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i love seeing them come back and join the engagement teams and seeing where they go from there, i get to watch their personal growth, it makes my heart happy. (laughs) announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" will not be discussing fatalities or names. i'll be >> bc news. you are watching a press conference from the national transportation safety board in the united states. they say they are not going to get into specific facts around that air crash in washington, d.c., but they are spelling out their investigative process. >> later today, we will be briefing the families. we normally try to do this before the media event, but in this case, they are still

arriving. our family assistance specialists are working closely with local officials and others to help assist in their efforts to support everyone affected by this accident. let me just reiterate what the chair said. a loss of life in an aviation accident is very unusual in the united states. our heart goes out to everyone that is affected. it affects us. it affects everyone around us. there are a lot of people hurting today. you will help find out what happened. we will do it factually and we will do it accurately. as part of this, we are going to be standing up some specific working groups. those working groups will be operations. they will be looking at the history of the accident flight and crewmember duties for as many days before the crash as appears relevant. we will be forming a structures group which will be the documentation of the airframe wreckage and the accident scene,

including calculation of impact angles, to help determine the plane's pre-impact. we will look at the engine and the injured -- engine accessories. we will have a systems group that will study the components of the plane's hydraulics, pneumatics, and associated systems. with the instruments and elements of the flight control system, we will have an air traffic control group that will do reconstruction and review of air traffic control systems provided to and including acquisition of pertinent flight track surveillance information, which you might typically think of as radar, along with controller pilot communications. we will also have a survival factors group that will be doing the documentation of impact forces and injuries, community emergency planning, and all crash and fire rescue efforts. also, due to the 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 be part of the operations air traffic control and helicopter groups. they will study the crew performance and all of the factors that might be involved in human error, including fatigue, medication, medical histories, training, equipment design, and work environment. we are going to take a few questions. i will again stress we don't have a lot of information yet. we will continue to gather that. we will try to release it as we can. what we will only talk about the facts of the case that we know right now. i'm going to ask -- we will call on a few people. i'm going to ask that you state your name and affiliation. >> [indiscernible] talking about d.e.i. hiring

within the faa, and associated work in the court. >> unfortunately, i did not hear the remarks. i was briefing the house and senate members. >> as part 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. again, we will look at the aircraft. we will look at the helicopter. we will look at the environment in which they were operating. that is standard in any part of our investigation. i will turn it back. >> has the flight data recorder been covered yet? what is the difficulty in a water disaster like this, which creates a very difficult environment for your investigators? ask the question was on the flight data recorders. and we have not recovered the flight data recorders yet.

we know they are there. they are underwater. this is not unusual for the ntsb. we have many times recovered flight data recorders in water. we have our lab right here that is about a mile from the ntsb, so it is not unusual. 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 am going to turn it back over. cbs news. earlier today, defense secretary pete hegseth said a mistake was made last night. faced off of your initial investigations and clem neri findings you all did, could you tell if this was human error or mechanical failure? >> we don't know what we know. we do not know enough facts to be able to rule in or out human

factor, mechanical factors. that is part of the ntsb investigative process, and where all of these groups will come together. it is one of the reasons the ntsb is known as the gold standard. we will take the time that is necessary. i would like to reiterate, if we find something that is a significant issue that warrants immediate action, we will not hesitate to make those recommendations and make them public. we have a good track record on that. we will continue doing so. >> does it hurt your investigative process that your -- the president suggested possible causes as you to begin this investigation? cox, with all due respect, i think the press also likes to state what probable cause is before we get to the probable cause. so what i'm going to say is you need to give us time. you need to give -- it is 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 is best for you. that is important for the families. that is important for legislators who are seeking answers to try to figure out what they are going to do about this. it will take time. we do have a lot of information, but we need some time to verify that. >> robert jace williams at foxbusiness. last night, where there any performance issues? >> the question was about -- the controllers do have union representations. they will be working with our groups. they will be conducting interviews. those interviews will be analyzed and transcribed, and

other team members will need to look over it. it will be a long process, but we will go through the entire history. >> my question is for the chairwoman. can you tell more about what the president and the vice president's responses were? ask the question was about my briefing for the president and the vice president. as is standard, we offer briefings on our process and what we know. this was a briefing with the president and vice president, and with secretary duffy and secretary hegseth. and also the acting administrator of the faa. there was discussion on what we know so far. and our process. and that was about it. >> bbc news. similar question. the president has stated the

cause of the crash, and what is the progress at this early stage? >> we conduct an important safety mission where we take a very careful approach. i'm sorry. the question was on speculating during investigations, which is -- which we often hear about. what i will say is, we look at facts on our investigation, and that will take some time. at some point, we will be able to provide factual information, and provide that ultimately tomorrow. >> have you been able to retrieve the black boxes? has the military decided whether they are going to release those two the ntsb?

>> the black boxes are referred to as black boxes but are typically orange. we have not recovered any of the boxes involved yet. we feel comfortable and confident that we will be able to. right now, recovery of life is the most important of those that we are involved. i mean, there are still ongoing recovery efforts. we will make sure the 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 sikorsky helicopter is equipped with some form of recording devices, and those will be read either by the dod or by us. we have a good starting relationship with them and we have already made agreements in order to be able to do that. so i feel comfortable in what we are going to be doing.

the other question was about air traffic control. we received a very large package of information from the faa at about 3:00 a.m. this morning. that is still being reviewed and analyzed. i would say there is a lot more information that usually comes in that than what you may find online and what people may speculate about. that is part of the overall process where we take the time to get the information correct and to make sure all the parties are engaged and involved and can fact check that information. >> keith cohen from cnn. can you tell me it if you have reviewed the report signed -- cited by the new york times that the controller that was on duty was usually doing a job that is done by two people? >> we have not risk -- we have not reviewed any specific reports by any of the controllers at this time. our investigators continue to look at that information. personal records or files, where they were, whether they were

fatigued -- all of that information will be part of the investigative process, we cannot speculate on anything that may have been in front of the media until we get the opportunity to validate how it impacts the investigation. we will take just a few more questions. >> what is the process of bringing families in to the airport? how are you going to keep the sensitivity of how this tragedy happened? >> the question is about the families. many of those families are still in route. some are still being notified. both the military and from the crash. there is a family assistance facility that is being stood up by american airlines in bethesda, maryland. they have been working on standing that up. the disaster assistance team has also been coordinating with them.

it is customary that at some point if the families wish to go to the accident site, we would arrange such a thing. but it would only be when we know that it is safe, we have the direct personable evidence, and we can do it with the per modesty for those family members. it will be a bit of a process, what it will take some time. >> to follow up -- >> no. >> there were some witnesses that saw someone come down the slide. has there been any indication that they made it off the plane? >> we won't speak to the fatalities. the d.c. medical examiner will. but i think the d.c. fire chief this morning very simply said direct that we believe there are no survivors. so, hang on one second. right now, we are going through. nothing we have seen would

indicate that slides or shoots were deployed. it was a very quick, rapid impact. we have seen nothing in that regard so far from the evidence we have. what we still need to verify all of that information. one more question? >> are you looking at the family member cell phones? >> bbc news. what do you know about the altitude of the helicopter at the moment of impact? can you talk about the procedure? ask in d.c., it is kind of a unique environment. i am not an air traffic control specialist. but there are helicopter zones or tracks. this one was transiting, i believe, from track one to track four as part of their normal procedure. if you live in d.c., you see a lot of helicopters going down into this area, so there is a very well-defined system in that regard. altitude, until we get the additional information, we

cannot validate or corroborate any of that, until we get more of the data that was on the plane. i want to clarify one question about cell phones. today's age and time, a lot of electronics and devices do contain a lot of other information. we have found in our accidents that we are notified through a smartphone. as part of our process, we will treat all of the effects of the deceased with dignity. we are already stirring to pull that information together. if we feel it is necessary to pull some of that information, we will work with the families and make sure we do it in a manner that is respectful for them and their privacy. but right now, we don't have any plans specifically on that area. thank you very much. >> that has been a press conference from the national transportation safety board, just taking place in the building behind me here at

reagan national airport in the historic terminal one building. just to bring you some of what they said, they said they have not recovered the black boxes from the aircraft or the helicopter, although they made the point they commonly are orange. they expect they are there, the voice recorders are there, they are underwater at this time, and the priority is recovering the bodies of those who lost their lives in that crash last night. they said they will then move to recover these pieces of evidence from the water as well. they said they will leave no stone unturned when it comes to investigating just what happened last night, pointing out they had reached the president and the vice president quite recently. they said they would hope to have a preliminary report compiled within 30 days time, and after that, there would be a final report, although they did not put a timeframe on the delivery of the final report, saying it would be when all of their work is finished and all of their evidence gathered, and

completed. some technical information given is how those various processes will be carried out. in this instance, it is a collision between two aircraft, rather than one aircraft crashing onto the ground. there is extra involvement of the military as well because this was a blackhawk helicopter that was involved. they also made the point that they don't have the names of the victims just yet, because some of the family members, the loved ones of those killed in this crash, are still being notified at this time, of their loss. and they said -- that if some of the family members and loved ones i had information as to how this will all be carried out -- let's speak to somebody who has a good insight into just what is going to happen next in this

phase, and that is very valentine, former administrator for the federal aviation authority. thank you for joining us on bbc news. a big body of work lies ahead at this point. can you talk us through where you would see this investigation focusing, given the bit of information that we know at this time? >> i think you just turn the people from the ntsb -- they did an excellent job of explaining the process by which they go through doing investigations. and i give credit to the ntsb for the job the organization has done over the decades. they do a great job. as one of the persons mentioned, you look at the airplanes, the pilots, the environment. there is not that much mystery regarding the airplanes, and it was a midair collision. it was not an engine failure or a system failure.

that particular thing. the area around washington, for anyone who is not there or worked there, is one where if you step outside a building, you see planes taking off and landing from reagan national. you see helicopters from the military, the government, zipping around the airspace as well. it is a very busy airspace. i think they will be looking at the procedures that are in place, such that it accommodates both the airline traffic at the airport and the helicopter traffic, particularly military helicopter traffic, and most of the general airspace as well. i think that will be a great deal of their focus. >> and the individuals involved in this investigation, just laying out how fastidious it will be -- they say they will leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of what happened and combine that evidence and draw conclusions.

is it helpful when we have already had president trump giving his own -- what he called opinions on what happened, appearing to blame predecessors, appearing to blame employment hiring processes, and various other individuals from the crash. >> i was a bit surprised that the president spoke this morning, in that it deviates somewhat from normal investigation protocol. generally speaking, it is the ntsb that takes charge of the investigation. as i think you heard, one of the ntsb person said they generally are the body that provides what ever information is provided. it is not provided by any of the participants in the process individual, but by the ntsb as a whole. so i was a little bit surprised at the deviation from protocol. as we go forward, i assume the

ntsb still will be the party that invests -- investigates. >> i am interested as well on your view of, i suppose, the health of the american aviation industry at the moment. we have heard some commentators today pointing to a shortage that has existed for a couple of years now in air traffic controllers. we know how stressful that job is. and just the density of how congested an airport like reagan national is. >> the air traffic control management system at the, in terms of staffing, has had ups and downs over the decades, going back to the air traffic controllers strike years ago. that was a dramatic shortage. the levels have presumably been sufficient. currently, there is a shortage of air traffic controllers.

we need more of them. those who are there are highly skilled, highly trained, highly competent people. and i have the greatest respect for them. hopefully, there will be resources available to bring the levels of air traffic control staffing to what it needs to be at various locations. i cannot speak to the level at washington reagan or that area. the controllers overall do a fantastic job. i do point out that this was the first fatal airline accident with a u.s. airline in over 15 years, and during that interim time, there have been -- i would repeat this -- over 100 million safe flights taking place in the u.s. with commercial airlines. that means our traffic

management system has obviously done a superb job historically of keeping airplanes away from one another in the sky, which is the basic mission. i just wanted to point that out. this is an aberration, not a normal event. we need to figure out how to make sure that sort of thing cannot happen again. 7 -- >> a very important point to make. very -- barry, thanks so much for joining us on bbc news. we will have lots more from washington, d.c. is the day progresses and we learn more about what happened last night. those recovery efforts on going to get back the remains of all 67 people who lost their lives in that crash. for now, back over to you. >> thank you for bringing us up-to-date with all the very latest. we will be back with katrina

later in the evening. let's turn to the middle east. more than 100 palestinian prisoners have arrived in ramallah, in the occupied west bank, after being freed. these images show buses carrying prisoners, many of whom have been in jail for years, as they arrive to huge cheers. hamas is saying that 110 palestinians were freed today. 32 were sentenced to life. there were 30 children on the list. the youngest, just 15. israel had released that had delayed the release due to protests. the handover of seven hostages took place -- two israeli civilians and five thai nationals, who were taken through a crowd of armed men before being taken to safety. let's get the latest by speaking to a hostage negotiator and the middle east director for the international communities

organization. good to talk to you again. of course, everybody wants to know whether this -- whether the events of today mean that the next phase of the cease fire looks more likely now, that things are going smoothly. >> things are not going smoothly, but they are continuing. there will be another hostage release on saturday, with three more israeli hostages being released in exchange for palestinian prisoners. this is on track. the first 40 days were agreed upon. it is fragile, but it will go on. on tuesday next week, the negotiation of phase four is to begin, at the same time that prime minister netanyahu will be in the oval office with donald trump. trump's emissary has been here the last two days. he visited with hostage families, visiting in gaza yesterday. he assured the israeli public

that the united states will do everything to ensure the agreement will continue into phase two. to be honest, we are on a collision course between netanyahu and trump. it is supposed to bring an end to the war and this is something netanyahu said he would not agree to as long as hamas controls gaza. >> i want to say goodbye to viewers watching us on pbs news. stay with us wherever else you are in the world, watching. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it, "arguably the best bargain in streaming." that's because the free pbs app lets you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

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