caused this accident. today we will be going and having an organizational meeting and establishing our parties to our investigation. we currently have the following parties that are already identified. psa airlines. ge aerospace. sikorsk. faa nacta, which represents the air traffic controllers. alpa, which represents the pilots. army apha, which represents the flight attendants. the transportation safety board of canada

the medical examiner. we will not be giving specific names that will be handled by the proper authority. so we want to talk a little bit about process. we will analyze the facts and determine probable cause of accident and we will issue a report of those determinations. also want to talk a little bit about additional people that are here with us that are very important to us.

our family assistance group. later today we will be briefing the families. we normally try to do this and in this case they are still arriving. family specialists are working closely with local officials and others to help in their efforts to support everyone that's affected by this accident. let me just reiterate what the chair said. aviation accidents are very unusual in the united states and our hearts go out to everyone affected. it affects us and everyone around us. we will help find out what happened, we will move factually and accurately. as part of this we will be standing up specific working groups. those working groups will be operations, looking at the history of the accident flight and crew members for as many

days before the crash as appears relevant. will form a structure's group which will lead to documentation of airframe wreckage and accident scene including calculation of impact angles to help determine the impacts course and altitude. we will have a powerplant group that will do determination of the engine and engine accessories. will have a systems group that will study the components of the plane hydraulics, electrical pneumatics and systems. together with the instruments and elements of the flight control system. will have an air traffic control group with reconstruction and review of air traffic control systems provided to and including acquisition of pertinent flight surveillance information what you might typically think of as radar along with control and pilot communications. we also have a survival factor group that will be doing

documentation of pact forces and injuries, community emergency planning and all crash and fire rescue efforts. also, due to the unique nature of this crash, we will be having a helicopter group, as well. lastly, we will have a human performance group and this will not be its own group, it will actually be part of the operations air traffic control and helicopter groups. they will study the crew performance and all the factors that might be involved in human error including fatigue, medication, medical history, training, workload, equipment design and work environment. know we're going to take a few questions, but again i will stress we do not have a lot of information now. we will continue to gather that, we will try to release it as we can, but we will only talk about the facts of the case

that we know right now. we will call on a few people. i will ask that you state your name and affiliation. >> [ inaudible question ] >> i did not hear the remarks, chair would you like to take this? >> heart of any investigation, we look at the human, the machine and the environment. so we will look at all the humans that were involved in this accident. agagain we ll look at the aircraft. we will look at the helicopter. we will look at the environment in which they were operating in. that is standard in any part of our investigation. >> has the flight data recorder been recovered yet? what is the difficulty in this

where there is a very difficult environment for investigators? >> the question was on the flight data recorders. we have not recovered the flight data recorder yet. we know they are there. they are underwater. this is not unusual for the ntsb. many times we have recovered flight data recorders in water. we have our lab right here about one mile from the ntsb so it's not unusual and once we get those we will be able to get those red and information from them to be able to provide further information to you. i'm going to turn it back over. >> [ inaudible question ]

>> the question is was this human error or mechanical error? >> we do not know what we know yet. we do not know enough facts to rule in or out human factor, mechanical factor. that is part of the ntsb investigative process where all the groups will come together. it's one reason why the ntsb is known as the gold standard. i would like to reiterate if we find something that is a significant issue that warrants immediate action will not hesitate to make those recommendations and make those public. we have a good track record on that and want to continue. >> does it hurt your investigative process may be for the chairman, does it hurt your investigative process to have the president already suggesting possible cause as you try to keep an open mind and begin this investigation? >> tom, with all due respect i

think the press also likes to state what probable cause is before we get to probable cause. so what i'm going to say is you need to give us time. it's not that we don't have information. we do have information, we have data, we have substantial amounts of information. we need to verify information. we need to take our time to make sure it is accurate. that's best for you, important for the families, important for legislators who are seeking answers to figure out what they are going to do so it will take time. we do have a lot of information but we need some time to verify that. >> worried about conditions last night were there any performance issues in the past with any of these controllers or anything of that nature? >> as i said we are forming the

groups. we need representation, they will be working with our party system in groups, conducting interviews. interviews ll be analyzed and transcribed and other team members will look over it. we will go through the entire history. >> can you tell us more about -- >> sure. the question was about my briefing for the president and vice president as standard we offer briefings on our process and what we know and this was a briefing with the president and vice president and with secretary duffy and secretary hegseth. also the acting administrator of the faa. discussion on what we know so far and our process and that

was about it. >> the president stated what may have caused the crash. common sense, does that affect your progress this early in the stage? >> the ntsb, we conduct important safety mission where we take a very careful approach . i'm sorry, the question was on speculating during investigations which is, we often hear about. what i will say is we look at facts on the investigation and that will take time and at some point we will provide that factual information and provide that hopefully tomorrow. >> have you been able to

retrieve the black boxes from the helicopter, did the military decide whether they will read those and what about the atc tapes? >> the question was about black boxes which are referred to as black boxes but are typically orange. we have not recovered any of the black boxes involved. we feel comfortable and confident that we will be able to, right now recovery of life is most important for those involved. there are still ongoing recovery efforts involving fatalities along with some debris coming out. we will make sure that perishable evidence is maintained. we have a great process for that. we will probably have more than one black box, so to speak. it is our understanding that the helicopter is equipped with some form of recording devices

and those will be read by the dod or by us. we have a good starting relationship with them and we have made agreements to do thth so i feel comfortable in what we are doing. the other question about air traffic control. we received a large packe of information from the faa at 3:00 a.m. this morning. that is still being reviewed and analyzed. there's a lot more information for what comes in that and what people speculate online. that is part of the process where we take time to get the information correct and to make sure all parties are engaged and involved and can fax check that information. >> can you tell me if the ntsb has reviewed the faa internal report cited by the new york times indicating the controller that was on duty at the time of the crash was doing a job that usually takes two people?

>> we have not reviewed any specific reports about the controllers at this time from the leadership team. our investigators are pulling the information. personnel records, files, where they are, whether they were fatigued, all of that will be part of the investigative process but right now we cannot speculate on anything reported in the media until we have the opportunity to validate and understand how it impacts the investigation. will take a few more questions. >> [ inaudible question ] >> the question is about the families. many of those families are still in route, some are being notified from both the military and commercial crash. there's a family assistance facility being stood up by

american and psa headlines in bethesda, maryland. our team from the disaster assistance team has been coordinating. we plan on breaking them. it is customary at some point it's a families wish to go to the accident site then we would arrange such a thing but only when we know it is safe. we have the correct perishable evidence and we can do it with proper modesty for those family members. it will be a little bit of a process but it will take some time. >> [ inaudible question ] >> again we will not speak to the fatalities, the d.c. medical examiner will. the d.c. fire chief excessively id correctly we believe there

are no survivors. right now nothing we have seen would indicate, it was a quick rapid impact but we have seen nothing in the regards from the evidence we have that we need to verify that information. one more question. >> what you know about the altitude of the helicopter at the moment of impact? >> the question is about the helicopters. in d.c. it is a unique environment. we are getting briefed more and more by the faa. therare helicopter zones and this one was transiting from track 1 to 4 as part of normal

procedure. if you live in d.c. you'll see a lot of helicopters in the area . there is a well-defined system in that regard. until we get the additional information we cannot validate or basically corroborate any of that until we get more electronic data and the data from the plane. i want to clarify one question about the cell phones. in today's age and time a lot of electronics and devices contain different information. we have found in a number of accidents we are notified through a smart phone and as part of the process we will treat all of the effects of the deceased with dignity. we are starting to pull the information together. if we feel it is necessary we will work with the families and make sure we do it in a manner that's respectful for them and their privacy but right now we don't have plans specifically on that area until we need to.

thank you very much. >> we have been listening to the first news conference by the ntsb since that horrific accident that happened late last night where 67 people died in the crash involving an american airlines passenger jet and a military black hawk helicopter. we learned two important pieces of information from the news conference, the big question why did this happen? was this human error, mechanical malfunction? the ntsb says it will take time likely up to 30 days to get the first preliminary report of why this accident happened. we did learn both like boxes have not been recovered from the black hawk or from the american airlines jet and also the ntsb is set to brief the families of these victims, they plan to do it later today because a lot of the families are flying in.

i want to bring in chief aviation correspondent tom costello. a lot of questions asked with questions about some reporting nbc news confirmed about staffing at dca and air traffic controllers that control the helicopters and the planes, explain to the viewers why that might be important. >> that's right. the reagan airport air traffic control tower usually assigns one controller to handle planes and another controller to handle helicopter traffic. we are told by sources with knowledge that last night they did not have two controllers able to do that so they had one controller handling both planes and choppers. that is allowed under the faa standards but it is not ideal. so that would potentially open up the questions about where they properly staffed given the volume of traffic last night here at the reagan airport operating zone and specifically with helicopter traffic.

the weather was fine but pretty good traffic in and around reagan airport especially coming into and out of runway one which we talked about being the busiest in america. this plane was coming into runway 33. the other interesting item i found was we talked at great length over the last 20 hours or so about how busy the skies are with helicopter traffic up and down the potomac river and we learned today from the ntsb this black hawk chopper was transiting from one chopper track, one traffic lane in the sky to the fourth traffic lane. so we will see whether the ntsb will look into whether that contributed to what happened last night over the potomac. let me say if you don't mind. i have covered the ntsb 20 years and this is pretty much exactly how this goes.

they are not going to come out and give you probable cause. there going to be very methodical and very slow and they will also release, as it comes out the factual data and information but not draw conclusions. we won't get a definitive cause if this is a typical investigation for 12 months as this investigation proceeds methodically, using forensic analysis and a very detailed and i might say a proven approach over the many decades the ntsb has been on the job. >> yeah. i do want to ask because we have been showing the video to the viewers over the last several hours and that is the sky cam video showing the moment of impact. i want to connect the dots a little bit for the viewers reporting on what you're talking about with the issue of elevation. when we see the video you can see the bright light, the spotlight, the american airlines jet and then the helicopter sort of elevating and the crash happens and

that's when you see the fireball in the sky. explained to the viewers, that elevation issue, questions are and you can explain better than i can. are the questions whether it elevated too quickly or it was just too high or both? >> so first of all as you look at the video, you will notice a plane taking off to the right on the right-hand side, that's not the plane involved. more evidence of air traffic in and around reagan airport. the planes that come into runway 33, planes that come into runway 33 generally must fly between 400 0 and 500 feet off the ground. helicopter traffic must be usually below 200 feet. i just talked to john cox about this a short time ago, our aviation analyst, a veteran pilot who has come into reagan airport many times and he makes the point it's not unusual to have a chopper below you as you

are coming in or going out. now they're supposed to stay below 200 feet. you are at 400 and 500 feet until you make your final landing at runway 33. this is a choreographed ballet that they do every day and have done for many many years. as you know we have reported over the course of the years a potential close calls but those have been between planes, rarely do we hear about a close call involving a chopper. this is a very busy airspace, very congested and made more comp located because of course planes cannot fly over washington d.c. and essentially they come in and approach the runway up and down the potomac river which therefore limits their options. there are tracks in the sky and bottleneck in at reagan airport. >> the ntsb made it a point to

explain the have done a lot of work underwater because the black boxes are inside the aircraft's which are underwater so talk to me about the process to get the fuselage out. we know in the case of the passenger jet it's at least three pieces, they had to take the pieces out, re-create them and examine them and do the same with the black hawk. >> that is pretty standard procedure as it relates to reconstructing the fuselage. chances are they will use a anger here at reagan airport, they will re-create or rebuild the fuselage in the hangar. for the black boxes, the chairwoman made the point, ntsb headquarters is one mile away from here. it took them 10 minutes to get here. they have the most sophisticated labs in the world to read out the black boxes, the voice recorder and flight data

recorder which will have hundreds of pieces of data measuring every possible parameter on the performance of the aircraft. all of that will be read out at the lab. i want to make the point i'm almost surprised i did not hear the word perishable because at every ntsb news conference i have been to, the make the point that they are in the process of collecting perishable evidence. perishable objects. what do they mean by that? for example they don't want to critical piece of the plane to flow down the river. they want to get as much evidence as possible while available. while it's not affected by the weather hopefully, not affected by a moving river and that would include the faa presented air traffic control data at 3:00 a.m. so that would include gathering all of the data, all of the radar tapes if you will, recordings. and interviewing air traffic controllers as soon as possible

so it's fresh in their mind, what happened. all of us, as time goes by our memory, recollection can change slightly, they don't want that so they will try to sit down with the air traffic controllers as soon as possible and everybody else in the chain of these aircraft who were involved over the last 24 to 48 hours. >> as you say that looking over my shoulder into the potomac, search crews are not clustered, they are spread out along the potomac looking for anything that may float from the initial crash site. i want to bring in courtney, a lot of questions about the black hawk helicopter, those pilots and we have lost three servicemembers in this horrific accident. >> that's right, three soldiers part of the crew of this black hawk and we are learning more about them.

for starters at the white house press coverage we heard from pete hegseth. he identified their rings as pretty uncommon. in the case of servicemembers who were killed while on duty there is generally a policy not to talk about any identifying information until 24 hours after next of kin has been notified. in this case the new secretary acknowledged the three individuals are a captain, chief warrant officer two and staff sergeant. what we have learned since his these are three very experienced crewmembers. one of the individuals, it was an instructor pilot so that means this is someone with 1000 flight hours, a flight is generally two hours so that gives you a sense of how many times this person has been up in a black hawk. have additional training and then pilots go and help other

pilots with certification, with their training. these are among the most expensive pilots within the army. in addition to that the copilot was a pilot in command. that meets the copilot was the individual basically getting recertification. at least once a year pilots have to do a certification. daytime and nighttime flights, but again this person had at least 500 hours in the cockpit, very experienced. in addition there was a crew chief on board that is standard . minimum three people on board, the crew chief also very experienced. what were they doing? duri the flight? the military says it was a routine training flight. calling it a routine training flight. for the viewers they have to do

certification, they were doing it at night and have to do daytime and nighttime so that is not surprising. >> always appreciate your reporting. i want to bring in former member of the ntsb. we don't have a lot of time here, you have heard everything so far with a lot of factors including staffing the control tower, what happened with the helicopter, do you have a sense of what you think possibly may have happened? >> as you heard from the ntsb now, we can speculate that we don't know because they are just beginning the fact-finding process. clearly there are issues raised about what height the aircraft were at, or the height requirements in the limit. i have questions about notification. are these helicopter training missions, obviously they are

discretionary to some extent. are the pilots notified that they will be in the same general area with helicopter pilots? commercial pilots and helicopters and what communication is it? is there electronic communications on either aircraft that should've been deployed and were not or is that something we should be looking at. those are questions i would have but we don't have any answers at this point. >> whose job is that communication? who does that fall under? >> again it is protocol the what i would use is what ground rules are established, let's say at reagan airport, but really that are abided by commercial pilots and in this case military. i don't know and there may be perhaps they will file but i don't know.

a little bit of inquiry that i made today people much more knowledgeable than i am do not have an answer to that either. should there be? we have heard about how crowded dca is and it's only getting more crowded because more flights are added. what does that do to upset the ability of pilots with helicopter or commercial aircraft. >> we appreciate your analysis. thank you for that, we will continue to cover the story. that includes this special report, much news now ♪♪ it is the bottom of the hour here on "nbc news daily." >> and the big story is that breaking news out of our nation's capital. the deadly midair collision between a black hawk helicopter and an american eagle flight near ragan national airport.

everyone onboard both aircraft, 67 people, presumed dead. our coverage continues in a moment of that. first, here are some of the other stories making headlines today. in the middle east hamas released eight israeli and thai hostages as part of a truce with israel. one of the handovers in gaza devolved into chaos as the hostages were surrounded by a crowd some chanting support for hamas. prime minister benjamin netanyahu briefly delayed the release of 100 palestinian prisoners until mediators guaranteed the safe exit of hostages for future releases. the next exchange is scheduled for saturday. astronaut suni williams set the record for the most times spacewalking over a career. williams has been stuck in space about eight months now with fellow astronaut butch wilmore. the pair took their first spacewalk together to remove a broken antenna and wipe the station's exterior for microbes. during the walk williams

surpassed retired astronaut peggy whitson who held the record at 60 hours and 21 minutes. america's economy continued to grow in the final months of 2024. the commerce department reported today that gross domestic product, gdp, which measures all the goods and services produced in the united states grew by 2.3% from october to december. it was powered mostly by stronger consumer spending. for the full year, gdp up 2.#% compared to 2.9% the year before. at this hour authorities are working to identify the victims of that tragic midair disastrous ter in our nation's capital. >> 67 are presumed dead after a helicopter collided with a commercial flight from wichita, kansas wednesday night. >> 60 passengers and four crew members were onboard the american airlines flight. another three were onboard the black hawk helicopter. among the victims a group of elite figure skaters and families returning from a training camp in kansas.

joining us now, nbc news correspondent erin mclaughlin in arlington, virginia, for us. erin, what do we know about the recovery efforts at this hour? >> reporter: well, kate, it is still underway. we know from officials that they have managed to recover dozens of bodies from the river, but those efforts still ongoing as you mentioned. victims onboard that fated plane flight were members of the figure skating community. they were on their way home from an elite figure skating camp in kansas. two of the victims, teenagers, spencer lane and jenna hahn, members of a club in boston, figure skating club. nancy care again, the former olympian, is an alumni of that club. take a listen to what she in to say about the tragedy.

>> when you find out, you know, you know some of the people on the plane, even a bigger blow. we just wish them well. like the families, the courage and the strength to make the next steps. i don't know how you look at people go through tragedies and wonder how they do it. i don't know. we are so strong. >> reporter: now, we are still learning more about the victims and their identities. we understand from officials they have set up a center not far from here for the families of those that were aboard that plane flight. >> and er, what do we know about the ongoing investigation into what went wrong here? i understand there were already previous concerns about flight traffic at this airport, at reagan. >> reporter: yeah, we just heard from the ntsb in their first briefing following this tragedy, saying they are in the very

nascent stages of this exhaustive investigation. this is the first full day of the investigation given that last night was mostly focused on a rescue. now recovery mission. they say they are going to be looking at everything from the histories of the pilots, the air traffic in the area, the plane itself, the trajectory, flight recordings. according to officials, they say they have yet to recover the black boxes from either aircraft. the fuselage is still submerged from the jet in the water, having split into two. and they are saying that they are going to provide answers as soon as they get them. a preliminary report is expected within the next 30 days. >> erin, thank you. >> let's bring in justin green, former marine helicopter pilot, aviation attorney. we heard erin say the ntsb is saying they have not recovered the black boxes yet but they use the word we know they are there. they are under the water

somewhere, they are intact. that's got to be a good sign? >> definitely. and most likely they the recordings will tell us a lot. the recent accident they actually pulled the black boxes the last four minutes were missing. here you won't have that because of the nature of the accident. the black boxes are actually not black, but are very colorful colors so they can find them. they are very protected. so there is not an emergency to go get them. right now i think the focus is on recovering the bodies, notifying the families, and when they are ready they will get those black boxes. >> we have a preliminary report from the faa, the federal aviation administration, that seems indicate that staffing at the air traffic control tower was, quote, not normal, saying that the controllers were managing both planes and helicopters. you talk about how that might have impacted this situation? >> one of the things that everyone knows that the d.c. area is very highly trafficked

in terms of commercial airplanes, but more importantly the helicopters. so everyone knows they have to protect it. that includes the faa, the airlines, the military. and here it seems that the faa thoughtfully had someone assigned just to handle the helicopter traffic, but because of staffing issues they combined that so the same person controlling the american eagle flight was also looking a after the helicopter. that could be a systemic issue that could have a big safety lesson learned. >> there is a question coming up about why the helicopter and the plane were apparently flying around the same altitude when they went down. you were telling us off camera that this is something that is unusual, right? >> so, obviously, airplanes and helicopters aren't supposed to hit each other. so it is unusual. here the d.c. area has

essentially a highway for helicopters. zirch different routes they fly are set geographically but also at altitude. altitude limitation of the why are was go 200 feet. >> for the helicopter? >> helicopter. airplanes descending will land on runway 33. so here they conflicted, you know, maybe 200 feet, maybe higher. so one of the questions are going to be was the helicopter at the wrong altitude? primarily, the air traffic control was expecting the helicopter to avoid the airplane horizontally, meaning go behind it. here also vertically is another question. >> yeah, so many questions. justin green, thanks for your insight. another big story making headlines right now. senators held confirmation hearings for some of president trump's most controversial cabinet nominees earlier. >> robert f. kennedy jr. faced a second senate pam today in his bid to lead the department of health and human services.

and kash patel and tulsi gabbard faced committees for the first time. patel for the job of fbi director. this confirmation hearing is not like the others. confirmed fbi directors typically serve terms across different administrations whereas the other picks are under the president who nominates them. >> lauchls questioned tulsi gabbard as she seeks to become the director of national intelligence. the former democratic congresswoman switched parties to republican and endorsed mr. trump last year. >> let's bring in justice and intelligence correspondent ken dilanian. first, on the hill there, the director of national intelligigence oveees 18 agencies. it's a big job. and tulsi gabbard was repeatedly asked about her change in opinion over edward snowden, the national security agency contractor who leaked intelligence in 2013. what did she say? >> tulsi gabbard got a lot of questions about the case of edward snowden, the former

intelligence contractor who leaked information about the u.s. national security state to expose the surveillance. she was asked by members in both parties about past comments praising edward snowden as brave, a whistleblower. she was peppered with questions about that. she wouldn't disown her past remarks but simply said the words he broke the law. he broke the law. she said that multiple times which led to one exchange with senator from colorado. take a listen to this. >> as i said before, edward snowden broke the law and i don't agree how he chose to release information and the extent of the information and intelligence that he released. it's my focus on the future and i think we can all agree that we do not want to have another snowden type leak and i laid out specific actions if confirmed as dni to do that. >> gabbard was asked about her criticisms of fisa section 702, the program that authorizes

warrantless surveillance. she called for changes to require warrants if americans data is swept up. she sidestepped questions, didn't get specific about what changes she wants, and finally she has been accused of deploying rhetoric that channels foreign adversaries, including propaganda of syria and russia. she was grilled about that. >> ken, kash patel was asked about president trump's pardons of january 6th rioters, including those convicted of assaulting law enforcement officers. of course he is up for the top fbi job. what did he have to say? >> he broke with president trump, which was striking. he said that he was not onboard with those pardons. take listen. >> do you think that america is safer because these 1,600 people have been given an opportunity to come out of serving their sentences? and live in our communities again? >> senator, i have not looked at all 1,600 individual cases. i have always advocated for

imprisoning those that cause harm to our law enforcement and civilian communities. >> yeah, and another point we didn't play, he said i do not agree with commutations of the sentences or pardons against people who attack police officers. and that was a dramatic moment. a republican senator, thom tillis, went further later and said these pardons that donald trump handed out, quote, unquote, sucked and he respectfully disagreed with the president's decision to do that. a rare break with donald trump by his fbi nominee and a republican senator. guys. >> thank you. and up next, we'll return to our coverage of that devastating crash in washington. at past aviation whdi

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involving a u.s. commercial airliner 16 years ago. air flight 3407, bombardier regional jet crashed on approach to buffalo, new york, kill all 49 onboard and one on the ground. investigators determined pilot error was to blame. but thinquiry highlighted serious ms problems facing regional carriers, including grueling work schedules for pilots, long distance communities and exhaustion. investigators believe neither pilot in the air crash had slept well the night before after commuting long distances cross-country. that accident triggered the first faa rule change to address pilot fatigue in five decades. including a maximum duty day for pilots of nine to 14 hours, maximum flying time of nine to ten hours, and more rest time between flights. last night's crash evoking another disaster in the potomac more than four decades ago. in 1982, air florida flight 90 a boeing 737 crashed into a bridge just seconds after taking off

from national airport in a blinding snowstorm. leaving 78 dead. five people escaped the wreckage? the icy river with cameras capturing the dramatic rescues. investigators found the flight crew's failure to desies the aircraft before takeoff likely caused the crash. leading the faa to change de-icing regulations for airlines nationwide. another question investigators and lawmers will be focusing on is reagan national airport capacity. the busiest runway in america, experienced near collisions in recent years. last may american airlines flight 2134 cleared for takeoff, speeding down the runway at the same time a smaller private plane was landing on an intersecting runway forcing the american jet to slam on the brakes. one month earlier, a jetblue plane clearly collided with a southwest plane.

the two coming within 1,000 feet of each other. >> ryan nobles, thank you for that report. as we mentioned, the crash happened in one of the busiest airspaces in the country near reagan national airport in washington, d.c., and it involved an army black hawk helicopter. >> the same helicopters have been involved in several military trainingrashes in recent years, including one in 2023 when two black hawks crashed in kentucky killing nine service members. for more let's bring in senior national security correspondent courtney kube. courtney, what do we know about these service members who unfortunately perished in the crash? >> reporter: yeah, so in a normal situation when there is an accident, incident, anything that takes the life of a u.s. service member, the pentagon has a very strict policy about not identifying those individuals until 24 hours after all of the next of kin have been notified. in this case, we had a departure

with secretary of defense pete hegseth, providing a little bit of identifying information about the three soldiers killed in this collision last night. here is what he said earlier today. >> the three service members, the three soldiers young captain, staff sergeant and c w-2, chief warrant officer. on a routine annual retraining of night flights ton a standard corridor for a continuity of government mission. >> reporter: we know that these three were ver experienced. one an instructor pilot with more than 1,000 hours in the cockpit, the co-pilot with about 500 hours, the crew chief we are told was well aware, knew the route well and had flown many times. guys. >> and president trump did appear to blame the pilots of the black hawk for this crash. has there been any reaction at the pentagon about that? >> reporter: that got a lot of attention here, zinhle. what they focused in on the president and secretary hegseth was this idea of an elevation

issue. people here scratching their heads, usually when you talk about aircraft, you talk about altitude, not elevation. in this case, we don't know the exact altitude that the helicopter was flying at. but given this route, again it's a very highly -- heavily trafficked route, route four along the potomac river. the max altitude they would be allowed to fly is 200 feet. that should be well below where commercial aviation is allowed to fly. we are still waiting to get the fidelity, any specifics about where whether the helicopter was flying above that. kate, zinhle. >> courtney kube, thaws so much. and there is much more news ahead. you are watching "nbc news daily." “the darkness of bipolar depression made me feel like i was losing interest in the things i love. then i found a chance to let in the lyte.” discover caplyta. unlike some medicines that only treat bipolar i, caplyta is proven to deliver significant symptom relief from both bipolar i & ii depression. and in clinical trials, movement disorders and weight gain were not common.

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