tomorrow. we'll see that off and on into early next week. and pretty predictable commute. right now the build up at the richmond bridge there. you see the reason for those slow sensors? no problems on the span. just getting there is a little issue. and vasco road now over the half hour mark as they leave contra costa county head south to 580 and alameda county. well that's what's happening here on today in the bay. stay with us because today's show starts next. that's right. we'll of course have a special report, most likely from nbc news, with the president addressing the nation at 8 a.m. have a great thursday morning. good thursday morning. we're following major breaking news. a fatal air disaster in the nation's capital. >> there are no survivors from a mid air collision between a passenger plane and a military helicopter.

it's january 30th, this is "today." tragedy in the sky -- >> i just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. >> an american airlines flight on its final approach to reagan national airport colliding with an army blackhawk chopper. both aircraft plunging into the frigid potomac river. the moment of impact caught on camera, all 67 people involved killed as a massive search and rescue mission now becomes a recovery operation. >> at this point we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident. just ahead, what we're learning about the victims, including members of the u.s. figure skating community, and what the investigation is already revealing about what went wrong. we'll have the very latest on the nation's worst air disaster in nearly two decades today, thursday, january 30th, 2025. >> announcer: from nbc news this is a special edition of "today"

with savannah guthrie and craig melvin live from studio 1a in rockefefeller pla. and a good morning to you. welcome to "today." it's a 7:00 a.m. on the west coast. this is a very busy and sad thursday morning. >> it is indeed. right to this breaking news. the collision between an american airlines passenger plane and a u.s. army blackhawk helicopter. it happened last night. shortly before 9:00 eastern time as that commercial flight was gettinready to land at reagan national airport. >> if you look closely there, you can see the collision. it was captured on video. you see it on the left side of your screen there. sparking a large fire ball. >> the plane was arriving from wichita, kansas, with 60 passengers and 4 crew members on board. there were 3 u.s. soldiers on that army blackhawk helicopter. again, the news this morning investigators say there were no survivors. >> crews worked heroically through the night. darkness, high winds, frigid temperatures adding to the difficulty of their work. and they remain on the scene at this hour.

>> we can tell you among the victims, members of the figure skating community who were returning from a camp, a development camp, held at the recent u.s. championships in wichita. just moments ago we learned that six members of the skating club of boston are among the fatalities. its ceo releasing a statement saying we are devastated and completely at a loss for words. >> we have complete coverage this morning. we're going to start with nbc's tom costello. he's been on the scene throughout the night. tom, good morning to you. >> reporter: just horrific, horrific crash here. as we said, there are no survivors at this point. 64 people on board that plane, 3 army crew members on board that blackhawk helicopter. it went down just before 9:00 last night. a short time ago the secretary of defense said it was a skilled and well-trained and experienced crew of the helicopter. and said that they will be investigating whether the chopper was in the right place at the right time. during this rescue mission, though, to find victims has now

turned into a recovery mission. >> reporter: a horrific tragedy in the skies over washington, d.c. >> crash, crash, crash. this is alert three. >> reporter: an army blackhawk helicopter colliding with a regional jet midair. >> it was probably out in the middle of the river. i just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. w. 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 any survivors. >> reporter: the american eagle flight carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, was coming from wichita, kansas, into d.c. it was just seconds from landing at reagan national airport just before 9:00 last night when the collision happened. both aircraft plunging into the potomac river. onboard the flight from wichita, several young athletes with the united states figure skating team along with coaches. a military official tells nbc news there were three crew members on board the blackhawk

chopper participating in a routine training flight. >> at this time we don't know why the military aircraft came into the path of the psa aircraft. >> reporter: audio from the air traffic control tower provided the first clues at what may have happened right before the disaster. >> pat 25, do you have plane in sight? >> asking the controller if he sees the passenger jet and directing to pass behind it. those watching, then reacted. authorities say the plane broke into two pieces upon impact in the river. while the helicopter was upside down in the water. >> if you live in the d.c. area, you would know that this was a clear night, last night. the helicopter was in a standard pattern. this flight pattern is seen oftentimes when you live in d.c. this was a standard flight pattern last night as well. >> reporter: the main runway at reagan national, runway 1, is the nation's busiest, with more

than 800 daily takeoffs and landings. the direct flight from wichita to dca coming into runway 33 had only been operating for a year. more than 300 first responders working through the night, pulling remains from the river. >> do i think this was preventable? absolutely. >> tom, we've learned more t th morning about the identity of some of the victims on board, including young figure skaters, in some cases with their parents. what can you share with us? >> reporter: absolutely heart breaking. the boston skating club announcing six members have been lost. and their names are jinna han, jin han the mother. spencer lane. molly lane, also a mother. vadim and shishkova. this will continue be an on

going recovery 27 victims having been pulled from the water. the army is also saying the army secretary -- sorry, the department of defense secretary is saying that this helicopter crew was operating on a proficiency night flight training, and that they were experienced and left 20 minutes south of here. but as we talked about, this is a very heavily trafficked area for helicopters and planes up and down the river right behind me. the airport itself remains closed. it's supposed to reopen at 11:00, you guys. >> just so unfathomable on so many levels. tom costello there. tom, thank you. we'll check back in with you in just a bit. we do want to mention that american airlines set up a toll free phone number for people who believe they might have a loved one on flight 5342. there's that phone number on your screen right now. it is 1-800-679-8215. >> governor glenn youngkin of virginia told us a little

earlier that the american airlines ceo told them they had reached about half of the passengers and crew, the next of kin to inform them and they were continuing to make those heart breaking calls. president trump has been receiving updates, of course, throughout the night and morning. we do expect to hear from him in the next hour. let's get to nbc's chief white house correspondent peter alexander who has more information on this. peter, good morning. >> reporter: savannah, good morning to you. we have now just been told by the white house that the president of the united states, donald trump, is going to be addressing americans from the briefing room here at the white house in about an hour from now. take place at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. this will be the first public communities from him. we heard only statements via post and the white house print statements to this point. we did note as tom alluded to that we heard from the secretary, pete hegseth, the secretary of defense who gave us a little more detail about exactly the circumstances as it relates to the people on board the soldier's on board that helicopter last night.

here is part of what secretary hegseth said in a recorded statement. listen. >> it was an annual proficiency training flight. and when we look at the crew and we're not all kin have been notified so we'll with hold the ranks and names at this point. we do know on our side who was involved. it was a fairly experienced crew. and it was doing a required annual night evaluation. they did have night vision goggles. >> reporter: we are told that at the faa, the ntsb and the u.s. army will be investigating. the ntsb, the army tells us, is leading the investigation. i had a chance to speak to mike waltz, the national security adviser to president trump a short time ago. he told me he was in the situation with president trump last night briefing him on the response and the circumstances surrounding this collision that took place. the president in his initial statement said -- delivered his

thanks to the first responders. and of those on board, now 67 who lost their lives. he said may god bless their soul. separately after midnight, the president posted a more fulsome statement where he weighed in questioning the circumstances behind what took place. he said the airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. the helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an tended period of time. it's a clear night. the lights on the plane were blazing. why didn't the helicopter go up or down or turn? he said why didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane? this is a bad situation. he added it looks like it should have been prevented. not good. specifically to his criticism that the control tower should have communicated to the helicopter what to do, i'm not certain where he's getting that information or who was providing him that information last night because we have been listening to the air traffic control audio already over the course of this morning and you hear very clearly that the air traffic

controller says to the crew of that helicopter pass behind the crj, the crj referring to that regional jet. so it's among the questions we'll be asking today. the president again in the words of his national security adviser is heartbroken today. and it really is the first tragedy, crisis, that comes on the watch of this new administration, the new transportation secretary sean duffy, craig and savannah, was just sworn in a matter of hours before this collision, this deadly collision took place. he was out there this morning briefing reporters alongside the other officials, secretary hegseth, of course, he was only confirmed a matter of days ago. and it comes against the backdrop of more confirmation hearings here in washington today where the white house has been pressing for those nominees to be confirmed. they are the director of national intelligence tulsi gabbard, nominee.

and fbi director nominee kash patel. those confirmation hearings are scheduled to continue as planned. savannah and craig? >> peter, thank you very much. all right. let's bring in former ntsb and faa investigator jeff gazettety. jeff has been with us all morning. joins us once again. appreciate your time and your perspective. as peter mentioned, there are a number of outstanding questions right now, jeff. we've heard from officials shortly -- short time ago. for you, what are some of the biggest outstanding questions. >> well, you know, it's interesting. i think president trump outlined a couple of questions that i know that the ntsb is going to provide answers to. why was that helicopter, why did it remain on that path on a collision course with the airliner? however, we just don't know what the exact altitude was for the helicopter or the approach in terms of whether it was truly standard or not.

were they above the ie assigned altitude? were they below it? regardless, the helicopter was told about the crj and acknowledged. but as we've been discussing this morning, did they really see the same crj that the controller pointed out? and now with the new information regarding the army helicopter pilots doing a night proficiency check flight, would indicate that night vision goggles could have been used. so the investigation will look into what effects the city lights or other airplanes in the area would have on the potential of a pilot wearing night vision goggles. but i really think that this is -- you know, we know what happened. we just need to figure out exactly why. and i think we just need to let the federal investigators do their job. >> well, of course, clearly something went wrong. but to your point, there's nothing unusual about any of

these events standing alone to have military aircraft doing a training mission in the area, to have a nighttime approach to reagan national airport, an extremely busy and congested piece of air space. >> yes. and i tell you, savannah, one thing that does strike me is the system that allowed a helicopter to get that close to an approach path of a jet airliner. now, granted there's communications and there's altitudes set at different corridors. but still, why did those -- why was the helicopter operation and the airline approach to runway 33, why were -- why was the environment such that those two aircraft were even allowed to be anywhere near each other? so i'm sure that the ntsb is going to look into the procedures, the agreements between the military and the faa and the past history of this very congested air space. >> all right. jeff, thank you.

thanks so much. appreciate you. we've got a lot more to court this morning. we do want to bring you some of the other stories in the headlines. eight more hostages have been freed in gaza. three israeli hostages and five thai nationals. deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between israel and ha has. three of presidential trumps most picks are on capitol hill for more high stakes confirmation hearings. robert f. kennedy jr., it will be round two. he clashed with democratic lawmakers. kennedy, for his part, trying to distance himself from past skepticism over vavaccines. >> senator, i support the measles vaccine. i support the polio vaccine.

i will do nothing hhs secretary that makes difficult or discourages -- >> anybody who believes that ought to look at the measles book you wrote saying parents have been mislead into believing that measles is a deadly disease. that's not true. >> he was also grilled about his portion position on medicare and abortion. also on the hill is gabbie and kash patel. one day after the order sparked widespread confusion as well as legal challenges around the country. the president's top advisers defended their plan but aides said the memo had been poorly written. the underlying orders freezing money for targeted programs, well that remains in place. roughly a quarter after the hour on the west coast.

let's get a first check of that weather for our friends out west. mr. roker is standing by. >> that's right. we're looking at a big atmospheric river coming in, first of the year. first impacting the pa sick northwest, making its way into central california. so for today, this river moves into the pacific northwest with widespread rain. heavy mountain snows. then tomorrow, another system comes in, targets central california. there's a flood threat there. it's going to bring heavy rain and mountain snows. some areas between chico and yosemite, talking about 5 inches of rain. and then as you look at the snow situation from jackson to sun valley, upwards of a foot or more as this system makes its more as this system makes its wato the east.y staying healthy can be hard, but this. this is a party. premier protein, my ride or die. boom! if you know, you know. let's go. this stuff changed my life. so good. high protein. check.

one gram of sugar. oh, yeah. and a flavor for every vibe. (♪♪) (♪♪) premier protein. sweeten the journey. day, and temperatures in the upper 50s for a high in the inland areas this afternoon and tomorrow rain arrives, first starting in the north bay and spreading across the rest of the bay area going into the afternoon. the weekend will be rainy off and on, and that continues at least into tuesday with our temperatures remaining mild even as the and that's your latest weather. guys? >> much more on the tragic collision on a passenger plane and the military helicopter in the nation's capitol.

much more information coming in about the crash and the victims, including the athletes and coaches from the figure skating community. we are keeping our eye on that recovery effort inashington. w

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it's been 16 years since the last major accident involving u.s. commercial planes. that crash leading to a change in the airline industry, so what could be the fallout this time? >> we will take a closer look that but first a check of your local news, your weather and these messages. when migraine strikes... do you question the tradeoffs of treating? ubrelvy is another option. it works fast, and most have migraine pain relief within two hours. you can treat it anytime, anywhere. tell your doctor all medicines you take. don't take... ...with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. get help right away for allergic reactions like trouble breathing or face, tongue, or throat swelling, which may occur hours to days after use. common side effects include nausea and sleepiness.

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good morning to you. it is 726. i'm laura garcia. here's a look at our top stories. we continue to follow breaking news with the impact at sfo from the deadly midair crash in washington, dc. i'm ginger conejero saab at sfo,

where we've been following the impact of that midair collision between a black hawk helicopter and american airlines flight out of reagan national last night. reagan national is set to reopen in less than an hour. we're seeing a flight to dca leaving at 835 from sfo on time. however, sfo is reporting 20 delays in total with one flight cancellation. you are advised to check with your airliner before leaving on your flight for dca or that area. this morning, sonoma state students and staff are organizing a new protest for today in response to proposed budget cuts that include the entire athletics department. last week, the school announced all seven women's sports teams, and all four men's teams will be eliminated to help offset a $24 million deficit. it is part of other cuts that include 62 campus positions and six academic departments. the school also cites declining enrollment. opponents plan to protest this afternoon at the school's

student center. now, let's get a look at our forecast with meteorologist kari hall. we started out with clouds around the bay area and milder temperatures. highs today in the upper 50s. we are getting ready for rain set to arrive in the north bay tomorrow morning, and times of rain in the forecast throughout the weekend. laura. all right. thanks, kari. don't forget to join us for today in the bay live streaming newscast at 8 a.m. action! the ceo of cinequest joins us to talk about the return of one popular south bay festival. join us on roku, amazon fire tv, and nbcbayarea.com. have a great

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between a commercial plane and a blackhawk helicopter. >> 64 people were on board that american airlines flight. and we've just learned that 6 of those passengers were from a figure skating club in boston. there were three soldiers on that army chopper. no survivors are expected. we did hear from the governor of virginia a short time ago said he had spoke on the the president of american airlines. and that roughly half of the families affected have been notified so far. >> the heart breaking calls continuing this morning. let's go to nbc's gabe gutierrez with the latest on this investigation. gabe, good morning. >> reporter: hi there, savannah. good morning. that investigation is continuing right behind me. as you mentioned, this has now shifted to a recovery mission. and we have not yet heard of the passengers on that plane. for the first time we are hearing from the new defense says that as for the military aircraft, this was a fairly

experienced crew that was taking part in an annual proficiency mission. and we also understand that they were wearing night vision goggles. >> reporter: this morning, authorities still investigating the source of that horrifying crash. 64 people were on the plane. three in the helicopter. as more information about the victims comes to light, members of the u.s. figure skating community returning from a camp in wichita, kansas, on board with families and coaches. the ceo of boston skating club announcing six people from its community were lost. as questions arise about how it could have happened. >> it's a lot of touch and feel in different parts of the plane and the helicopter. and the crash area is a little spread out, so we have some work to do. >> reporter: air traffic control telling the pilot to avoid the plane.

>> pat 2025, pass behind crj. >> the collision the flight paths that were being flown from the military and from american, that was not unusual for what happens in the d.c. air space. >> reporter: the new transportation secretary on the job for just a day speaking this morning. >> i will say this, there was communication. it was -- standard communication. so there was not a breakdown. >> reporter: the crash happening at one of the country's busiest airports. >> it is a dynamic environment. it's a busy airport. it's geographically constrained, so it's a small -- the geography of the airport is small, but there's a lot of traffic. >> reporter: as investigators search the water, recovering parts of the plane. >> the fuselage of the american airlines plane was inverted. it's been located in three different sections. >> reporter: still searching for answers about the minutes before this tragic crash.

>> this is devastating. it's -- we are all hurting incredibly. >> reporter: wichita's mayor says our hearts are heavy this morning and that they're planning a community wide prayer service a little later on today. meanwhile, air traffic around the country has been impacted. flights this morning cancelled between reagan and other airports, especially the middle part of the country. but flights here at dca are set to resume in about half hour, craig and savannah. >> gabe, thank you very much. we are back with much more, including a conversation with a former military pilot whose taken part in nighttime training accidents like the one involved in this crash. we'll do that in just a moment. (mom) let me see my new grand-dog! (mia) say “hi grandma”! (mom) you're feeding him, blue buffalo, right? (jack) nah, we got purina one. it's all the same stuff. (mom) not really. blue life protection formula's got deboned chicken, chicken meal, brown rice, oatmeal, barley... (mia) well purina one has chicken, rice flour, corn gluten meal, whole grain corn, chicken by-product meal...

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national airport. >> all 67 people on those aircraft were lost. this is the first fatal disaster involving a u.s. commercial airliner in nearly two decades. and it's raising a lot of questions this morning about the crowded air space in the skies over was a. >> i want to bring in major heather penny now who spent 23 years as a fighter pilot in the air force. i think it's also worth mentioning here, known for flying a ramming mission to prevent united airlines flight 93 from reaching d.c. during the 9/11 attacks. your experience is in flying f16s, but you are also familiar with these blackhawk choppers, and these kinds of training missions that they were engaged in last night. again, important to note, we don't know a lot right now, major penny. but based on what we do know, based on what you have heard so far, what kinds of questions, what kinds of concerns are top of mind for you? >> well, to be honest, it's

important to emphasize, as you mentioned, these are routine operations happening for decades. in terms of concerns, we won't have anything firm to talk about until the ntsb comes out with their analysis what happened during the course of operations. everything i have seen from atv communications and so forth, everyone was doing what they should have been doing and frankly the best they could. >> major penny, we heard a lot from civil pilots this morning. you're the first military pilot and you didn't ply the blackhawk but fighter jets. these fight vision goggles that the defense secretary said were part of this night training vision that fairly experienced pilots that crew on board was fairly experienced. is that typical to be wearing night vision goggles in a setting like this, this kind of urban setting in the sense of you have the city, you have other helicopters and of course you have commercial aviation as well. >> absolutely. and as a matter of fact, i would expect they would want to be

using those night vision goggles because the way those goggles would illuminate the landscape around them would enable them to see terrain, see other aircraft and so forth. so it's not unusual, especially given what they were doing, that they could have been under the night vision goggles at the time of the accident. >> major, i was surprised to learn earlier this morning that it's not uncommon in washington, d.c. to have these commercial jets landing and taking off at the same time as these military helicopters are also flying around. give us the perspective, if you can, from one of these blackhawk helicopters, what might a pilot be seeing? what might they be hearing as one of these commercial airliners is coming in for a landing? >> absolutely. so as you mentioned, these are standard and routine operations that have been conducted safely for decades. there's a visual route that comes down the potomac that the helicopters typically fly. and it has -- it's limited by

altitude to provide that kind of deconfliction. because it is a visual route, they are not under any kind of instrument, auto pilot kind of operations. the r.j. that was coming in was also flying a visual approach into runway 33. so the angle that they would have been approaching the runway at should have been deconflicted via altitude from the helicopter as it was coming down. now, the helicopter, if the pilots were der night vision goggles, and we're making that assumption. we cannot validate or verify that at this point in time, they would have been talking with reagan controllers and the reagan controllers would have been pointing out potential traffic hazards, such as what we have heard on atc. so if they called -- if the helicopter pilot had indicated that they were in visual contact with the airliner, they would be assuming traffic separation at that point in time. now, the night vision goggles do

have known limitations. they have visual illusions where things that are very far away look like they're much closer. so it's difficult to really judge distance. there was another aircraft that was being sequenced in behind this aircraft. so it is possible that the blackhawk helicopter pilots, if they were under mbgs, would have potentially misidentified the aircraft that was being pointed out to them by atc. again, we do not know this. we cannot make any assumptions or conclusions until the ntsb report comes out. to note, because they were clearly on a collision path that, they would not have had any indications that would make it look as if the aircraft -- the mishap aircraft was anything other than a stable light. and let me explain that to you. >> major, i'm so sorry. we have to jump off. we're limited in time. but it's been fascinating to hear and that is one of the leading issues is whether or not this crew might have mistaken it because of that difficult scenario they found themselves in.

major penny, great to have you with us. >> great perspective there. stay close, major. we may want to come back to you in the next few days. mr. roker, what are we looking at here? >> some unusually mild weather coming in after some really chilly conditions. solution 10 degrees above average at 50. wichita 50 degrees. now we look to salt lake city, you're tomorrow going to have temperatures warmer than usual. green bay, wisconsin, new orleans as well. snow last week. you got warmer temperatures this week. heading into the weekend, reno, you'll see temperatures in the 50s. san jose in the 60s. los angeles upper 60s. and even as we move into salt lake city temperatures warming of sun and clouds and mild temperatures. highs in the upper 50s. but this will be our last dry day that we'll see in quite a while, as we are going to see this atmospheric river coming in going into the weekend with

waves of rain in our forecast, that will continue at least into tuesday. and for san francisco, look for a high of 56 today with rain throughout and that's your late weather. guys? >> al, thank you. still ahead this morning, a closer look at the history of air disasters in this country air disasters in this country and what they could veal aboutre ♪♪ life with norman is fun and full of adventure. he just started to slow down a little bit on walks and seemed like he had some discomfort. his doctor diagnosed him with osteoarthritis pain and recommended that we try librela. veterinary professionals administering librela who are pregnant, trying to conceive, or breastfeeding should take extreme care to avoid self-injection, which can cause allergic reactions like anaphylaxis. librela has helped norman get back to his old self. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ hit it! ♪ ♪ (“it takes two” by rob base and dj e-z rock.) ♪ how will earning unlimited cash back make you feel?

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as to what may have caused this accident. we're joined now by aviation expert john cox. john, thanks for coming back on with us. i want to get your take on something we just heard from a former fighter pilot. we're talking about these night vision goggles. we know that the three individuals on this blackhawk helicopter were wearing night vision goggles. you've got some familiarity with these goggles. would they have been seeing, john? how might that have altered their perspective? >> night vision goggles are remarkable. they do an incredible job of amplifying light around you. they do have limitations. it is somewhat like looking down tubes, one over each eye. and the judging depth perception is much -- much trickier, much more difficult than it would be with normal vision. so as with so many things, craig, there are some advantages

and there's some limitations here. as far as the likelihood that these night vision goggles contributed to this tragedy, the something the ntsb will look at very carefully. one of the things that did cross my mind is the possibility that because of the night vision goggles, if they saw the airplane behind the american r.j., it could have appeared bright enough that they believed that that was the airplane. and that's something that, of course, ntsb will look at. it's very early here, but with the knowledge that night vision goggles are a part of this investigation, it will open some additional questions. >> another question is, night vision goggles or not, how it is that a military helicopter would ever be close enough to a commercial airliner. i would think just as a matter of practice you want to keep a

certain distance. so that raises some questions as well. >> savannah, in the air space around washington, it is not at all uncommon to see a helicopter pass underneath you as you approach a runway. it's common place. it has been for decades. so -- and it has worked very well. the air traffic controllers do a wonderful job of making sure that the aircraft stay separated. the pilots that operate in and out of reagan are experienced crews. they know the processes and procedures. all of these components add to a good, solid safety net. and reagan has had a great safety record over the years. >> john, thank you so much for all of your time, all of your insight this morning. john cox, thank you again. >> we're going to have a lot more ahead from washington. so many questions. tom costello has been on this all night. all night. he has new iormation this nf stay ahead of your child's moderate-to-severe eczema with dupixent

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i heard someone is playing a stegosaurus in her school play! ♪♪ still taking yours? everyday! nature made. made with quality. made to care for you, every day. with over 50 years of expertise behind every bottle. nature made, the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. good morning. it is 756. i'm laura garcia, and i'm marcus washington. happening now. a legendary bay area rapper, too short is mourning the loss of his brother, who oakland police say died in an attempted break in. it happened early yesterday morning on 49th avenue i east oakland. this is when thieves tried to ram their car into an industrial building. police say 61 year old wayne shaw was

inside. he is the older bther of rapper too short. police say that he was shot multiple times when those thieves tried to force their way in. so far to short has not issued a public response. no arrests have been made. on a much lighter note, the first pairings are just about to tee off at the revamped at&t pebble beach pro-am, northern california's best known annual golf tournament still includes the pros and the amateurs, but the amateurs only take part today and tomorrow and will not play through the weekend. 40 of the world's top 50 golfers will take part, including former cal bear collin morikawa and top ranked scottie scheffler. celebrity field includes 49ers great steve young, condoleezza rice and soccer legend mia hamm. let's get a look at that forecast for you. meteorologist kari hall has a look at what's next. we have a lot of changes coming our way. it's been so dry throughout the month. today it will be a cool morning and a sunny day, but rain chances increase tomorrow with some off and on showers continuing into our weekend.

waves of rain in the forecast as we get an atmospheric river and as far as temperatures holding steady, we're back to highs in the mid to upper 50s. but this is the storm system that will be coming in and possibly affecting your weekend plans as we get that rain. mainly targeting the north bay, but will bring in some off and on showers for the rest of the bay area as well. back to you. all right. thanks, kari. and make sure you watch our today in the bay live streaming newscast, starting in just minutes at 8 a.m, we'll

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>> crash, crash, crash, this is alert 3. >> the chilling moment of impact caught on camera. both aircraft seen plummeting into the potomac river. >> it's a highly complex situation. the conditions are there are extremely rough. >> this morning, the massive search and rescue operation and investigation now under way. and what we're also learning about members of the u.s. figure skating community who were on that plane. the very latest on the nation's worst air disaster in nearly two decades. today, thursday, january 30th, 2025. and welcome back to today. 8:00 a.m. now on the west coast on this thursday morning. we want to get you caught up with the very latest in that mid air collision last night near washington, d.c. an american airlines regional jet arriving from wichita, kansas, colliding with an army blackhawk helicopter taking off where the plane was set to land at reagan airport. >> 64 people were on the american airlines flight and 3 soldiers on the army chopper.

this morning the skating club of boston announcing that two of its skaters, their mothers and two coaches were among those on board. no survivors are expected. 67 people lost here. >> again, just after 8:00 a.m. on the west coast. we should mention president trump set to address the nation in just a moment. when that happens, we will, of course, bring it to you live. first, though, let's start with nbc's tom costello up all night, at reagan airport. >> good morning, craig. fire rescue teams, local police, helicopter teams have been spending the last however many hours it's been, right, since 9:00 eastern time last night out there on the river. and they are still out there. now, they do have the plane itself broken into three pieces in waist deep water and they have the blackhawk helicopter as well. we're told it was upside down. they have started to remove victims from both the chopper and also this american eagle flight. 64 people on that american eagle

flight, 3 military personnel on board the blackhawk helicopter. and the question, of course, is how is it possible that this helicopter, which we are led to believe did recognize to air traffic control that they had the plane in sight. how did this happen that they literally had a mid air collision. let's talk a little bit about those victims in the skating community because the boston skating club has been hit especially hard. six members lost their lives, including some very young members. like jinna han and her friend spencer lane. both were skaters. jin-han a mother, molly lane also a mother and then the coaches who were russian stars, figure skating stars a married couple. both of them, coaches, married and they leave behind, we are told, one child who is now an

orphan. the army says the military says, that this helicopter was on a routine nighttime flight proficiency training coming out of nearby ft. bellvoir. as they continue to work to recover the remains of the victims out of the water here, we have thankfully a beautiful blue sky day, the ntsb is focussed on collecting perishable evidence. that includes not only the plane, also the black boxes, the flight data recorder, cockpit recorder, starting the interview with the air traffic controller. they want to hear what they have to say. record their recollections and also review all of the data. they want to do it quickly so they don't let any time lapse. and then your collections start to get a little foggy. that's a priority for them. they will also, of course, join with the military investigators who are going to be part of this

because it involves a military chopper. so all of that is where this focus is right now, you guys. >> all right. our senior correspdent tom costello at reagan national. tom, thank you. by the way, folks, a toll free phone number has been set up for people who believe they had a loved one on american airlines flight 5342. there it is right there on your screen. 1-800-679-8215. >> we do expect to hear from president trump in just a few moments. 8:00 on the west coast. let's bring in garrett haake this morning. garrett. >> we have been hearing from members of the trump administration all night long as they have been briefed on this situation and throughout the morning. in a new video message just posted on x, pete hegseth shared more details about the three individuals on board that army black hawk helicopter. and what type of training mission they were involved in at the time of the crash of that passenger jet. listen to the new defense secretary here. >> it was an annual proficiency training flight. and when we look at the crew and we're not all kin have been

notified so we're going to with hold ranks and names at this point. we do know on our side who was involved. crew.s a fairly experienenced and that was doing a required annual night evaluation. they did have night vision goggles. >> reporter: the new defense secretary sworn in just on saturday, responding to this disaster. meanwhile, the president has been sharing updates and his thoughts to truth social throughout the night and into this morning. just hours after that collision occurred, he took to truth social, openly questioning how this accident could have happened. saying, and i quote, the airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. the helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. it's clear night, as it was in d.c. the lights on the plane were blazing. why didn't the helicopter go up or down or turn? why didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane? this is a bad situation, the president wrote. it looks like it should have been prevented.

not good. now, of course, at this hour, we still don't have an official cause of this crash. and detailed breakdown of the movements of the aircraft involved leading up to it. so it is unclear what information the president might have been privy to last night, what information he may have this morning that we hope he and other members of his administration set to join him can provide the public when this briefing begins any minute here at the white house. savannah? >> there have been a lot of talk lately too, garrett, just real quickly about the congestion at that airport. it's a favorite of members of congress. they all lobly to get their flight to their home communities, that wichita flight, that was the one involved last night, just added in the last year or so. but this has been an on going issue, as has the shortage of air traffic controllers. >> yeah, as long as i have worked in washington, there's been a debate how many flights should come out of dca. dull es, the larger airport, built to accommodate still more flights. dca is so convenient and so close.

auchb times when the reauthorization bills come up, happened just last year, more flights are added to the air space here. it's unclear entirely at this hour whether this is exactly related to what happened last night, but it will clearly be part of the investigation going forward. >> so many questions. garrett haake, live at the white house on the north lawn for us. thank you very much. >> again, we do expect to hear from president trump momentarily. and of course, when that happens we will bring you live coverage of the president's remarks. but again, a grim day here in the united states. 67 souls lost on that military helicopter and that american airlines flight. we will, of course, continue to follow the story throughout the day. we are back with much more on (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. that gritty feeling can't be brushed away. even a little blurry vision can distort things. and something serious may be behind those itchy eyes. up to 50% of people with graves' could develop a different condition called thyroid eye disease,

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operation. american airlines flight 5342 upon approach at reagan national last night colliding with the military black hawk helicopter. 67 people onboard both of those aircraft. no survivors this morning. >> moments ago officials revealing the search operation for the 64 people on that plane. the three people on that chopper, again, that's now switched to a recovery operation. so far they've retrieved 28 bodies, 27 from the airplane, one from the chopper. our senior correspondent, tom costello, covers aviation for us. he starts us off this morning. >> reporter: a horrific tragedy in the skies over washington, d.c. >> crash, crash, crash. this is alert three. >> reporter: an army black hawk helicopter colliding with an american airlines regional jet midair. >> it was probably out in the middle of the river. i just saw a fireball and then >> reporter: the american eagle flight carrying 60 passengers and four crew members was coming

from wichita, kansas, into d.c. it was just seconds from landing at reagan national airport just before 9:00 last night when the collision happened. >> what happened? >> oh, my gosh! >> reporter: both aircraft plunging into the potomac river. onboard the flight from wichita, several young aft lets with the united states figure skating team along with coaches. russian state media reporting two russian world champion skaters were also on the plane. a military official tells nbc news there were three crew members onboard the black hawk chopper that had been participating in a routine training flight. audio from the air traffic control tower provided the first clues at what may have happened right before the disaster. >> pat 23 do you have crj in sight? >> reporter: he asks them to pass behind the jet. those watching then reacted.

[ inaudible ]. >> reporter: authorities say the plane broke into two pieces upon impact in the river while the helicopter was upside-down in the water. the water temperature a frigid 35 degrees, cold enough to render a person unconscious within 15 to 30 minutes giving rescuers a tight window to find survivors in very challenging conditions. >> the water that we're operating in is about eight feet deep. there is wind, there's pieces of ice out there. it's just dangerous and hard to work in. >> reporter: the main runway at reagan national, runway one, is the nation's busiest with more than 800 daily takeoffs and landings. the direct flight from wichita to dca coming no runway 33 had only been operating for a year. the ceo of american airlines saying, the company is working closely with investigators. >> anything we can do now, we're doing. and right now, that means focusing on taking care of all passengers and crew involved as well as their families. >> reporter: more than 300 first responders working through the night pulling remains from the

river. the main focus this morning, the victims. >> we're going to know people who were on this flight, know their family members, know somebody, so this is a very personal circumstance. >> nbc's tom costello reporting for us. and we're joined by aviation expert john cox along with jeff guzzetti. john cox, i'll start with you as the pilot here among us. what do you make of all the strands that we've seen now together, the notion that there was this communication? i struck a note the american airlines ceo made a point to say that this jet, that they didn't know why this jet -- excuse me, this chopper, had come into the path of the regional jet, clearly, essentially laying blame at the fept et of the helicopter for crashing into the jet. >> savannah, it's much too early to really affix blame at this point. i will say this, i've landed on that runway, runway 33, countless times, and i've seen

helicopters that pass below us and behind us numerous times. so this process was very routine. it's been used safely for years. now what happened in this particular case, the track of the helicopter and how these two aircraft came together, that's going to be the focus of the ntsb. and understanding that the communications with the helicopter that said they are to pass behind the crj, was it acknowledged? what did the crew actually see? all of those questions are fundamental in the investigation that ntsb is going to look at. so we have a lot more questions than answers right now. >> stand by for a second here. jeff, i want to bring you back into e conversation, because we chatted a while ago, but i know you were listening to that news conference that wrapped a short time ago from the officials there. we didn't get a lot of information other than it's gone from a rescue mission to a recovery mission now, no survivors. what stood out to you from that

news conference? >> nothing really, craig. i mean, except all the agencies are doing what they're supposed to be doing. the airline is doing what it's supposed to be doing, taking care of the families, which is important right now. secretary duffy showing the country that, you know, he's -- the transportation department and the faa are working with the ntsb. it's e ntsb's press conference that's really going to start to delve into the details of this investigation, as it should be. so it's that press conference where we start hearing from the sole voice of the investigation, the ntsb, and that's where we're going to start getting some facts related to this. until that time, just like senator kaine indicated, the time is to investigate not speculate. >> we have some of the air traffic control traffic, the

communications that took place between the chopper and the tower. we talked before you believe the air traffic controller would have been talking to both that plane and to the chopper. what do you make of that communication? can you learn anything from that? >> giving it a listen to what is available publicly, and the ntsb will get much better quality audio recordings of that, it appears this helicopter, this army helicopter, was told to -- if he had sight of the regional jet. and it appears that the helicopter said, roger, you know, visual separation. but, again, as captain cox mentioned, we don't reallyknow what the helicopter pilot was looking at when he mentioned that. and we don't know exactly what altitude the helicopter was at and what altitude the airplane was at when they collided. but you can be sure that the air traffic control communications are going to be scrutinized by

the ntsb, that controller will be interviewed, and the radar data will be looked at by ntsb, and there's going to be a lot of human factors involved, i expect, in this investigation. >> just real quickly, though, would the same controller, the same person, be talking to both pilots, or is it one guy is assigned to the military aircraft, one guy is assigned to the regional jet -- >> no. >> -- it's one person? >> at this point typically it's the local controller, working all the airplanes coming in close, and captain cox can probably tell you a lot more about that. >> john, to that point, to that point, you've flown for more than 20 years, you've flown in and out of reagan multiple times. help our viewers, help our listeners understand on the final approach, what does that look like? what kind of maneuvers are you making? what does that air traffic control sound like especially if there is a helicopter in the area? >> it is a dynamic environment. it's a busy airport.

it's geographically constrained so it's a small geography of the airport is small, but there's a lot of traffic. to land on runway 33, you are following up the right-hand side of the potomac river, and then you make a low altitude turn to align with the runway. at that point it is routine to hear the tower controller, the local controller, talking with numerous other aircraft. now one thing to recognize is that the pilots in the american jet cannot hear what the military controllers say. they n both hear what the air traffic controller says, but the military aircraft uses uhf radios while the civilian airplane, the airliner, uses vhf. there's not pilot-to-pilot

communication possible but both can hear the air traffic controller, and that's normal. but whether the jet saw the helicopter or not, or i don't even believe that we know yet if there was an advisory given to the jet that the helicopter was there, that's one of the things ntsb will look at. we know that the helicopter was advised that the crj was there and to pass behind it. those are the real fundamental questions in the early hours and days that ntsb is going to look at. >> yeah, just looking with the lay person's eye, and that doesn't account for much, but it and that was the direction from atc to the chopper, pass behind. who knows what that regional jet was aware of, if anything, and especially, john, real quickly, it's dark and at that moment of approach, those final seconds before >> announcer: this is an nbc

news special report. here's hallie jackson. >> we are coming on the air as president trump is about to address the nation on the deadly plane crash in washington, d.c. last night. we are learning from officials this morning. they believe there were no survivors after a collision between an army helicopter and an american airlines plane coming from kansas to reagan national airport. three people on the helicopter which is on what the defense secretary describes as a night evaluation training flight. hundreds of first responders are on what is now a recovery mission working their way through the wreckage in the potomac river. work that's being described as retch treacherous and time-consuming. we're learning of the u.s. figure skating that had been on board that plane flying back from a training camp. president trump has been receiving briefings on this since last night. let's take you to the white house now and president trump. >> i would like to request a

moment of silence for the victims and their families, please. thank you very much. i speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation. just before 9:00 p.m. last night an american airlines regional jet carrying 60 passengers and 4 crew collided with an army blackhawk helicopter carrying three military service members over the potomac river in washington, d.c. while 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 under way through the 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. so quick, so fast, it was mobilized immediately. the work has now shifted to a recovery mission. sadly, there are no survivors. thisas 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 has 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, d.c., and throughout the united states, and in russia, we have a russia contingent, some very talented people, unfortunately were on that plane. we're 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 hear for you to wipe away the tears and to offer you our devotion, our love, and our support, this 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. it was a cold, cold night, cold water. we're all overcome with the grief for many who have so tragically perished, who 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. i think we have pretty good ideas, but we'll find out how this disaster occurred, and we'll ensure that nothing like

this ever happens again. the faa and the ntsb and the u.s. military will be carrying out a systematic and comprehensive investigation. our new secretary of transportation, sean duffy, his secretary day on the job when that happened. it's a rough one. we'll be working tirelessly. he's a great gentleman. this whole group, these are great people, and they are working tirelessly to figure out exactly what happened. we will state certain opinions however. i'm also immediately appointing an acting commissioner to the faa, a 22-year veteran of the agency, highly respected. christopher, thank you very much. appreciate it. i set high standards f 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 have to be the highest intellect and psychologically superior people were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers. that was not so prior to getting there when i arrived in 2016. i made that change very early on because i always felt this was a job that -- and other jobs too, but this was a job that had to be superior intelligence, and 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 politics at a level that nobody's ever seen because this was the lowest level.

their 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 standardsor air traffic controllers and other important jobs throughout the country. so it was very interesting. about a week ago, almost upon entering office, i signed something last week that was an executive order, very powerful, on restoring the highest standards of air traffic controllers, and others by the way. and think 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, naturally talented, geniuses. we haven'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 various articles that appeared prior to my entering office and here's one. the faa's diverty push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. that is amazing, and then it says faa saves people with severe disabilities are most underrepresented segment of the work force and they want them in, and they want them -- they can be air traffic controllers. i don't think so. this was on january 14th. so that was a week before i entered office. they put a big push to put diversity into the faa's program. 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, psychiatric problems, and mental conditions under diversity and inclusion initiatives, spelled out on their website. can you believe this? these people, their lives are shortened because of the stress that they have. 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 in to one target, and you need a very special tablet and a very special genius to be able to do it. targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the federal government as a matter of policy as identified through special emphasis and recruitment 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 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 achievin 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 23 rd of '22, and then i came in. maybe this is the reason.

the faa which is overseen by secretary pete buttigieg, a real winner. that guy's a real winner. do you know how badly everything's run since he's run this department of transportation? he's a disaster. hehe was a daster as a mayor. he ran his city into the ground, and he's a disaster now. he's just got a good line of bull --. the department of transportation, his government, agency charged with regulating civil aviation. well, 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 work force 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, too white, and we want the people that are competent, but now we mourn and we pray, and we would 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 -- a terrible very short period of time. we'll get to the bottom of it. so we also -- the same thing, we've seen it many times. i have 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 that came in. it's probably the same track as they have had for 25 years or more. he's coming in the path, and for some reason, you 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? 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 them in. that means, like, everything's fine. follow them in. you had a pilot problem from the standpoint of the helicopter.

i mean, because it was visual. it was a 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 -- i'm sure we'll see other tapes because it's such an area where there are a lot of cameras with areas into space. 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, down, 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 it was by that time -- it was too late. they shouldn't have been at the same height because if it was at 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 still wouldn't have been great, but you would have missed it by quite a bit, could have been a thousand feet higher, could have been 200 feet lower, but it was exactly 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 -- 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 would like to ask our new secretary of transportation to say a few worlds, sean duffy. 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. 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 unfortunately, 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, that plane is getting a little bit close? this is a tragedy that should not have hahappened. please. >> thank you, mr. president, and i would just note the president's leadership has been remarkable during this crisis. we have had a whole of government response, 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 states. i i want toake 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 fr 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 landnd at their destination. that didn't happen yesterday. that's not acceptable. 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 placed in me. thank you. >> pete, would you like to say something? >> 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 it 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. it never should have happened, and certainly the three service members, the three soldiers, a young captain, staff sergeant,

and the cw 2 chief foreign officer. routine annual retraining on flights of 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, and i think the president was right. there was some sort of an elevation issue that we have immediately begun investigating at the d.o.d. and army level. army cid is on the ground investigating, top-tier aviation assets inside the d.o.d. 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 d.o.d. 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

or flying airplanes, leading platoons, or in government. the era of dei is gone in the defense apartment. we need the best whether it's in our air traffic control, or our government. thank you, and i will stand by you on that. >> jd, 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 reemphasizing 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, d.c. 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 i is the fst priority of our aviation sorry. -- industry. thank you, mr. president. >> on dei and the claims that you've made, are you saying this crash was somehow caused and the result of diverity hiring and what evidence have you seen to report these claims? >> it just could have been. we have a much higher standard than anybody else, and there are things where you have to go by brain power. you have to go by psychological quality, and psychological quality is a very important

element of it. these are various, very powerful tests 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 and a plane. that shouldn't have happened. we'll look at 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. yeah, please. go ahead. >> mr. president, you mentioned 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 -- >> yes, we will. >> -- that they have traveled. >> yes.

>> are you mitigating the conflict between wanda and the congress republic? i want to hear if you have any plan and a future to bring peace in the democratic republic of the congo. >> it is a very serious problem, but i don't think it's appropriate to talk about it right now, but it's a serious problem. >> do we know the names of the 67 people who were killed, and you were blaming democrats and dei policies and air traffic control and seemingly the member of the u.s. military who was flying that blackhawk helicopter. don't you think you're getting ahead of the investigation right now? >> no, i don't think so right now. the names of the people -- you mean the names of the people on the plane? you think that's going to make a difference? there are people who 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 our military, but i think that's not a very smart question. i'm surprised coming from you. please. please. >> thank you, mr. president trump. 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. we had a lot of people that saw what was happening. you had some people that knew what was happening. there were some warnings, but the warnings were given very, very late. those warnings were given very late. it was almost as if they were given a few seconds later, there was the crash. it should have been brought up earlier, but the people in the helicopter should have seen where they were going.

i can't imagine people with 20/20 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. you have planes going in the opposite. they're always lower or we're higher, and if somehow there's a screwup, there's not going to be a tragedy. it's going to be close, but 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 center, she's along the track that every plane was along. he said, what was a helicopter doing on that track? it's very sad, but visually somebody should have been able to see and taken that heicopter out of play, and they should have been at a different height. >> you mentioned the russians

that were on board that plane. what other nationalities were on board? >> 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. >> have you spoken to president putin? >> i have no no. not about this. >> you have already issued a protective order and said, restore our aviation safety. this crash happened after that. was the executive order successful, and what more do you need to change to keep people safe? >> we issued it three days ago, and 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 diversity hires, it causes sometimes

issues as you just mentioned. so what plan do you have? are we going to see some fires? are you going to fire some of those diversity hires in the federal government? what plan do you have? >> i would say the answer is yes. if we find people aren't mentally competent -- 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 would be very good for certain jobs, but not people that should be doing this particular job. >> mr. president, you have today, blamed the diversity element, 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. >> yep. it's all under investigation. >> i understand that. that's why i'm trying to figure out how y 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 the election that should have turned out the way it should have. they didn't build the systems properly. they spent a lot of money renovaing the system. spent a lot more money than they would have for the air traffic controllers. meaning the computerized systems. there are certain company that is do a very good job. they didn't use those companies. they use companies that should not have been doing it. no, i think -- 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. >> i want to ask you about the ice skaters in a moment because the ice skating committee was affected. the text you read is real, but the idea this policy stems from efforts that began under president biden or pete buttigieg is demonstrably false. >> who said that, you? >> it's on the faa's website -- it was there for the entirety of your administration too. so my question is, why did 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. >> it's on the website. >> please. quiet. quiet. >> welcome back to the -- sorry. you mentioned vision was probably the problem that was an

issue in this crash. there's been some reports that one of the pilots that the helicopter may have been using night vision. >> i heard that. we don't know. we're going to know that pretty soon. it may change your viewpoint if you have the night vision. it's possible that could have happened. that would be maybe a reason why you wouldn't actually see as well as on a cle night. you can see sometimes better without it. a couple more. >> mr. president, is it helpful top your secretary of transportation confirmed and does this intensify your interest in getting other nominees through quickly? >> what? >> is it helpful to have your secretary of transportation confirmed and does it intensify your interest in getting other people confirmed as well? >> some have done everything they can to delay. they're taking too long. we're struggling to get good

people, that everybody knowing should be confirmed and we want them out faster. it's a good question actually. we -- we have 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, be 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. >> is it your impression that training was done in that time? >> what? >> the training at the helicopter was involved in, is it anything that you can tell us about that? >> we don't know. these are the things that will come up with the investigation. the helicopter was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a tragedy occurred. please.

go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president. you have been critical of the current regulations and you've called for big reforms at faa. i'm curious -- >> i made the reforms, actually. >> what is your message -- >> three days ago, made the reform. >> what is the message in the weeks and months ahead? should they feel hesitant to fly, and if you could clarify perhaps something the defense secretary said when you said this helicopter went on a continuity of government mission? >> i don't know 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 very, very badly.

>> on his question, the first question, should people be hesitant to fly right now? >> no. not at all. i would not hesitate to fly. this is something that it's been many years, 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 we 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. 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, and going in opposite directions. it's not a positive, but no.

we're already hiring people. 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. >> president trump there speaking to what he described as a country in mourning after that collision between an american airlines plane and an army helicopter. 67 people believed to be dead after what the president called a dark and excruciaing night, but he also said he was sharing what he called strong opinions that there appeared to be in his words, a pilot problem from the standpoint for the helicopter. although we have not heard yet from aviation officials on their investigation into the cause of this collision. the president getting political suggesting it could have been diversity initiatives in the faa partially responsible for the crash, calling it common sense. all as that massive recovery operation continues just a few miles away in the potomac where they are still looking for bodies in the wreckage. i want to bring in our chief white house correspondent, peter

alexander. important to note that was very unusual to hear a briefing like that less than 18 hours after an aviation disaster like what we've seen. as you heard the president, for example, attack the previous transportation secretary using an expletive. >> yes, but i think also not very surprising for president trump who has made it his sort of mantra that he will deliver what he believes is his unvarnished truth and as he describes it, common sense in this circumstance. i will say i was particularly struck given the fact that there are still at least 30 bodies -- the remains of ose souls who lost their lives that have not yet been removed from the frigid cold waters of the potomac river not far from where we are, using an expletive to describe the transportation secretary, pete buttigieg as well, blaming dei initiatives that dated back to 2013 as being in some part, responsible for the -- as he describes them, failings of either the air traffic

controllers or the pilot on board. the soldier who was piloting that military aircraft. i asked him a question focused on that criticism of the dii policies that began back in 2013, which he was correct about. they were implemented by the obama administration in 2013, but we went back and they remained on the website for the entirety -- the faa's website, the policies remained in place according to the website for the entirety of president trump's time in office and continued until recent days. so that's the reason i posed the question to him, and that was the basis for it here. the bottom line though, is right now only a short distance away, that recovery effort continues. he used this as an opportunity to focus on his desire to hiret the best and brightest. among the questions that were not asked is whether his effort, as you know the administration sent a letter to all federal workers basically offering them an opportunity to quit or resign and to receive some for the of a payout to depart working for the