam bondi sergey brin. the club has an aircraft in sight. separation temperature. 72 star one star 32017. >> crash crash, crash, this is alert three. crash. crash. crash, this is alert three. this is operations. was that a hugh hewitt? ossama anjiem uh, that is affirmative. uh, llc or j. president three three. >> we now know that no one did

survive that crash. let's bring in cnn's eva mckend with the very latest. what have you been hearing and what are you learning new this morning at this stage of the investigation? >> sarah, who were on those planes, is the question on everyone's mind this hour. their stories, as you can imagine, you had family members, a husband waiting for his wife at the airport last night to greet their loved ones. and they're still waiting this morning at the airport, but under a much different set of circumstances. authorities say they don't believe there are any survivors. they've pulled 27 bodies from the plane, one from the helicopter. what we know is the american airlines flight departed from wichita with 60 passengers and four crew members, with three soldiers on board. that military copter, helicopter. and this is hitting the u.s. figure skating community especially hard because several of their members were on board. two world champion russian figure skaters

were on the passenger plane as well, according to russian state media. and we have seen kansas senators respond to this episode really speaking about it in personal terms. let's listen you know, when one person dies, it's a tragedy. >> but when many, many, many people die, it's an unbearable sorrow. it's a heartbreak beyond measure. and i know senator moran and i are here just to, um, to to say we care. we wish that there was more we could do, but unfortunately, there doesn't seem much at this time. i want the folks to back home to just know that we care, that we love them, and that this is a time when when we'll have to join arms together and and help each other out. >> and sarah, we have a statement from u.s. figure skating that reads, in part, these athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from the national development camp held in conjunction with the u.s. figure

skating championships in wichita, kansas, were devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims families closely in our hearts. we will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available. american airlines has set up a center at the airport and issued a hotline for family members and friends of the passengers aboard that flight. but again, at this hour, authorities do not believe there are any survivors. >> sarah eva mckend, thank you so much for that update. we appreciate it, john. >> all right. with us now is illinois senator dick durbin, the ranking member of the senate judiciary committee. and, senator, you were coming on this morning initially to talk about the hearings for the fbi director nominee, kash patel. and we will discuss that. but as someone who i know has lived and worked in washington for years and served there as well, i'm sure your thoughts are with the victims of this air crash. >> john, this. >> is a. >> heartbreaking tragedy. i cannot imagine for a moment. >> what these families are going.

>> through. >> but i want to tell you, i feel a sense of familiarity with the situation. 50 round trips a year i make between chicago and washington. and we followed this route down the potomac river over and over and over again, never thinking twice about it, trusting the people who were engaged in air traffic control and piloting the plane. to think that this whole plane from wichita, it was lost. and all the passengers, as well as the military helicopter is just a stunning tragedy. >> it is such a loss. are you aware the hearing is still going on as planned today, and in less than an hour? frankly. >> yes. at 930, we're going to start the hearing on the person the president has chosen to lead. the federal bureau of investigation. i can tell you i have some questions, serious questions about his competence for that responsibility. remember, we're talking about 38,000 criminal and civil investigators in the premier law enforcement agency, not just in

the united states, but in the world. we want a person there who is responsible, experienced and can handle this awesome responsibility. >> and, senator, you have general questions, as you just said, about his ability to handle an agency of that size. but you also have very specific questions about a specific moment during the end of the trump administration. explain. >> well, i can tell you that there was you don't have to go searching for a playbook when it comes to mr. kash patel. he has published a book called government gangsters, which goes into excruciating detail about his theories on political conspiracies and retribution against those who did not treat him properly over the years. to give this man the authority of leading the federal bureau of investigation, i think is questionable. we need someone with sound judgment who is not driven by politics, and mr. patel does not fit that description.

>> understood. and i was i was referring to the hostage rescue and his handling of classified information. in your mind around that. and that was taking place what in the final months of the first trump administration in yemen? >> yes. and questions were raised not just by myself, but certainly by the secretary of defense, esper. as to mr. patel releasing information at a critical moment when we were trying to bring back rescue a hostage. and the question is, was he doing this responsibly with legal authority and serious doubts have led secretary esper and others to question his judgment? >> there are reports this morning that there were calls from u.s. governors to the minority leader. now in the senate, chuck schumer, saying, look, you've got to work democrats to slow down some of these nominations, especially with some of the actions that the white house is trying to take. there was the now rescinded memo freezing federal money. but as a democrat, do you

think you're doing enough in these hearings to raise questions and maybe sway the potential outcomes of these nominations? >> we're doing everything that we can legally and procedurally do in the united states senate. we're taking this very seriously. for example, the secretary of defense, every minute that could be applied to asking questions and making background checks was done. and i support that. same thing is true when it comes to the head of the fbi there. we're not cutting corners. we're not trying to find some way to end this quickly. we're taking our time and doing it responsibly. >> all right. illinois senator dick durbin, as i said, it is a difficult morning for anyone who lives in or around the beltway. thank you for being with us. thank you for sharing your condolences to all those who are lost overnight. again, we are covering this disaster, the collision, the mid-air collision

of an american airlines flight 5342 and a u.s. military blackhawk helicopter. no survivors, 67 people dead. this has shifted from a rescue to a recovery effort. we're going to have new reporting on the questions being asked of federal officials and when we might get answers. >> trump's cabinet picks, the candidates you've heard about for months, go before the senate. who will get the votes? >> i think. >> we have great people. >> follow the trump confirmation hearings. follow the facts, follow cnn. >> watch your step. oh. >> that's why visionworks makes it simple to schedule an eye exam. >> that works for you. >> even if you have a big trip to plan around. >> thanks, meghan. >> see you right now. that's convenient. >> visionworks. >> see the. >> difference?

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you. get $30 off at ron rowe. kobe day. >> i'm valeria leone. on the us-mexico border, and this is. >> cnn breaking news. new details just in about the deadly mid-air collision in washington, dc. the dc fire chief saying this is now a recovery mission. none of the 67 people on the two aircraft survived so far. at least 28 bodies have been pulled

from the potomac river and american airlines jet and a military helicopter collided. despite what authorities are calling a clear night. the jet fuselage found upside down in three separate pieces in the river. witnesses just told us they were alerted by the horrific sound of the crash. >> i was, uh, in my living room when i heard two bang, bang around 8:50 p.m. it was loud. it was unusual. it was something you only hear on video games. on movies, something i have never experienced. uh, that's what i call my attention. and i start looking at the window right there, and immediately i saw the smoke on the south side of the runway all right. >> joining us now, joshua sherrod, a commercial airline pilot. you have flown into reagan national many times, and

i know you are still you still continue to fly. i want to get your sense from a pilot's perspective. when you are looking at this. we have heard that the helicopter was able to see the aircraft. we do not yet know whether the aircraft was able to see that black hawk flying towards it. what can you see on approach in an aircraft of this size? >> so it really. >> kind of depends. >> on how. >> that. >> military aircraft is broadcasting. so most commercial traffic and most private air aircraft traffic. >> in the u.s. uses. >> a system. >> called ads-b. >> automatic dependent surveillance. >> broadcasting, which has been required. >> by. >> the faa since 2020. >> and it communicates with all the other aircraft in the area letting. us know exactly where. >> that aircraft. >> is so that we can see it on our avionics, even though we can't actually. >> see. >> it outside. >> of the cockpit. >> this system is. >> heavily relied. >> on, especially in these congested areas. like that.

>> you'll find around. >> around d.c. so. >> so obviously the pilots. >> are going to be watching this very, very closely to make sure that they're staying away from other aircraft. while they were flying visually at night. it is very difficult to see amongst the other lights, other aircraft lights. especially with helicopters, just because they don't move like certain other aircraft. so it may have been very difficult for them to visually see this helicopter. now, military traffic also. >> are not. >> required to broadcast ads-b, but they do broadcast in mode s. so the big question here is were they broadcasting that ads-b data and was the were the pilots able to see that on their avionics? >> yeah i do want to ask you about you talked about some of the other things on the aircraft, like the automatic crash avoidance system on passenger jets. but we're told that that system actually shuts down at 1000ft. why is that? and what can it do when it is operating? >> so what you're referring to is the tcas, which is the

traffic collision avoidance system. and it does just that. like you said, it helps us make sure and avoid collisions. the part that shuts down 1000 or 900, 1100 feet, depending on how the avionics are set up, is the ra portion, which provides us with resolution advisory. so it will if we get close to an aircraft, it will tell us traffic, traffic and tell us where that traffic is. if we get too close to an aircraft that ra provides us with an escape maneuver. so it will tell us, pull up, pull up or go to, you know, or push down, push down. so to give us a way to escape from that other aircraft. it's also talking to that other aircraft and that other aircraft's tcas system is giving it complimentary resolution advisories, escape maneuvers, so that we can avoid that part shuts down below 1000 ish feet on approach, because a lot of times you are very close to other aircraft and it doesn't want to give you an escape maneuver that could put you into an obstacle or into the ground. so there's it's very likely that as long as the tcas system could see that helicopter, as long as it was

broadcasting correctly, uh, it was probably giving them some sort of warning, but no resolution advisory and no action to take. >> and this mid-air crash, one of the rarest, very, very unusual. but we now know that all those that were involved have been lost. and lots of questions remain as to how this happened and to stop it from happening ever again. joshua sherrod, a commercial pilot here describing some of the details that you know from your perspective. we appreciate it, kate. >> and joining us right now is democratic senator from massachusetts, ed markey. senator, thanks for coming on. you were coming on to talk about the confirmation hearing that's about to get underway that you're taking part in today, and we will get to that. but first, on this, you sit on the senate committee that has oversight of the faa, a critical committee any day, especially after a tragic crash like this. what are your thoughts on this?

>> well, first, this is. an unspeakable. >> tragedy. >> um, my sympathies are with the the families of the victims. it's a very, very sad day. our gratitude goes out to all of the first responders who have been working overnight in order to deal with this tragedy, and it's just something that we have to get to the bottom of. i do sit on the senate commerce committee, which is the committee with jurisdiction over the faa, so it's too early to speculate as to what were the specific causes. but i think it's absolutely imperative that we learn the lessons of what has just happened. we can we we have to ensure that this never happens again, that families do not have to wake up to find that their their families have been harmed in an air tragedy in our country. so that will be the focus, i think, of the senate committee and of the faa. >> absolutely. and president trump has yet to name his pick

for faa administrator following the departure of following the departure of the previous one. how important is that that they get someone in place, especially now? >> it's absolutely critical. we need someone who is highly qualified. and by the way, we also need to focus upon the need to have full funding for air safety that we have the air traffic controllers, which we need, that they all get hired. we have to make sure that people have confidence that when they fly, they are safe. and we can't just have across the board cuts in in federal budget allocations. we have to make sure that we're spending on the public health and safety of all americans. and i think that is a lesson that we should draw from this, that that we always have to err on the side of safety to protect the american people. >> next hour, you wio