that stretch, but it looks like they have moved through. bay bridge toll plaza is backed up towards the end of the maze. >> number seven a heads up for bingers. netflix is adding full season downloads for iphones and ipads with just one click of a button. that means no longer downloading your favorite shows. one episode. >> at a time, thank goodness. yes. >> this is what i do before flights. i'm like downloading each episode. >> you do have to have a lot of storage though. >> you do but download that season bam! >> quick. no, not even for me. for the kids like numberblocks. i'm like, okay, >> number one, number two. my goodness. well, join us at abc seven at seven. we'll be we'll continue to follow. the breaking news is what i want to tell you. have a good day. >> george: good morning america for our viewers in the west. overnight an explosion in the sky over the nation's capital. the deadliest commercial plane crash in the united states in over 15 years.

breaking news overnight. deadly midair collision. >> crash crash crash. this is alert three crash crash crash. >> george: american airlines flight was approaching a runway in washington, d.c. earth cam live stream captured the moment it collided with a blackhawk helicopter and fell into the potomac river, the water temperature fairly above freezing. >> fire boat 201 go ahead, operation recovery young way. we're looking for a aircraft versus a helicopter in the potomac in the area of reagan national. >> i have no viable survivors at this point. >> michael: hundreds of first responders racing to the crash site. the faa and ntsb go team launched, with investigators on scene overnight. newly appointed transportation secretary sean duffy promising a thorough inquiry. >> robin: at this hour, what we are learning from the video and air traffic control audio, and how this could happen at an american airport, with 64 souls on board the passenger plane

including members of u.s. figure skating. three soldiers on board the military helicopter on a training mission. we have full team coverage on the scene. >> announcer: live in times square, this is "good morning america." >> robin: we do say good morning america. we want to get right to breaking news overnight, the deadly midair collision a military blackhawk helicopter and an american airlines flight from wichita, kansas, colliding as the passenger plane was approaching the runway at reagan national airport. >> michael: let's take a look over the scene from our station wjla's chopper. hundreds of first responders raced to the scene, and they've been racing through the night, searching the frigid potomac river. check out the new images coming in overnight. that water is just starting to thaw after being frozen over for weeks. >> george: such a horrific scene. the american airlines jet had 64 people on the flight, 60 passengers, four crew members, three soldiers on board the blackhawk helicopter.

this morning miracle on the hudson captain sully sullenberger is gonna join us. first whit johnson joins us. >> reporter: good morning. this is still a very active search under way on the frigid waters of the potomac. crews have been here for hours. hundreds of personnel from across the region. they have helicopters in the sky and divers under ware searching the wreckage of the two downed aircraft. they were on scene within ten minutes of the collision. it is painstaking and dangerous work. we're told they have recovered bodies, but no survivors. overnight, what's expected to be the deadliest commercial plane crash in the u.s. in 15 years happened over the nation's capital. >> did you see that? >> reporter: just after 8:45 p.m. wednesday evening, an explosion lighting up the night sky in washington as a passenger

jet and military helicopter collided in midair. >> we are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. at this point we don't believe there are survivors from this tragic accident. we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter. >> reporter: the moment of the crash capturing on an earth cam live stream at the kennedy center. american airlines flight 5342 from wichita, kansas, with 60 passengers and 4 crew members on board was preparing to land at reagan national airport. while approaching the runway, metropolitan police receiving multiple calls of the aircraft crashing into an army blackhawk helicopter. officials say there were three army soldiers on board, but no senior official. the explosion sending what was left of both aircraft plunging into the potomac river. >> i have no viable survivors at this point. >> reporter: about 300 first responders racing to the scene. divers desperately searching for any survivors.

the water temperature barely above freezing. a life threatening 36 degrees. the river only just starting to thaw after being frozen over for weeks. >> the conditions out there are extremely rough for the responders. it's cold, wind is howling on the river. they're out there working. >> reporter: air traffic control shutting down operations until at least thursday morning. nearby residents witnessing the horror. >> when we went to the roof, it was insanity. police trucks, ambulances, command vehicles. this was something like i've never seen. >> reporter: family and friends gathering at the airport overnight waiting for news. >> we are going to know people who were on this flight, know their family members, know

somebody. so this is a very personal circumstance as well as an official response. >> reporter: officials in kansas say they believe family members of victims were also arriving at the airport in wichita. >> we also encourage them to stay home and stay in contact with the airline. they will be getting official word directly as well. >> reporter: and u.s. figure skating confirming several athletes, coaches and family members were on the plane returning home from the national development camp. russian media reporting two russian figure skaters were also on board that plane. american airlines releasing a statement saying our concern is for the passengers and crew, and we are in contact with authorities and assisting with the emergency response effort. but this collision is going to raise so many questions about what went wrong. u.s. aviation had been going through a relatively safe period in recent years. no doubt this will rock the industry. robin? >> robin: it really will.

as you said, whit, so many questions. thank you. federal investigators arrived on the scene overnight as did our transportation correspondent gio benitez, who has the latest on the investigation. good morning, gio. >> reporter: hey, robin, good morning. we've just learned that this plane was originally scheduled to land on a bigger runway. that's runway one. at the last minute that was switched to a smaller runway. that's runway 33. that's business as usual. the biggest question right now is, what was happening inside that helicopter? this morning investigators urgently trying to figure out how an american airlines flight and u.s. army blackhawk helicopter collided over the potomac river. >> crash crash crash. this is alert three. crash crash crash this is say hrer three. >> reporter: this camera showing the deadly crash is sure to be a key part of the faa and ntsb investigations. an ntsb go team launching with investigators to the scene overnight. the newly appointed transportation secretary

sean duffy promising a thorough inquiry. >> we are going to offer full support to those on the ground to the mayor, but also to the ntsb who is going to be conducting an investigation in this matter. >> reporter: the plane lined up to land on runway 33. rarely used because of its size and unique landing approach required. the other runway is lined up with the pentagon so that side cannot be used. >> there will be a review of what happened here tonight. after the faa studies what happens, we will take appropriate action to modify flight paths and transmissions. >> reporter: the military pilot on that blackhawk telling the dc8 tower they could see the plane seconds before collision. >> pat 25 do you see? >> pat 25 has aircraft in sight. >> reporter: army officials confirming that helicopter was on a training flight out of virginia. defense secretary pete hegseth saying army and dod investigations are already under

way. with so much still unknown, the ceo of american airlines saying the airline is committed to finding answers. >> our cooperation is without pause and we want to learn everything we can about today's events. that will take time. but anything we can do now we're doing. >> reporter: and reagan national airport is extremely restricted. this is home to the busiest runway in the country. it is truly a nonstop operation. but, guys, i gotta tell you. not only did we hope to never publish something like this, but no experts expected to see something like this to happen over american skies, especially right here in our nation's capital. michael? >> michael: gio, thank you for that. as we said, there were 64 people on the plane and three on the military helicopter. elizabeth schulze is in d.c. with what we know about the victims at this hour. good morning, elizabeth. >> reporter: good morning, might michael. we are inside terminal one of reagan airport. the airport is still closed

through this morning, but we are expecting it to open within an hour. officials just wrapped up a briefing here. the headline was that they do not expect any survivors. they are not releasing the names of the victims. we know there were 60 passengers on board that american airlines flight, four crew members and three service members on board the military helicopter. the virginia medical examiner and the army medical examiner are now involved in operations to try to identify those bodies. u.s. figure skating confirms several members of the skating community were on that american airlines flight which is athletes, coaches and family members who were returning from a train camp in wichita. russian media is reporting the two russian figure skaters were on board the plane. airport officials say there were some family members here waiting to pick up their loved ones when the crash happened. they are offering support centers and urging those family members to call a hotline for

more information. >> michael: elizabeth, thank you so much. we're going to the white house, our chief white house correspondent mary bruce with reaction from the president. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, michael. president trump has been continually updated throughout the night and is monitoring this closely. in a late night statement, he called this a terrible accident thanking the first responders and of the lives lost, said may god bless their souls. later on social media he questioned why, on a clear night, the helicopter wasn't able or instructed to avoid the plane, saying, this is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. not good. of course, the new transportation secretary, sean duffy, was at faa headquarters monitoring this. his first full day on the job. he's ordered his department, of course, to provide full resources. it's also an early test for pete hegseth. he said his department is actively monitoring the situation, adding that the pentagon and army, of course, have launched immediate investigations. but still just so many questions about how this could have happened and what the federal government can do to prevent a

horrific accident like this from happening again, especially in the busy air space near the nation's capital. robin? >> robin: mary, thanks to you. the american airlines plane took off from dwight d. eisenhower airport in wichita. let's go to our station reporter morgan mobley, who is there for us. i don't know what to say. this is very difficult for all, morgan. thank you for joining us this morning. >> reporter: yeah. difficult indeed. first few flights of the day have started taking off at the dwight d. eisenhower airport. this is a tight knit community so you can feel the heaviness in the air. all you can hear is just the rolling of suit cases. city leaders plan on giving an update and a news briefing later this morn. they are also holding a prayer vigil at city hall later this afternoon. leaders here are encouraging the community to double down on caring for each other, even more than they do, in the heart of

kansas. robin? >> robin: you said a tight knit community. i know you all will come together and thank you so much. please know that we are thinking of you and sending you our prayers, morgan. thank you. >> george: we're going to bring in martha raddatz, our aviation contributor colonel steve ganyard. martha, let's begin with you. we know this blackhawk helicopter was on a training mission? >> it was. the military quickly told us last night after the accident. it is called priority air transport. type of helicopter, a blackhawk helicopter. that will generally transport vip's or senior army leadership. the pentagon very quickly knew that senior army officials were not on board. it was the crew to pilot and a crew chief. as you know, george, we see helicopters go up and down the potomac river frequently. but it is a very difficult area to fly in, especially at night. the waters were very dark last

night, going up the river like that, they likely had night vision goggles on so they could see better at night. but sometimes that will distort things. >> george: it does get congested there as well. martha, you spent a lot of time in those blackhawks. you also spoke to a former pilot? >> reporter: i did. an army blackhawk pilot i spoke to last night, who spent his entire career in helicopters and has flown these routes frequently on training missions, and not training missions. he said it is difficult at night when you are there in the darkness. that you look and see the city. i was there last night. the city was lit up. the washington monument, the capitol, as you come down the river. that's also likely what the pilot of that helicopter was seeing as well. >> george: thanks, martha. robin? >> robin: going to bring in our aviation contributor colonel steve ganyard. i know you've been on this from

the very beginning, steve. any possible causes that you can pick up by the video that we've all been seeing, steve? >> yeah. robin, the video that we have shows both aircraft were on a collision course. you don't see any movement out of either aircraft. i'm pretty convinced both aircraft thought they were going to be clear and this wouldn't result in a collision. there was no movement away from the other aircraft. the army helicopter came down the potomac, around the jefferson memorial, turned south and did what they were supposed to do. they contacted the tower and said, we're here. the tower said, you have your regional jet in your sight, meaning do you see the regional jet? the helicopter said, we see it and we accept visual separation, meaning the blackhawk crusade, we will stay away from that helicopter. what may have happened, as martha noted, bright lights, coaltitude. you're looking at the lights from alexandria behind and dca. they may have seen something

else, another helicopter, another aircraft on final. but they believed they were clear of the regional jet. so it was the blackhawk helicopter that hit the regional jet. and so adc was right, the regional jet crew was right. for some reason this blackhawk helicopter thought they saw their interval, thought they saw the traffic, and they clearly didn't. >> robin: can you talk a little more about the audio with the control tower? that is protocol. because some people are saying, why didn't they tell the helicopter what to do? that's not the case. that's not what happens, right? >> right. they did tell the helicopter what to do. they said, you see the aircraft is landing? and the helicopter says, yes. the aircraft, regional jet, was on clearance, meaning they were under positive radar control. the tower was talking to them. the mishap occurred about 150, 200 feet. you can imagine the crew is looking at the runway. they have no idea there's

another aircraft nearby. the helicopter would have come right to left as they were landing on runway 33 sort of pointing at the kennedy center heading up north. and so the ability for the crew in the regional jet to have seen this or anticipated, they just didn't have any chance. >> robin: so much has been said about how, you know this, how congested that area is, the skies there, and how restrictive the air space is there. can you speak more to that? >> you know, robin, helicopters have been flying around washington, d.c. for literally decades and there's never been a problem. so obviously the faa is gonna go back and say a mishap occurred here and we need to make sure this never happens again. but up until this point, it has been fairly foolproof with the procedures that are in place to make sure the helicopters flying low would deconflicted from

landing traffic. why it seems last night, it's pretty clear there was a misidentification of the regional jet in the cockpit of the helicopter. >> robin: more in the investigation to come. steve, thanks to you. >> george: coming up, sully sullenberger is standing by. we'll speak with an eyewitness who was driving close to the airport when he saw the explosion in the sky. first to ginger. >> ginger: water temperatures 36 degrees. winds are light, only three to five miles an hour. air temperature about 35. today we'll head into the mid to upper 40s. as that rescue and recovery operation keeps going, you're going to see winds five to ten and water temps won't change. just to let you know, by midnight tonight through the day friday, this will be a problem that they're trying to get through and do recovery. it will be rainy heavily at times throughout washington, d.c., friday starting early tomorrow morning and then throughout the day. top end of that, we're icy. we've got winter weather advisories that include scranton through the berkshires. throughout the morning we've had flash flood warnings in dallas. they had ground stops last night but a of the storms blowing through.

now that's moving east. if you near waco, austin, you may see damaging winds, an isolated tornado, and flash flight alerts all the way up to paducah. your local weather in 30 seconds.

>> robin: we want to take a live look over the scene there, the potomac there, reagan national airport. breaking news all morning long, and we will be here for you.

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delcastillo, san francisco mayor daniel lowry's fentanyl ordinance is making headway after clearing its first hurdle. it made it through a board of supervisors committee and is expected to be put before the full board for a vote next tuesday. lowry's fentanyl state of emergency proposal seeks to make it much easier to address the opioid epidemic and homelessness. it also would allow for funding contributions from private donors. now, let's check in with francis for a look at traffic. >> hi, amanda. better news now in san jose. northbound 880 reopened and on the connection from 280. so traffic is flowing. and also, if you're headed to the bay bridge toll plaza, it's backed up to the foot of the maze. it is slow in the north bay as well, on southbound 101, in pockets through san rafael, and then it picks up after sausalito. a new crash just reported in concord, westbound four after willow pass road, and the backup is from harbor street. amanda. >> all right. francis. thank you. meteorologist drew tuma

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>> it's another cloudy morning. a live look from our exploratorium camera. showing you those overcast skies. temperatures right now, mainly in the 40s. and it will be another day where sunshine slow to appear and those temperatures are below average. the morning planner. you see all that cloud cover over the next several hours, that sunshine starts to break through the clouds after about 1:00 pm. for a lot of us, so daytime highs, we will go into the 50s later on this afternoon. today is dry. rain is back here tomorrow. it's a level one storm on friday, so get those storm preps underway here today because over the weekend we're seeing a moderate strength atmospheric river move in on saturday. that will bring some heavy rain and some gusty winds saturday morning. amanda. >> all right drew, thank yof you're streaming on the abc seven bay area app. abc seven at seven continues next. for everyone else, it is good morning america. >> do you have old doors that are dating your home one day? doors and closets can transform your entire home by installing designer interior doors in just

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you are looking live over the scene from wjla's chopper. the american airlines jet had 64 people on board. 60 passengers and 4 crew members. there was three soldiers on board the military blackhawk helicopter. >> george: we're going to talk to ari shulman. he was an eyewitness to this crash. ari, you were driving there last night. tell us exactly where you were and what you saw. >> so i was on the george washington national park way, which is a highway that runs north/south. runs from downtown d.c. to alexandria, which is where i live. i was just driving home from the evening. and the highway runs parallel to the flight path so landing path of the planes. you can see all the planes landed up to line. i always look at them. it's an interesting sight. you can see them clearly and far in the distance. i was looking at the planes. the airport was off to my left side. and based on the distance of the planes, i thought there might be one off to my left. i looked and there was. i saw what looked like sort of a

normal size passenger jet on the smaller end coming in to land. it was pretty low above the water. looked like it was going to be going on to the runway in maybe five, ten seconds. everything was fine with it. it was level wings, level flight. i didn't see anything else around it. it just looked like a normal plane. i looked at it for just a moment. i looked back at the road way, because i was driving. i looked back again to get another look and it was completely different the second time about three seconds later. the plane was banked all the way to its right side. i could see the belly, the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow. and there was a stream of sparks underneath the plane. i didn't know what was going on. i could not see any helicopter or anything that it had collided with. my initial thought when i saw it was that it was banking sharply, that this was something the pilot had done to avoid, maybe avoid a collision or avoid something. and that was all i could see. i saw that sharp banking.

>> george: excuse me. you didn't hear a collision? >> no. i didn't hear anything. i was in the car. i had the windows up. i may have had the radio on. i never heard any noise. >> george: and before you saw this banking, it seemed like an absolutely normal flight? >> that's right. i'd say it was three or four seconds between when i looked at the first time and it was normal. i looked back and i think the collision had already happened. >> george: once this happened, what did you do next? >> well, i was driving so i had to keep driving. i couldn't look away from the road for more than a couple of seconds. i kept driving. i looked back a third time, just a few seconds later expecting to see a crash. from my perspective, it looked like the plane passed over the land. from seeing the recording and looking at the angle where i was, i think i thought it was going to land on a near runway and it was over land, but it was still over the water and going to a further runway. i thought it was going to crash at land and i thought i was going to be seeing flames or a fire ball or something. when i looked back, i couldn't

see the plane. i couldn't see sparks. i didn't see any fire or anything else. it had completely disappeared and i didn't know what was going on. >> george: ari shulman, thanks for sharing that. robin? >> robin: what a chilling account, george. let's go back to whit johnson with the latest on the search at the scene. good morning, whit. >> reporter: robin, good morning. as the sun comes up here in washington, you can hear the helicopters overhead. we're seeing them fly low overthe water, part of this massive search effort that's under way. those flashing lights still behind me. that is the crash scene. some of those crew, first responders, were there within ten minutes of the collision. they've been there all through the night. hundreds of personnel from multiple agencies across the region. they have boats on the water and divers under the water searching the wreckage of those two aircraft. all of this beginning just before 9 p.m. here in washington. an american airlines regional jet flying in from wichita, kansas, with 60 passengers on board and four crew members

colliding with that blackhawk helicopter that has three soldiers on board. both aircraft going into the water. that is where this search is right now. we're told from u.s. figure skating that there were some athletes and some personnel, some family members who were on that plane. russian media also reporting that two russian figure skaters were on board as well. american airlines saying in a statement that their primary concerns are with the passengers and crew member, and they are working with authorities and assisting in this emergency response right now. but as the sun comes up here and the search continues, there will be major questions about what went wrong and questions for the industry and safety going forward. michael? >> michael: yeah, lot of questions need to be answered, whit. thank you so much for that. going to bring in our chief justice correspondent pierre thomas with breaking details that we just learned about the collision and the tragic scene. good morning, pierre. >> reporter: michael, good morning. i just spoke with a source who's

been briefed on the situation, and he is describing a gruesome scene with a large number of bodies recovered so far. sadly, the source said he did not have any information on any survivors. he emphasized there has been a desperate attempt to find victims alive. it's been challenging for the responders to see the debris on the water which apparently depicts the intensity of the collision. he said last night a portion of the plane could be seen in the water, as well as the helicopter a short distance away. the source said as of now this is being looked at as a tragic accident, possibly involving pilot error, but it's early in the investigation, george. >> george: okay, pierre, thanks. let's go back to gio benitez. there's a press conference going on. mayor of washington, d.c. what have you learned? >> reporter: well right now the biggest questions george are what was happening with that helicopter? we know that that plane was having a normal approach towards that runway 33 as it was

landing. everything appeared, at least, to be normal there. what seemed to be out of the normal is what was happening with that helicopter. at one point the air traffic control asked the helicopter pilot, do you have the plane in sight? the helicopter pilot replied saying, yes, we do have the plane in sight. so what happened there? was there some sort of loss in communication? did they have their sights set on another plane and didn't see this plane? these are big, big questions. certainly, we know the skies appeared to be clear. but was there any disorientation happening inside that helicopter? so a lot of questions right now about what was happening with that training flight inside the blackhawk helicopter, guys. >> george: thanks very much. robin? >> robin: we'll have much more from the scene. coming up next the former airline pilot that is well known for the miracle landing on the hudson river, that man right there ambassador sully sullenberger is standing by to join us next. tanding by to join us next.

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>> robin: joining us now is the former airline pilot well known for being at the controls for the miracle landing on the hudson river. sully sullenberger, who is the former ambassador of the u.s. to the international civil aviation organization. ambassador, thank you for joining us this morning. i always enjoy seeing you, but i wish this time it was under different circumstances. i know that you have been following, you've been hearing the reports. can you just give us your perspective on what you believe

happened? >> we don't know yet. the investigation may take a year. but the ntsb investigators will find the probable cause and contributing factors. we will learn from it, and we will do what we always do after an accident. learn from it and improve our system, change for the better. what seems apparent from the air traffic control communications is that the airplanes were able to see each other, at least one was able to see the other. the air traffic controller was able to relieve himself of the requirement to have him separate the airplanes. the pilots would have to separate from each other visually by identifying the other aircraft and staying a safe distance away. obviously, at some point, separation was tragically lost. >> robin: it was. given your decade, decades, of flying experience. folks are scratching their head saying, how could something like this happen?

how could it happen? >> well, you have to realize how many things have to go right every day for us to have this now ultrasafe transportation industry. you know, we have in this country, you know, 10,000 flights a day, 10.2 million flights a year. we operate them all safely. it's hard. it's hard to have the diligence and dedication to adhere to best practices on every minute of every hour of every day, every week, every month, every year for a decade strong aviation career. that's what's required. any lapse could potentially be fatal. even though we have a lot of safety layers in there. if all the dominos line up the wrong way, we can have, on rare occasions, catastrophic event. it's important to know that given enough time, given enough

flights, given enough flight hours, eventually whatever can happen will happen. that's what we work very hard to prevent every incident from turning into an accident. >> robin: i know that is the goal. that is the goal. can you talk more about reagan national airport? we've heard about the congested air space. but also, the runway. and landing there at reagan. on this particular runway. can you give us some insight there? >> yeah. it's a legacy airport built a long time ago to different standards. of course, it's been upgraded in certain ways. but it's land locked with the river on one side and civilization on the other. there's not much room for expansion to make the runways longer or to have larger safety areas. and it's kind of a special airport that you need to have unique training on to flight in and out of if you're an airline

pilot. it's considered a special airport that requires a bit more study to operate there safely but a of the short runways, because of the proximity of the other airports, and the cause of the traffic level. lots of different kinds of traffic that mix together in this case helicopters, fixed wing aircraft. any time you have a mix, it makes things more complex. >> robin: we only have a few seconds left. airline safety, i know that is paramount on your mind and the minds of many. you can understand, with all the near misses we've been having, the apprehension of the public. how can you make them be rest assured about airline safety? >> the chances of any one of us being in an airline crash is infinitecimal. we have people that work hard every day to keep us safe. we have thousands of people

doing that every day. we just don't know who they all are. >> robin: and we appreciate what you have done. ambassador sullenberger, thank you so very much. always appreciate your insight and perspective. it's very reassuring. you take care, sir. thank you. >> thank you. bye. >> michael: coming up, we have more details from the scene of the midair collision. we are just hearing now that there are no survivors. we'll be right back. and now tht there are no survivors. we will be. ah, bookstores. i've read that one, i've read that one, —i've read that one! —i didn't read that one, —i didn't read that one. —hey,can you get this? because i left my wallet way in my back pocket. my pleasure because i earn unlimited 2% cash back. wow, this is fascinating: did you know whales and barnacles have a parasitic relationship? oh, i know about parasitic relationships— let's go barnacle. off you go. unlimited 2% cash back, the wells fargo active cash credit card.

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>> george: we are back with breaking news coverage of the deadly midair collision overnight in washington, d.c. we've learned just moments ago that there are no survivors. it is now a recovery mission. the newly appointed transportation secretary spoke moments ago about the flight pattern. >> the helicopter was a standard pattern. in the d.c. area, you see helicopters up and down the river. this flight pattern is seen often times when you live in d.c. this was a standard flight as well. the american airlines flight coming in to land was in a standard flight pattern as it was coming in. this was not unusual when military aircraft flying over the river and aircraft landing at dca. >> george: let's bring back gio benitez. that's why there's so many

questions here. everything seemed to be normal. >> reporter: that's what's so shocking about this, george. he said there that everything appeared to be normal. remember i said earlier that it appeared to be a clear night. he says it was, in fact, a clear night. so what happened here? now we do have a grim update. of course, we told you there were no survivors at this point that we know of. they have recovered at least 27 bodies from the plane's wreckage. at least one body from the helicopter's wreckage. just describe how tragic and awful this crash was. the american aircraft fuselage was found inverted. it was in three different sections underwater. so no doubt about it, they are looking at this and trying to figure out what happened. the american airlines ceo said they don't know why the military aircraft actually came in the path of the plane, guys. >> george: gio benitez, thanks. our coverage will continue all morning long. we'll be right back. coverage ig to continue. we will be right back.

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because of an earlier injury crash. so it's heavy all the way through the maze. and if you're heading to the richmond-san rafael bridge, traffic is slow from harbor way, so you've got a slow ride no matter which bridge you're heading to. the drive time on westbound 92 hayward to foster city is 27 minutes. hi, drew. >> hey, frances. cloudy out there this morning with a live look from santa cruz. temperatures. right now we're mainly in the 40s and in the 50s. so just like yesterday, that sunshine taking its time. a lot of cloud cover this morning. for a lot of us, that sun appears after about 1:00 pm today. later on this afternoon, temperatures will be below average in the 50s. we're dry today. get those storm preps completed by tonight because rain is back here in the forecast starting tomorrow. it's a level one for morning, steady rain. and then that rain intensifies on saturday. by saturday, we're tracking a moderate strength atmospheric river with heavy rain and some gusty winds to kick off the weekend. amanda. >> all right, drew. if you're streaming with us on the abc seven bay area app.c seven at seven continues next. for everyone else, it is good morning america.

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runway in washington, d.c. earth cam live stream captured the moment it collided with an army blackhawk helicopter and fell into the potomac river. the water temperature barely above freezing. 64 souls on board the passenger plane including members of u.s. figure skating. three soldiers on board the military helicopter on a training mission. hundreds of first responders race to the crash site. at this hour, the latest on the investigation. what we're learning from the video and air traffic control sound? and how this could happen at an american airport? >> announcer: live in times square, this is "good morning america." >> george: and good morning america. we want to get right to the latest on that deadly midair collision. a military helicopter and american airlines flight from wichita, kansas, collided as the passenger plane approached the runway at reagan national airport just before 9 p.m. >> michael: the jet had 64 people on board. three soldiers were on board the military blackhawk helicopter. >> robin: crews have been

working through the night. that is a live scene. as we just learned moments ago, there are no survivors and this is now a recovery mission. want to go back to gio benitez with more of what he knows right now. gio? >> reporter: robin, i gotta tell you, this has shaken the aviation community, because no doubt we have not seen a crash like this in years. and certainly, right here in our nation's capital. this is something that no expert expected to see here. when you're looking at this, everything appeared to be normal as that american airlines jet was actually approaching dca. the question is, what was happening with the helicopter? because it was in a normal flight pattern, we're told, by the secretary of transportation. but at one point the air traffic controller actually said, hey, do you see the plane in your sight? they said, yes, we see the plane. the plane is in sight. so at that point, we don't know what happened after that.

were they looking at the right plane? were they disoriented because of the lights and the night sky? we also learned that everything was clear. in terms of the weather. so that's a big mystery right now. everyone is going to be looking at that piece of video that shows that collision in midair. we know that the plane was discovered in three different pieces there under water in waist deep water. we've also learned that they've recovered at least 28 bodies. as we said, robin, very sadly, no survivors at this point. it is a tragic, tragic accident that, of course, as i said before, this has truly shaken the aviation community in this country. >> robin: thank you, gio. >> george: let's go back to whit johnson, who's live on the scene. whit? >> reporter: hey, george, good morning once again. yes, we are in a different part of the potomac river earlier when we were seeing the helicopters joining the search as the sun was coming up here. but now, as you just heard that update from officials, they are now calling this a recovery effort.

they do not believe that anyone likely survived this crash. we know that 27 bodies have been recovered from the plane. at least one from the helicopter. right now officials are continuing that painstaking work. the divers still there in this water, hoping to recover those bodies and reunite them with their families. overnight, what's expected to be the deadliest commercial plane crash in the u.s. in at least 15 years happened over the nation's capital. >> did you see that? >> reporter: just after 8:45 p.m. wednesday evening, an explosion lighting up the night sky in washington as a passenger jet and military helicopter collided in midair. >> we are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to recovery operation. at this point we don't believe there are survivors from this accident. and we have recovered 27 bodies from the plane and one from the

helicopter. >> reporter: the moment of the crash captured on an earth cam live stream at the kennedy center. american airlines flight 5342 from wichita, kansas, with 60 passengers and four crew members on board, was preparing to land at reagan national airport while approaching the runway. metropolitan police receiving multiple calls of the plane crashing into a blackhawk helicopter. there were three army soldiers on board but no senior official. the explosion sending what was left of both aircraft plunging into the potomac river. >> i have no viable survivors at this point. >> reporter: about 300 first responders racing to the scene. divers desperately searching for any survivors. the water temperature barely above freezing. a life threatening 36 degrees, with the river only just starting to thaw after being frozen over for weeks. air traffic control shutting down operations until at least

thursday morning. >> the 12th aviation pwa toll ongranted a pause on continuing missions as what happened is reviewed. >> reporter: multiple agencies are on the scene. hundreds of personnel are here. the debris field is several miles long. they say both the plane and helicopter were on the same flight pattern. again raising these questions about what was it? what went wrong to cause this deadly crash, the worst we've seen in many years? michael? >> michael: thank you, whit. we're gonna go back to our chief white house correspondent mary bruce with more on reaction from the president and the national security agency. good morning again, mary. >> reporter: good morning again, michael. well, the president is monitoring this closely. he's being continually updated. i just spoke with his national security adviser. he said he has been personally updating the president throughout the night.

he told me he was in the situation room late last night. in a late night statement president trump called this a terrible accident. he thanked the first responders and said of the lives lost, may god bless their souls. later on social media, president trump though did question why on a clear night the helicopter wasn't able or instructed to avoid the plane? trump saying, quote, this is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented, saying, not good in all caps. new transportation secretary sean duffy, closely monitoring this. this was his first full day on the job. as duffy just said, he will not rest until we have answers, he says, for families and the flying public. this is an early test for the new defense secretary, pete hegseth, given this was an army helicopter on a training mission. he said his department is actively monitoring this situation and has added, of course that the pentagon and army launched that immediate investigation.

there's simply just so many questions about how this could have happened and what the federal government can do going forward to make sure we never see a horrific accident like this again, especially given the busy air space over the nation's capital. michael? >> michael: lot of questions to be answered, as you said, mary. i want to bring elizabeth schulze who is at reagan national airport. what are you learning at this moment? >> reporter: michael, we are inside terminal 1 at reagan airport. the airport has been close all morning but is just reopening for flights. there are some flights about to take off from here. officials were here briefing the community. they do not expect any survivors from this crash. what we know about the victims is they have not yet identified names but do know there were 64 people on board that american airlines plane. 60 passengers on the american airlines flight, 4 crew members and 3 service members on that military helicopter. the fire chief saying that 27 bodies have now been recovered

from the plane and one from the helicopter. the virginia medical examiner and the army medical examiner are now involved in the identification and operations to identify those bodies. we have received some statements that suggest who some of the victims might be. the u.s. figure skating confirms in a statement that several members of its skating community including athletes, coaching and family members were on board that american airlines flight which was returning from a training camp in wichita. the ceo of the boston skating club said six of its skaters were on board the flight. this is an incredibly tight knit community. they say are devastated and at a loss for words. russian media is reporting two russian figure skaters were on board the plane. some family members were waiting to pick up loved ones when the crash happened. they have set up centers to get care and updates from the

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>> george: back with breaking coverage of that deadly midair collision last night over reagan national airport. an blackhawk helicopter crashed into a regional passenger jet from wichita, kansas, to washington, d.c. no survivors have been reported. want to go to martha raddatz who's been in touch with the pentagon. good morning, martha. >> reporter: good morning, george. the pentagon is looking into every detail about this. last night, i was down there by the potomac river once that recovery mission started. they basically told us very early that there were three soldiers on board that blackhawk helicopter on that training mission. they're gonna want to talk to that unit.

what was it doing there? why was it there? i think it's really important to remember that the helicopter was on a visual approach. we've heard some of that air traffic control audio where it says that, yes, he could see, or the pilot could see the regional jet. the air traffic control confirmed that with the helicopter. it appears. and what they will look at, and those pilots were likely on night vision goggles, making that visual approach to the airport. the light in that area, and you can see it from the video there. it was a dark night, dark river, but lots of city lights. and the angle you see there is even less lit than the other angle when you make that approach into reagan airport. so they are going to see whether those pilots thought they saw

the jet, thought they saw the regional jet but, in fact, were looking at some other light. perhaps an aircraft taking off. perhaps a city light and lost track of that horizon. that is one thing they will definitely be looking at. but the pentagon is intent on getting to the bottom of this and seeing exactly what happened. >> george: course, this is right by the pentagon, martha. it's fairly routine to have blackhawk helicopters around reagan national airport. >> reporter: it's so routine. that's probably what they were training for in that helicopter. they're near the pentagon, they often fly vip's or senior army leadership around in those helicopters going up and down the potomac river. so they are used to it, people are used to seeing those helicopters. aircraft are used to seeing those helicopters. but, obviously, something went terribly wrong with that helicopter, seemingly crashing into that regional jet. >> george: martha raddatz, thanks. robin? >> robin: many of us have traveled to the d.c. area and are very familiar with seeing

those helicopters flying so low. that was pretty much standard. going to go back to colonel steve ganyard going to join us by phone. steve, i know you were listening to the press conference that was recently held. there's something the secretary of transportation, sean duffy said. it was clear that the helicopter was in a standard flight pattern as was the passenger plane. what do you make of that? >> yeah. robin, there are standard procedures for helicopter pilots when flying around washington, d.c. when they are three knot call miles they have to talk to the tower to say, even though i'm not on positive radar contact, flight plan, here i am. i'm telling you that i'm transiting your air space. the army blackhawk helicopter pilot did that last night. they said, we're coming around the memorial, as it came past the jefferson memorial, made the turn south. they told the tower. tower said, here's the regional jet that is landing.

do you see this? the blackhawk helicopter pilot says, yes, we see that, and we will maintain visual separation. now, in pilot lingo that means, i see it, he's landing, i will stay away from him and not get near him. so, as martha said, low altitude, at night. remember, both flights were about 200 feet when the collision occurred. you're looking at all the lights of alexandria in the background, lights of dca. it's understandable, if the blackhawk pilot thought they saw the regional jet when maybe what they saw was either another aircraft that was landing on the main runway or a flashing light or something else. but in their minds, they were doing the right thing, just as the atc was doing the right thing and the crew in the regional jet was doing the right thing. >> robin: we've been talking about this, steve, because there's so many people that are contacting us, the reports it

seems like almost -- i won say daily, but weekly, there's something in aviation that is going awry. the public is a little anxious. so how do you respond to that and calm their fears? >> you know, robin, we need to keep this in context. so it has been literally decades since we've had a fatal mishap like this in the united states. it is literally safer for you to be on an airplane in the air than it is for you to stand in your kitchen. so we just sort of take it for granted how safe flying has become and how professional the crews are, and how advanced the technology is. but occasionally, human beings are in control towers, on atc and, as human beings, make mistakes. everything we know up to now this morning appears that human error was the cause of this mishap. >> robin: and this investigation, as you said, just getting under way, so we hope to learn more soon. steve, as always, thank you for your insight. michael? >> michael: all right, robin. pierre thomas has more details from the recovery scene and

about the collision. good morning again, pierre. >> reporter: michael, good morning. well, a source reached out this morning to basically warn that there would be no survivors. i was struck by the pain in his voice. that was confirmed at the press conference a few moments ago. he was describing a gruesome scene in which multiple bodies were being recovered. we now know that number is roughly 27 or so at this point. again, no survivors. what is being described to me is gruesome. they've been finding the bodies that the collision broke the plane into at least a couple parts. the helicopter can be seen a short distance away. this source describes the helicopter may have been upside down at one point. just devastating details. also the source is describing the situation where, because of the state of the bodies, there will be some complicating factors in terms of the body count. i don't want to go into any more detail than that, but this is a

very complicated situation. the river is frozen in parts. so this will be unfolding over the course of the day. as law enforcement and rescue officials are bracing for the situation that they are dealing with. robin? >> robin: yes, they are, pierre. thank you. as we said, the american airlines plane took off from the dwight d. eisenhower airport in wichita. let's go back to our station kmbc reporter morgan mobley, who is there for us. can only imagine the reaction on hearing the latest news that there are no survivors. what is the latest that you can share with us from where you are, morgan? >> well, robin, wichita is not a small town. in fact population is about 400,000. i'll tell you what, it really feels like one. everyone is so tight knit and connected. this is an abc news special >> good morning everyone. i'm kyra phillips president trump about to address the nation from

the white house requesting for a moment of silence after deadly midair collision here in our nation's capital. >> thank you very much. to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation. just before 9 p.m. last night, an american airlines regional jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew collided with an army blackhawk helicopter carrying three military service members over the potomac river in washington, d.c. on final approach to reagan national airport. both aircraft crashed instantly and were immediately submerged into the icy waters of the potomac. real tragedy. the

massive search and rescue mission was underway throughout the night, leveraging every asset at our disposal. and i have to say, the local, state, federal military, including the united states coast guard in particular. they've done a phenomenal job. it's so quick, so fast. it was it was mobilized immediately. the work has now shifted to a recovery mission. sadly, there are no survivors. this was a dark and excruciating night in our nation's capital and in our nation's history, and a tragedy of terrible proportions. as one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly, and we are a country of really, we are in mourning. this is really shaken. a lot of people, including people very sadly, from other nations who were on the flight for the

family members back in wichita, kansas, here in washington, dc and throughout the united states and in russia, where we have a russia contingent. some very talented people, unfortunately, were on that plane. very, very, very sorry about that. whose loved ones were aboard the passenger jet? we can only begin to imagine the agony that you're all feeling. nothing worse. on behalf of the first lady, myself and 340 million americans, our hearts are shattered alongside yours. and our prayers are with you now. and in the days to come. we'll be working very, very diligently in the days to come. we're here for you to wipe away the tears and to offer you our devotion, our love and our support, his great support. in moments like this, the differences between americans fade to nothing compared to the bonds of affection and loyalty that unite us all, both as americans and even as nations. we are one family and today we

are all heartbroken. we're all searching for answers. that icy, icy potomac was a cold, cold night. cold water. we're all overcome with the grief. for many who have so tragically perished will no longer be with us. together, we take solace in the knowledge that their journey ended not in the cold waters of the potomac, but in the warm embrace of a loving god. we do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and i think we'll probably state those opinions now, because over the years i've watched as things like this happen and they say, well, we're always investigating. and then the investigation three years later, they announce it. we think we have some pretty good ideas, the faa and the ntsb and the u.s. military will be carrying out a system and comprehensive

investigation. our new secretary of transportation, sean duffy, is his second day on the job. when that happens, it's, uh, it's a rough one. we'll be working tirelessly. he's a great gentleman. whole group is. these are great people, and they are working tirelessly to figure out exactly what happened. well, we will state certain opinions. however, i'm also immediately appointing and acting commissioner to the faa. christopher gross, a 22 year veteran of the agency, highly respected. uh, christopher, thank you very much. appreciate it. 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 we have to be the highest intellect

and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers. uh, 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 other jobs do, but this was a job that had to be superior. and intelligence. and, uh, we didn't really have that. and we had it. and then when i left office and biden took over, he changed them back to lower than ever before. i put safety first. obama, biden and the democrats put policy first, and they put, uh, politics at a level that nobody's ever seen because this was the lowest level there policy was horrible , and their politics was even worse. so, as you know, last week, long before the crash, i signed an executive order restoring our highest standards

for air traffic controllers and other important jobs throughout the country. so it was very interesting that about a week ago, almost upon entering office , i signed something last week that, uh, was an executive order, very powerful on restoring the highest standards of air traffic controllers and others by the way, then my administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety. we have to have our smartest people. it doesn't matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. it matters. intellect, talent, the word talent. they have to be talented and naturally talented geniuses. you can't have regular people doing that job. they won't be able to do it. but we'll restore faith in american air travel. i'll have more to say about that. i do want to point out that, uh, various articles that appeared prior to my entering office, and here's

one the faa's diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disability entities . uh, that is amazing. and then it says faa says people with severe disabilities are most underrepresented segment of the workforce, and they want them in and they want them. they can be air traffic controllers. i don't think so. this was, uh, in january 14th. so that was, uh, a week before i entered office. they put a big push to put, uh, diversity into the faa's program . uh, then another article, the federal aviation administration. this was before i got to office recently. second term. the faa is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities. so psychiatric problems and other mental and

physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative, spelled out on the agency's website. can you imagine? these are people that are i mean, actually their lives are shortened because of the stress that they have. uh uh, brilliant people have to be in those positions and their lives are actually shortened very substantially shortened because of the stress where you have many, many planes coming into one target. and uh, you need a very special talent and a very special genius to be able to do it. targeted disabilities or those disabilities that the federal government, as a matter of policy, as identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring emphasis in recruitmt and hiring, the faa's website states. they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and

dwarfism. all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country, pouring into a little spot, a little dot on the map, a little runway. the. the initiative is part of the faa's diversity and inclusion hiring plan. think of that. the initiative is part of the faa's diversity and inclusion hiring plan, which says diversity is integral to achieving faa's mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel. i don't think so. i don't think so. i think it's just the opposite. the faa website shows that the agency's guidance on diversity hiring were last updated on march 23rd of 22. they wanted to make it even more so. and then i came in and i assumed maybe this is the reason the faa, which is overseen by secretary pete buttigieg, a real winner. that's the guy who's a real winner. do

you know how badly everything's run since he's run the department of transportation? he's a disaster. he was a disaster as a mayor. he ran his city into the ground, and he's a disaster now. he's just got a good line of. the department of transportation, his government agency charged with regulating civil aviation while he runs it, 45,000 people. and he's run it right into the ground with his diversity. so i had to say that it's terrible. then it's a group within the faa. another story determined that the workforce was too white, that they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately. this was in the obama administration, just prior to my getting there. and we took care of african americans, hispanic americans. we took care of everybody at levels that

nobody's ever seen before. it's one of the reasons i won, but they actually came out with a directive to white, and we want the people that are competent. but now we mourn and we pray, and we'd like to ask all americans to join me in a moment of silence as we ask god to watch over those who have lost their lives and bring comfort to the loved ones. and i just want to say, god bless everyone in this room. this has been a terrible, very short period of time. we'll get to the bottom of it. so we all saw the same thing. we've seen it many times. i've had the honor of hearing tapes. tapes are scary, very scary tapes. you had a airliner coming in american airlines. he was doing everything right. he was on track. he was the same track as everybody else. they came in. it's probably the same track as they've had for 25

years or more. he's coming in the path, and for some reason he had a helicopter that was at the same height, obviously when they hit, but pretty much the same height and going at an angle that was unbelievably bad. when the air traffic controller said, do you see, you know, he's talking about do you see him? but there was very little time left when that was stated. and then also he said, follow him in. and then almost immediately after that, you know, seconds after that, there was the crash that took place. well, you follow him in that means like, everything's fine, follow him in. you had a pilot problem the standpoint of the helicopter. i mean, because it was visual, it was very clear night. it was cold, but clear

and clear as you could be. the american airlines plane had lights blazing. they had all their landing lights on. i could see it from the kennedy center tape. we had a tape up on the kennedy center. that seems to be the primary thus far. i'm sure we'll see other tapes because it's such a an area where there are a lot of cameras, a lot of cameras looking up into the air, into space. so we'll probably see many other shots of it before too much time goes by. but we had a situation where you had a helicopter that had the ability to stop. i have helicopters, you can stop a helicopter very quickly. it had the ability to go up or down. it had the ability to turn and the turn it made was not the correct turn. obviously. and it did somewhat the opposite of what it was told. we don't know that that would have been the difference because the timing was so tight. it was so it was

so little. there was so little time to think. but what you did have is you had vision. the helicopter had vision of the plane because you had vision of it all the way. perfect vision of it all the way from at kennedy center, where the tape was taken. and for some reason, there weren't adjustments made. again, you could have slowed down the helicopter substantially. you could have stopped the helicopter, you could have gone up, you could have gone down. you could have gone straight up, straight down. you could have turned. you could have done a million different maneuvers. for some reason, it just kept going and then made a slight turn at the very end. and there was by that time it was too late. they shouldn't have been at the same height, because if it wasn't the same height, you could have gone under it or over it, and nobody realized or they didn't say that it's at the same height, at the same height, it would still wouldn't have

been great, but you would have missed it by quite a bit. it could have been 1000ft higher, it could have been 200ft lower, but it was exactly at the same height. and somebody should have been able to point that out. so all of this is going to be studied, but it just seems to me from a couple of words that i like to use the words common sense. some really bad things happened and some things happened that shouldn't have happened. so you had a helicopter going in identical direction. you had a helicopter that was at the exact same height as somebody going in essentially the opposite direction. you had a plane that was following a track, which is a track that every other plane followed. and i don't imagine i know i've heard today that they might have been following the preceding plane, which was pretty close, but not that close the preceding plane. but you wouldn't have even been able to see that because of the direction that the helicopter was coming in at. so you had a

confluence of bad decisions that were made, and you have people that lost their lives, violently lost their lives. we're going to take a few questions i'd like to ask our new secretary of transportation to say a few words. sean duffy, a great gentleman, just started. it's not your fault, and i know you agree with me very strongly on intellect and even psychological well-being of the air traffic controllers. it's such an important position, and i think i can't emphasize stronger. i changed it when i first ran in 2016, i changed it. we had the highest standard that you could have, and then they changed it back. that was biden to a standard. you just i read it to you. that was from one of your papers. one of the people in this room actually wrote that. and then i changed it back a few

days ago. and. that was we'll see. we don't know that necessarily. it's even the controller's fault. but one thing we do know, there was a lot of vision and people should have been able to see that, you know, at what point do you stop, at what point do you say, well, that plane's getting a little bit close. so this is a tragedy that should not have happened. please. >> thank you, mr. president. and i would just note the president's leadership has been remarkable during this crisis. we have advance local, state, federal. and when you see that kind of cooperation, it begins with the leadership in this body. so thank you for that, mr. president. you make our jobs a lot easier. you made an important point that when we deal with safety, we can only accept the best and the brightest in positions of safety

that impact the lives of our loved ones, our family members. and i think you make a really important point on that, mr. president. that is the motto of your presidency the best and the brightest, the most intelligent coming into these spaces. i want to take a moment and extend my condolences to the families of the loved ones. we commit to them that we are going to get to the bottom of this investigation. not in three years, not in four years, but as quickly as possible with the ntsb, who is here today as well as the faa. what happened yesterday shouldn't have happened. it should not have happened. and when americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination. that didn't happen yesterday. that's unacceptable. and so we will not accept excuses. we will not accept passing the buck. we are going to take responsibility at the department of transportation and the faa to make sure we have the

reforms that have been dictated by president trump in place to make sure that these mistakes do not happen again and again. i want to thank you for your leadership, mr. president, and i appreciate the confidence you've placed in me. thank you. thank you. >> pete, would you like to say. >> something, please? >> well, thank you, mr. president. again, i want to echo what the transportation secretary said about about your leadership. from the moment we found out about this, we were in contact with the white house trying to determine exactly what happened. i would echo as well. no excuses. we're going to get to the bottom of this. we first and foremost from the defense department, want to pass our condolences to the 64 souls and their families that were affected by this never should happen. and certainly the three service members, the three soldiers, a young captain, staff sergeant and cw two, chief warrant officer on a routine annual retraining of night flights on a standard corridor

for a continuity of government mission. the military does dangerous things. it does routine things on a regular basis. tragically, last night a mistake was made. i think the president is right. there was some some sort of an elevation issue that we have immediately begun investigating at the dod and army level. army cid is on the ground investigating top tier aviation assets inside. the dod are investigating, sir, to get to the bottom of it so that it does not happen again because it's absolutely unacceptable. but i want to echo what the transportation secretary and you, mr. president, said, because it pertains to the dod as well, we will have the best and brightest in every position possible. as you said in your inaugural, it is color blind and merit based, the best leaders possible, whether it's flying blackhawks and flying airplanes, leading platoons or in government. the era of die is

gone at the defense department and we need the best and brightest, whether it's in our air traffic control or whether it's in our generals or whether it's throughout government. so thank you for your leadership and courage on that, sir, and we'll stand by you on it. thank you very much. >> j.d, please. >> well, thank. >> you, mr. president, for your leadership. i just want to reemphasize something the president said. and you've heard from the secretary of transportation and of defense, there really was a whole of government response. we were all on the phone. we were all communicating yesterday trying to get to the bottom of this immediately, but also try to communicate with the american people about what happened, something the president said that i think bears re-emphasizing, which is that when you don't have the best standards in who you're hiring, it means on the one hand, you're not getting the best people in government, but on the other hand, it puts stresses on the people who are already there. and i think that is a core part of what president trump is going to bring and has already brought to washington, dc, is we want to hire the best people because we want the best people at air

traffic control, and we want to make sure we have enough people at air traffic control who are actually competent to do the job. if you go back to just some of the headlines over the past ten years, you have many hundreds of people suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers, but they were turned away because of the color of their skin. that policy ends under donald trump's leadership, because safety is the first priority of our aviation industry. thank you, mr. president. >> thank you. >> mr. mr. president mr. president on the on die in the claims that you've made are you saying this crash was somehow caused and the result of diversity hiring and what evidence have you seen to support these claims. >> it just could have been we have a high standard. we've had a higher, much higher standard than anybody else. and there are things where you have to go by brainpower. you have to go by psychological quality. and psychological quality is a very important element of it. these are various very powerful tests that we put to use. and they were terminated by biden. and biden went by a standard that's

the exact opposite. so we don't know. but we do know that you had two planes at the same level. you had a helicopter in a plane that shouldn't have happened. and we'll see. we're going to look into that and we're going to see. but certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. we want somebody that's psychologically superior and that's what we're going to have. >> mr. president. vice president. >> yeah. please go ahead. >> mr. president, you mentioned at the top of the briefing that there were several russian nationals on the flight. yes. will the u.s. government be willing to facilitate the transfer of their remains, considering the fact that there is no direct air travel between the two countries? >> we've already been in contact with russia. and the answer is yes. we will facilitate. yes. please go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. the situation in the democratic republic of the congo is getting worse. even though president

gian lorenzo has been mediating the conflict between rwanda and the democratic republic of the congo because he wants to bring peace and stability, the situation is really bad right now. i want to hear from mr. president, if you have any plan in the future to bring peace in the democratic. >> republic about rwanda, and it is a very serious problem. i agree, but i don't think it's appropriate right now to talk about it. but it is a very serious problem. >> mr. president. >> mr. president, yet know the names of the 67 people who were killed and you are blaming democrats and die policies and air traffic control and seemingly the member of the u.s. military who was flying that black hawk helicopter, don't you think you're getting ahead of the investigation right now? >> no, i don't think so at all. i don't think where the names of the people. you mean the names of the people that are on the plane. you think that's going to make a difference? >> they come for their families. they are a group of people. >> that have lost their lives. if you want a list of the names we can give you that we'll be giving that very soon. we're in coordination with american

airlines. we're in coordination very strongly, obviously, with the military. but i think that's not a very smart question. i'm surprised coming from you. >> are you blaming yourself? please, please. >> thank you, president trump. thank you for being here. based on your analysis so far, do you have a sense of who is at fault? if it was the plane, the helicopter, air traffic control? and can you assure people that it is safe to fly in and out of d.c? >> well, i've given you the analysis, and the analysis was it was based on vision. you had a lot of people that saw what was happening. you had some people that knew what was happening. there was some warnings, but the warnings were given very, very late. you know, those warnings were given very late. it was almost as they were given a few seconds later, there was a crash. it should have been brought up earlier. but the people and the helicopter should have seen where they were going. i can't imagine people with 2020 vision not seeing, you know, what's happening up there.

again, they shouldn't have been at the same height. you're going in reverse directions or sideway directions. obviously you want to be at different heights. i see it all the time when i'm flying. i have planes going in the opposite. they're always lower, we're higher, or they're. so if somehow there's a screw up, there's not going to be a tragedy. it'll be close. but you know, there's never going to be a tragedy if you're at a different elevation. for whatever reason, they were at the same elevation. and also from the american airlines standard. he's along the track that every plane is along. you say, what was the helicopter doing in that track? it's very sad, but visually, somebody should have been able to see and taken that helicopter out of play, and they should have been at a different height or. >> thank you, sir. you mentioned the russians that were on board that plane. what other nationalities were on board that were passengers? >> there were a couple of

others. we're going to be announcing it in about an hour. we have some very specific information. we're calling the countries. we've spoken to most of them, but there were some other countries represented. >> i've spoken to president putin, i have not, no, mr. president, not about this question. if i may, on your executive order, you've. >> already issued an executive order that you say will restore aviation safety, right? this crash happened after that. was the executive order successful? and what more needs to change to keep people safe? >> well, you know, we issued it three days ago and we were we're in the process of making those changes. this is this is something that should have been done a long time ago. actually, my original order should have never been changed. and i think maybe you wouldn't have had this problem. >> maybe. >> yeah. >> please go ahead. >> thank you. we see, like, everyday life, that's very often the those diversity hires cause sometimes issues as you just mentioned. so what's the plan do you have. are we going to see some fire. are you going to fire

some of those diversity hire in the federal government. what's what's the plan do you have? >> i would say the answer is yes. if we find that people aren't mentally competent. you you see the language, the language is put out by them. and if you see that i'm not going to bore you by reading it again. but these are not people that should be doing this particular job. they'd be very good for certain jobs, but not people that should be doing this particular job. >> mr. president, you have today blamed the diversity elements, but then told us that you weren't sure that the controllers made any mistake. you then said perhaps the helicopter pilots were the ones who made the mistake. >> it's all under investigation. >> i understand that. that's why i'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash. >> because i have common sense, okay. and unfortunately, a lot of people don't. we want brilliant people doing this. this is a major chess game at

the highest level. when you have 60 planes coming in during a short period of time, and they're all coming in different directions, and you're dealing with very high level computer, computer work and very complex computers. and one of the other things i will tell you is that the systems that were built, i was going to rebuild the entire system, and then we had an election that didn't turn out the way it should have, but they didn't build the systems properly. they spent a lot of money renovating a system, spending much more money than they would have spent if they bought a new system for air traffic controllers, meaning the computerized systems. there are certain companies that do a very good job. they didn't use those companies. they used companies that should not have been doing it. no, i think i think this i think it's very important to understand that for some jobs and not only this, but air traffic controllers, they have to be at the highest level of genius. >> okay, i want to i want to ask

you about the ice skaters in a moment, because the us ice skating community was affected. but first, if i can, the cited faa tax that you read is real. but the implication that this policy is new, or that it stems from efforts that began under president biden or the transportation secretary, pete buttigieg, is demonstrably false. it's been on the faa's website. you know, it's on the website, the faa's website. it was there in 2013. it was there for the entirety. what i read, it was there for the entirety of your administration, too. so my question is, why didn't you change the policy during your first administration? >> i did change it. i changed the obama policy, and we had a very good policy. and then biden came in and he changed it. and then when i came in two days, three days ago, i signed a new order, bringing it to the highest level of intelligence. okay. >> it was on the website, please. >> quiet, quiet. >> welcome back. >> i'm sorry. >> you mentioned that a vision was the probably the problem that was at issue in this crash. there's been some reports that one of the pilots and the helicopter may have been using night vision equipment. was

there any indication? >> we don't know. we're going to know that pretty soon. it may change your view plane if you do have the night vision. so it's very possible that could have happened. that would be that would be maybe a reason why you wouldn't actually see as well as on a clear night. you can see sometimes better without it. >> mr. president. >> i have a couple. >> of more. mr. president, newsmax. >> is it helpful to have your secretary of transportation confirmed, and does this intensify your interest in getting other nominees confirmed quickly? >> turn it go that way. >> is it helpful to have your secretary of transportation confirmed, and does this intensify your interest in getting other nominees confirmed quickly as well? >> well, sure, we want fast confirmations. and the democrats, as you know, are doing everything they can to delay them. they've taken too long. we're we're struggling to get very good people that everybody knows are going to be confirmed, but we're struggling to get them out faster. we want them out faster. it's a good question actually. we we've been

pushing sean. everyone knows sean for a long time. he got many, many democrat votes, but they want to take as long as they can. they ask questions like some of the questions that peter would ask that were totally irrelevant and not very good questions, but they want to just keep it going. they want to keep it going as long as possible. i was very honored, actually, that you got so many democrat votes. that was really good. that was really good. >> sir. president. >> when i tried to when i tried to meet with the families. and the second question, is it your impression that military training was done during that time? is that what the training that the helicopter was involved in? is it anything you can tell us about that. >> you don't know? these are the things that will come up with the investigation. you don't know. but the helicopter obviously was in the wrong place at the wrong time and a tragedy occurred. >> please remember. >> i've got a question about the. >> oh, go. >> ahead please. >> thank you, mr. president. you've been critical of the

current regulations and you've called for big reforms at faa. i'm curious, sir, what. >> i made the reforms, actually. >> what is your message? >> three days ago. >> i made it. yes, sir. what is your message, then to the american public in the weeks and months ahead, should they feel hesitant to fly? and if you could clarify, perhaps something that the defense secretary said when he said that this helicopter went on a continuity of government mission. >> i don't know what that what that refers to, but they were practicing. they were they do that. they call it practicing and they were. and that's something that should be done. it's only continuity in the sense that we want to have very good people, and that has to be in continuity, and that's what they refer to. but it was basically practice, and it was a practice that worked out ver as americans feel. that's why on his question, the first question should people be hesitant to fly

right now? no, not at all. i'm not hesitate to fly. i this is something that it's been many years that something like this has happened and the collision is just something that we don't expect ever to happen again. we are going to have the highest level people. we've already hired some of the people that you've already hired for that position long before we knew about this. i mean, long before from the time i came in, we started going out and getting the best people because i said, it's not it's not appropriate what they're doing. i think it's a tremendous mistake. you know, they like to do things and they like to take them too far. and this is sometimes what ends up happening. now, with that, i'm not blaming the controller. i'm saying there are things that you could question, like the height of the helicopter, the height of the plane being at the same level, going in opposite directions. it's not a positive. but now we're already hiring. people know flying is very safe. we have the safest flying anywhere in the world and we'll keep it that way. thank you all

very much. thank you very much, everybody. >> appreciate it. okay. yeah. hold on. apply to the air traffic controller for. >> an hour of anguish for our nation. no survivors. 64 passengers and crew on board that american airlines flight. three u.s. soldiers flying that black hawk helicopter. now, we all want to know what happened in the dead of night here in washington, dc. let's start with our transportation correspondent, gio benitez. he is there on the scene of the crash where recovery efforts are in full force right now to find those remaining victims. gio, what do we know? >> so, carol, let's take the step by step with what we know exactly. it started with this american airlines plane originally scheduled to land on runway one. that is the biggest runway here. it is also the busiest runway in the country. it is just nonstop. at the last moment, air traffic control changed that to runway 33. now

we don't know exactly why, but we do know that that was pretty commonplace. this happens all the time here at this airport. the american airlines ceo says that everything was looking normal on approach as they were landing. then it gets to the helicopter and this is the black hawk. and that black hawk was at 350ft. and for some reason, it seemed to be heading toward the plane. and again, we don't know why that happened either, but we do know that air traffic control actually said to the black hawk pilot, do you see the plane? and they confirmed that they saw the plane, or at least a plane, and we just don't know if there was any confusion there in the black hawk at the time. we know that there were three, three different soldiers there in the black hawk conducting this training mission. that doesn't mean they were inexperienced. it just means that this is sort of like a routine training that the military is always doing. and at that point, that's what we don't know what happened. did they get

confused? and so there are many questions about that particular moment with the black hawk here. >> gio, stay with us. also with us pilot and aviation consultant steve ganyard. steve, i understand from the tower audio that the army pilot did confirm twice that he had eyes on the american airlines plane could flying on night vision goggles in an urban environment with lots of light sources, ambient light have caused him to misidentify the airline traffic. >> the short answer is yes, but it would have happened, perhaps whether they were on night vision goggles or not. being at that altitude and being able to being asked to pick out something that is either moving or flashing or looks very much like the background is as they were coming in, they would have been looking at the lights of, say, alexandria on the other side of the river. and so obviously they thought they had the airplane. they thought they had their interval, the regional jet in sight, but they clearly

did not. i think one of the things that we need to come back to here is, as gio pointed out, this crew said, we see the airplane and we assume responsibility for visual separation, meaning that the crew of that helicopter, believing that they had the airplane in sight, said, we will make sure that we stay behind him and we will not get in his way. so that that boils down to who's at fault here. and if that is the case, then we need to figure out why. gio brought up some things that the president also brought up. were they at the right height? they were supposed to be staying at 200ft or below as they transit on the or the route along the river. so that will be a question the president brought up thatt perhapss the direction from the controller was late. that may be something else that they will want to look at, but the fact that the blackhawk pilots assumed responsibility puts it back, the onus back on them to make sure that there are no