witnessed the crash and relayed information to other pilots. >> american four. >> 721032017. >> did you see that? >> i don't know. >> if. >> he caught. earlier what happened, but. >> there was a. >> collision on the approaching two, three, three. we're going to be shutting. >> down operations. >> for the indefinite future. >> if you want to go back. >> to the gate, i suggest you guys. >> coordinate with somebody. >> let me know what. >> you. >> want. to do. >> all right? >> we'll let the company. >> talking to them right now. yeah. >> we. >> witnessed the. >> whole thing. >> right now. >> a massive search. >> and rescue operation is underway. >> in the. >> potomac river. but first responders are dealing with extremely difficult conditions. >> the water that we're operating in is about eight feet deep. there is wind. there is pieces of ice out there. so it's just dangerous and hard to work in. and because there's not a lot of lights, you're out there searching every square inch of space to see if you can find anybody. the divers are doing the same thing in the water. the water is dark, it is murky. and

that is a very tough condition for them to dive in. >> so as of now. >> no survivors have been found. >> nbc washington reports at least. >> 12 bodies have. >> been recovered, citing two. sources familiar with the search efforts. one local affiliate citing. 19 overnight, u.s. figure skating, confirmed that several of its members were on board the american airlines flight. the organization says athletes and coaches and family members were returning home from the national development camp, held in conjunction with the skating champ skating championships in wichita. meanwhile, reagan national airport is expected to be closed until 11 a.m. this morning. takeoffs and landings were halted around 9 p.m. shortly after the crash last night. willie. >> all right, let's go right. >> to the scene in alexandria, virginia. >> along the potomac river. >> nbc news. correspondent aaron gilchrist. >> not far. >> from where that collision. took place.

>> aaron good morning. so we're talking about 67 people, three soldiers aboard that army. blackhawk helicopter, 64. >> people. according to american airlines on that commercial aircraft. what more can you tell. >> us. >> right now about the. >> search and rescue mission? >> well, this search and rescue mission is still very much ongoing. you may be able to hear the helicopter that's flying overhead. there were a few, at least, that were up late last night. we've had one circling, going back and forth up and down the river the entire time that we've been out here this morning, and you may be able to see still some flashing lights over my shoulder here. this has been an effort that started almost immediately after the first reports of this plane and helicopter collision came in a little before 9:00 last night, eastern time. we saw as many as 300, according to d.c. fire, 301st responders respond to the scene from agencies throughout the national capital region. they have a mutual aid agreement where when something like this happens, you'll have really

first responders from dc and counties in virginia and maryland, federal responders, state responders as well, all show up at the same time. they've been in the water. divers have been in the water through the night, along with boats on the water going through, as we understand the fuselage from the aircraft, the regional airplane that went down here, as well as that blackhawk helicopter, again, trying to find some of those passengers, trying to find some of those crew members who went into the water with these aircraft last night. as you noted, at this point, we don't know that any survivors have been found, and we don't officially have word that bodies have been recovered, although sources have told our affiliate here, that is, 12 or more bodies have been recovered to this point. that question was put to d.c. mayor muriel bowser last night, or rather this morning during a briefing that she gave. she wouldn't answer directly about the number of people who may have been recovered or who may have survived here. we do expect willie. there will be another news conference around 730 this morning after the sun comes up,

at a point at which we think that first responders will be able to have even more obviously visibility and perhaps more access to this search scene. >> yeah, about an. >> hour away. >> still from sunrise there. we're hearing. >> from. as you said. >> nbc washington, more. >> than a dozen bodies have been. >> recovered, perhaps. >> as many as 20. but obviously. >> it's a very fluid. >> situation out there. we'll get an update at 730. erin. early hours here, but what are you hearing from sources about what we saw on that video and what we heard on air traffic control, which is a clear night, a pretty routine approach into reagan national and that blackhawk helicopter, despite the warnings from air traffic control flying directly into the commercial airplane. a lot of people asking already, how could that. >> have happened? >> that really is the big question here, willie, because this is such a tightly controlled airspace around washington, dc. commercial aircraft, for the most part, don't fly over the district of columbia. and there are so many

military facilities all the way down to quantico, the marine corps base south of the airport, fort belvoir, also south directly across from dca, you have the joint base anacostia-bolling. fort mcnair is here. there are so many military installations here where these sorts of helicopters would be moving about. it's hard to believe that the protocols wouldn't have helped something like this not to happen. and so it's one of the questions that's being asked. but the focus first is on trying to get to the victims of this crash. and then you're going to see the ntsb, the faa, the department of defense all come in here and try to figure out exactly what happened, how it happened, and how to prevent it from ever happening again. >> all right. >> nbc's aaron gilchrist in virginia for us right there along the potomac at the scene of the crash. aaron, we'll be back to you very soon. we appreciate it. mika. >> you know, you know, mika. >> there are a lot. >> of questions. >> obviously. >> about how. >> in the world this could happen.

>> how could. you have a helicopter coming. >> in and. >> cutting across the flight path, david, where every two minutes at that time there were flights? well, all. >> of us around here flown into reagan national and know. >> as you've said. >> that when you come in, there's going. >> to be a lot of traffic. still, this is highly unusual. >> but as. >> you say, every time. >> you land. >> at. >> national, you know, you're. >> flying into. >> an extraordinarily congested situation. >> it's joey. >> it's busy. >> and it's gotten busier year by year. i fly, like many of us, once a week. it seems, out of national and the growing traffic that's. >> associated with. >> i believe it's langley air force base, which is across the river. just just as you look out the window makes you think, wow, there's a lot more in this airspace than there used to be. that's not to say anything about why this particular crash happened. it's just every every traveler's experience is, wow, this is a busy airport. >> it's very congested. >> and. >> kat, even members of congress

complained about this. >> last year. >> yeah. >> a group of staff is looking at the their letter. seven members of congress who live in this area, who are all have constituents in the reagan air force airport area, sent out a note a year ago in may of 2024 saying that this plans to expand traffic into the airport were dangerous for the airport. there was already great risk. this is already the busiest airport, the busiest runway in the country, that one runway, busiest runway in the country. and they just said this is getting too dangerous. we've all seen the expansion of the airport. we know that this is not viable. >> and it is. it is extraordinarily busy traffic. that said, jon, the united states commercial aviation has has had an extraordinary run over the. past 15 years. i believe it is 16 years since the last crash. of course, that one, i believe the one up. >> in buffalo. >> yeah. >> it is. i mean, that. is to.

>> add to this. >> it's. such a congested area. >> also national. >> airport remarkably close to the. >> city center. much more. >> so than other. >> big city airports. just adding. >> to. the number. >> of the. >> traffic, the air traffic there, helicopters and the like. but this is certainly, as you say, the exception. >> rather than the rule. >> the last major air crash in the u.s. was back in 2009. near buffalo, new york. there hasn't been a fatal crash involving a major u.s. passenger plane in. >> nearly 16 years. >> yet, as the wall street. >> journal is. >> pointing out, air safety officials, controllers and airlines have dealt. >> with a rise in. near misses and. narrowly averted. >> crashes around airports. >> in recent years. officials have pointed. >> to. persistent staffing. shortages at air traffic control facilities. newer and. >> less experienced. >> pilots and technology. joe, that. >> needs improvement. and it's something that. >> we've heard. >> we've heard. complaints post-covid. >> that there weren't. >> enough air. traffic controllers. >> that, again, of course not the case here, where the air. >> traffic controller. specifically says asks, do you

see the crj 700 and got the affirmative from the helicopter pilot. >> that. >> he in fact did? >> yeah, absolutely. and so there's going to be a lot of questions about where that miscommunication could have come. but i want to go back to what katie was saying, because there was a conversation just a year ago about expanding the number of flights that go in and out of reagan, and this is what some lawmakers were concerned about, compounded by the fact that there are these shortages with air traffic controllers and that they're working longer hours and that training up a whole new force of them is going to take a lot of time. >> so it's eight minutes past the hour. if you're just joining us, we're covering breaking news out of washington, d.c, where an american airlines passenger jet crashed mid-air with a black hawk helicopter. the two aircraft plunging into the potomac river. american eagle flight 5342, which was coming from wichita, kansas, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members on board. the black hawk helicopter had three on board, and right now, a massive

search and rescue operation is underway in the frigid waters of the potomac. up to 19 bodies have been removed so far, and we are awaiting a news conference at 730 eastern time on this. joining us now, nbc news aviation analyst john cox. he's a former pilot and accident investigator with more than 20 years experience. and john, i'm curious what first comes to mind when you saw the video, heard the audio about what happened here. >> but i think it's important to recognize that this was a very routine operation, this change of a runway, to have the r-j land on runway three three, it's routinely done. pilots know how to handle that. everything that we can see the jet tracked exactly where they should have been. air traffic control asked the military helicopter to do they see the rj and to pass behind it. and from this point,

we don't know a whole lot. this is what ntsb is going to. investigators are going to be looking at was the ground track of the black hawk helicopter where they were and how they this this midair collision could have occurred. there should have been vertical separation between the two aircraft. >> vertical separation and also any collision collision avoidance systems that you would know these aircraft to have. >> you you may be able to see it the there they'll have to determine if the black hawk had the terminal collision avoidance system known as tcas on board and it also tcas is inhibited below a given altitude. so the it may not have actually been functioning because of the low altitude of the jet. >> john. >> yeah. >> john. >> walk us through just the. for the layman, the people who fly in day in and day out of these airports. just the choreography, the intense and delicate choreography needed by air traffic control to land all of

these airplanes safely. and then also factor in other aircraft, whether it's civilian or military helicopters, small planes in the area. just talk to us about how complicated that is. >> reagan national airport is a complex airport to land at. and it's one i always enjoy flying in and out of there. the quality of the controllers is very high. they move a lot of airplanes in and out of a pretty compact area. you have the river to work with and they will clear you, you know, follow the river up. if you're landing to the north, typically on runway one. and it's very often that they'll say, okay, can you circle to land runway three three? that is also very routine. and then you also oftentimes see helicopters below you coming southbound from from further up in the, in the district. so everything that that this setup here was totally

routine. the air traffic control transmissions, they're all routine. so it's the last few seconds where something goes horribly, horribly wrong. and that's what the investigators are going to be looking at. >> john good morning. >> given everything you know so well about aviation and understand about air traffic control and about this airport itself. what are your instincts telling you? we don't want to speculate what happened here, but equipment failure. pilot error. what? what all is in the mix here as you assess. >> what happened? >> well, it's early, and we've got a lot more questions than we have answers. it appears from the radar tracks that i've seen that the jet is on a completely normal profile. so that leaves question about was the military helicopter too far west? were they at the right altitude? those are questions that are unanswered at this point. so and

the investigators are going to have to look at this very carefully, and they're going to dissect every second that led up to this collision. but right now as to speculate on possible cause it's too early. >> as you look at what happened here, i think to the layman again, watching, wondering, is it normal? is it typical for military aircraft to cross and fly through a flight pattern of a commercial airplane that's landing at. a heavily traveled airport? >> would would. >> did that look unusual to you at all, or is that just the nature of washington in that airport? >> a little bit of both. it is routine to have helicopters below you as you approach, particularly on that circle, to land on runway 33. but they're typically on the east side of the east bank of the river. and i'm at this point still unclear exactly where that helicopter was tracking. if so, it's i've seen countless numbers of helicopters, but they've typically been on that eastern

bank of the potomac river. and that gives you the separation. so i'm there's a lot of question that could the rj crew have even seen the helicopter? we don't know the rj or the helicopter crew apparently acknowledges that they see the. the rj. so those are things that we're going to have to look at. and the investigators are going to look at in depth. >> and john, willie, willie, to ask you if it was unusual for a helicopter to pass under the flight path. >> of a. >> commercial jet. >> on its final approach. and you said it does happen, but at 300ft, at 400ft, that's that's what seems so unusual to me that they wouldn't go, you know. >> half a mile. >> further up the potomac before cutting across. >> the jet is on a descent profile. there is a, an

instrument approach to that runway. and if you watch the jet is on it's a routine descent profile as to the altitude and the exact flight path of the helicopter, that's a little less certain at this point. so we're going to have to wait and see where the helicopter was and its altitude. they have a limited altitude, which i believe is 200ft to come down the river. but were they at that altitude. and that's, that's things that the investigators are going to look at. but it is not uncommon to see a military helicopter below you as you approach that runway. >> so i'm wondering, sir, and again, i'm just reviewing for our viewers who are just waking up this morning. flight 5342 passenger jet coming in to reagan national airport from wichita, kansas, collided mid-air with an army helicopter

plummeting into the potomac river. the crash at dca at 9 p.m. last night, happening at one of the most tightly monitored and busiest air spaces. and john, i'd love to ask you just about congestion in the area. and if you know or have gathered any information about that increasing of late. >> washington, reagan national has always been a congested airport. there's a lot of airplanes that move in and out of a small geographic place. it is a place where professional pilots operate in and out of there. most of us know the routine, and you expect certain things in and out of reagan national. and it works. it works very well. the air traffic controllers are some of the best in the world. so exactly what happened here? we don't yet know. and the helicopter crew there also specially qualified

to fly this particular route. so you have very highly qualified pilots. you have very highly qualified air traffic controllers. now the question is what what occurred last night that led to this tragedy. >> david ignatius. >> so just to. speak to the question of the increasing congestion at national airport, which every traveler. goes through there sees, one reason for it is that members of congress, like this airport very close to where they live and work and keep demanding more slots to go to more different places around. >> the country. >> where their where their home districts are. it's been a long running problem for reagan national to be able to accommodate congressional demand for flights. they don't want to go all the way out to dulles, which is about twice as far they want to go to this airport. that's not to say it has anything to do with this crash, but it's part of why the airport is so crowded. >> and so congestion. >> reagan national has always

been a challenge geographically because it's so constrained by the river, and it is close into the city. there is increased demand not only by congress but by passengers. this people like this runway. i mean, i've flown in and out of there countless times, both as a pilot and as a passenger. the convenience factor is great, and they do a good job managing the traffic, so they have been able to expand to now where there are nonstop flights to the west coast and the demand has been there. so part of this is the airport responding to the commercial demands that the passengers have made, and that it makes perfect sense. >> and john, obviously. >> this airport. >> deals with more. >> military traffic, aircraft traffic than than most. my question to you, a technical one. are there two different communication systems here? does the civilian air traffic control operate differently than what the military helicopters would be listening to? we know that it seems that the air traffic controller did communicate with that helicopter. but are there

are there communication issues talk to us about are there different levels? are these sort of are there moments of confusion possible there? >> the jet, the regional jet and the american flight is operating on a vhf radio, very high frequency radio. the military is very likely using a uhf or ultra high frequency. so the pilots, both pilots can hear what the air traffic controller says, but they may not be able to hear what each other says. so, and this is a routine concern when you have civilian and military aircraft operating in the same airspace. so the military uses uhf radios and the civilian world uses vhf. >> okay. we're awaiting a news conference at 7:30 a.m. eastern time. again, american eagle flight 5342 coming in from wichita, kansas, carrying 60 passengers and four crew member,

colliding into an army black hawk helicopter with three people on board. there is a search and rescue operation underway. as you can see on your screen, they have pulled over a dozen bodies out of the potomac river. we do have information from audio that has come in communication between air traffic control and both flights. controllers cleared the jet to land at a different runway, according to the ap. a shorter runway, and they tracked it as it was approaching the runway. but shortly before the crash, the air traffic controller can be heard asking the helicopter if they see the plane. i'm wondering, sir, as an as an aviation expert, what this communication between air traffic control, they seem to see what's going on here. and it appears the helicopter in their second non-response. it was too

late for them to make a last minute change. >> this is something that the investigators are going to look at. it would be routine for air traffic control to ask the helicopter, do you see the rj and to pass behind it? and if that's the case, then the it's the responsibility of the helicopter to either pass behind the rj or to say we don't see them. and these are questions that the investigators are going to look at. but it is routine for the airplane, the jet to be circling to land on the shorter runway. it helps them move traffic faster. and it's done countless times every day. and then for the military traffic to be at or below 200ft, and their ground track is going to be one of the things they look at the vantage point of the air traffic controller is they can see and they have radar, they can see

the ground track and to see if they're going to get close, they issue instructions just as they did to do you can you maintain visual separation from the rj and pass behind it? >> all right. nbc news aviation analyst john cox, thank you so much. we'll be tracking this. and of course, before we go to break, upon landing, a passenger jet collided mid-air with an army helicopter, plunging both aircraft into the potomac river. and according to wrc, they have two sources saying now more than 30 bodies have been pulled out of the potomac river. we're going to take a quick 92nd break from this live coverage. we'll continue to follow the very latest on this search operation in the potomac river, including how freezing temperatures are impacting efforts. we'll be right back with more breaking news. >> thanks for calling. >> consumer cellular ranked

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aboard the american airlines flight. the army, meanwhile, has confirmed three people were aboard the black hawk helicopter involved in that collision. again, those are live pictures at 625 a first responders, hundreds of them looking and hoping to find people alive in those waters. let's go over to meteorologist angie lassman for a look at how cold it is in that water. how weather may have impacted what happened last night. angie, what are you seeing? >> yeah, willie, good morning to you. of course. weather. one of the first things we look to with. cause when we see situations like this. so let's start at the beginning. when that crash happened, here are the conditions. notice those skies were clear. so we're not looking at any difficulty when it comes to visibility. that of course not going to be something that will likely come into play. but notice those winds northwest out of or out of the northwest at 20mph. yesterday we did have quite gusty conditions and we had wind advisories in effect across this region, but those expired around 6:00, so gusts maybe close to 30mph. not looking likely that this of course influenced that. as far as where we stand right now, we

know that search and rescue efforts have been difficult when it comes to temperatures outside. when it comes to temperatures of the water. we essentially had a cold front work through yesterday that dropped those air temperatures and of course, temperatures of the water. the potomac right now 36 degrees. so with water temperatures like that, hypothermia likely to set in anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes after being in that the one thing that we do see as a positive for search and rescue crews today, skies will remain clear. we're still going to see, of course, the cold temperatures there. but as we get through, at least today, willie, and into tomorrow, we're going to see this next front come through. we'll likely see some rain. and of course we don't know how that will affect those search and rescue efforts. >> you see 50 degrees yesterday at the time of this incident, about ten hours ago, you say that's a pretty warm day for late january in washington, but it has been very cold. so there's ice in the potomac river. >> yeah. and i mean, again, with the temperature of 36 degrees, water, of course, is not fluctuating as fast as those air temperatures are behind these systems. so a consistent temperature close to freezing

again, anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes in that water is going to be brutal. and we do see those temperatures falling here only reaching basically the low 40s here as the day goes on. willie. >> all right, angie larson, we'll be back to you for more on the weather and how it may have impacted what happened last night. angie, thanks so much. and again, you're looking at a live picture just before 630 in the morning where nearly ten hours ago now, a blackhawk helicopter. the united states army says three soldiers aboard on a training mission impacted clear skies warning. as we heard a little bit earlier from air traffic control impacted that american airlines flight 5342 on its final approach to land at reagan national from wichita, kansas. search and rescue efforts remain underway. our affiliate, nbc washington, reporting more than 30 bodies now have been pulled from the potomac river again, 67 people in total involved, 64 on the plane, 60 passengers, four crew members, and then the three soldiers aboard the black hawk

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>> elevated design. >> for thoughtful living thuma. >> welcome back. it is 33 past the hour and we are covering some major breaking news here out of washington, d.c. where upon landing, a passenger jet collided mid-air with an army helicopter and both aircraft plunged into the potomac river.

flight 5342 coming in to reagan national airport from wichita, kansas, had 30 had. let's see, at this point, they are looking at a number of people on board, 60 people on board, plus four crew members. and the helicopter had three people on board. now, this happened at 9:00 last night, of course, at reagan national airport, one of the most tightly monitored and busiest air spaces in america. the passenger jet had 64 people on board, and the helicopter at this point, with three people on board. the massive search and rescue operation underway right now, we are told 30 bodies have been recovered from the potomac river. we do know, according to the ap, that seconds before american airlines flight 5342 was about to land, controllers had asked if they could land on a shorter runway. they cleared the jet to do so and was

tracking it as it approached. that's when they also tried to communicate with the helicopter shortly before the crash, confirming do they see the plane? they got one confirmation but did not get a second answer. so we're following what happened there. we do have a comment from u.s. figure skating that several members of our skating community were on the crashed plane. these athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from the national development camp held in conjunction with u.s. figure skating championships in wichita, kansas. and they call this an unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims closely in our hearts. they will be closely monitoring the situation and release more information as they are working to get in touch with family members as well. very difficult conditions right now for the search and rescue operation. the potomac river is frigid and they are facing those temperatures as they try and recover bodies and also pieces

of the wreckage. joining us now nbc news national security correspondent courtney kuby with more. courtney, what questions is this raising right now? >> well was that u.s. army black hawk helicopter where it was supposed to be flying at night, so close to national airport, so close to this incoming and outgoing commercial airliner, airliners that were landing and taking it. such a busy airport and an extremely busy runway. that's one of the biggest questions right now. so far, i've just been in touch with army officials. there is still no official status for those three u.s. soldiers who were on board that 60 black hawk helicopter. and just for perspective, mika, that would mean that there were no passengers on board a blackhawk like this would have a pilot, a copilot, and then a third person who is essentially like an observer. so there were these are often frequently used as people movers, but it doesn't

appear that there were any passengers, just the three crew members who were on board. but at this point, still no status change for how those those crew members are. but as we have been watching this unfold all throughout the night, the situation is grim for both the passengers on board that commercial airliner and that u.s. army black hawk helicopter, a little bit about the helicopter and the unit, they were they were assigned to or attached to the 12th aviation battalion out of davison army airfield at fort belvoir. and we've been looking at maps all throughout the morning and throughout the night about where exactly this crash occurred. if you look at where the crash, the crash site is just in the potomac river, just east of reagan national airport. well, if you were to pan over south southwest, you would see fort belvoir. it's one of the biggest military installations in an area that has a lot of military bases. as you well know, mika and joe and willie just on the

other side of the potomac from reagan national airport. also, joint base anacostia-bolling, a large air base. and then, of course, just north of reagan airport, literally a stone's throw, we have the pentagon and fort myer, which is co-located with with arlington national cemetery. so there is a tremendous amount of air traffic in a very congested airspace. this aviation battalion is assigned to the joint task force, national capital region and the military district of washington. and why you guys may say, okay, why do those names sound familiar, where they have been very busy lately, the jtf, ncr, and the mdw, as they are frequently called, have been directly involved in the inauguration last week. they are the biggest military component support to that, and they are were directly involved in the funeral for jimmy carter earlier this month. so this is a unit, an aviation unit and a military unit that is extremely busy in this area. that being said, because they are so they because

of the high operational tempo for these troops in this area, they have very specific routes and corridors where they are known, where they are allowed to fly throughout this area. it is an extremely restricted airspace. and these troops know about those corridors. they know where they can and cannot fly. as i said, it's restricted. we are told that this was a routine training flight, but beyond that, we just don't know what was involved here. we did get a very late night tweet from the new secretary of defense, pete hegseth. he said that there was there would be an immediate investigation by the army and the dod, the department of defense. that makes sense. frankly, that's something that we would expect. they have investigative arms because the reality is there are air traffic crashes and incidents. there are air accidents that occur throughout the military. this isn't even the first one. this week, an f 35 crashed in alaska earlier this week. fortunately, the pilot was able to escape to

eject. before that plane went down. that jet went down in a flame. so this isn't even the first crash that we've seen this week. i got to tell you, mika, you know, this is early in the trump administration. this is going to be one of the first tests for the first for the secretary of defense, pete hegseth. this army helicopter crash, he was tweeting late into the night. and we'll see exactly how the pentagon under new leadership responds to this. at this point. again, the army is not able to say the status of those three soldiers, but the situation, sadly, does not look very good. >> mika. >> if you're just waking up. 639 in washington, that's a live picture of the potomac river, where search and rescue operations are underway. 67 people, 64 aboard that american airlines flight and three aboard the black hawk helicopter that courtney's been describing to us went down in the river. more than 30 bodies, according to our affiliate nbc washington, already have been recovered as

that work continues. courtney, we obviously want to be careful not to speculate here, but as you talk to your sources at the pentagon and i think our aviation experts who watched that wonder with clear skies, with the clear warnings, multiple warnings from air traffic control, how that helicopter could have collided with a commercial aircraft on its final approach into a known landing zone. what are some of the things you're hearing? is it a pilot error? is it equipment? what all are they talking about? >> i think at this point people are not saying with any kind of confidence what happened here. but if you look as you're as you were just saying, willie, if you look at the facts, the details that are starting to emerge, why was this helicopter flying so close to a known busy runway where where aircraft are landing and taking off literally almost one per minute at reagan national airport? this is we keep talking about this, but we

you know, we cannot stress enough about what an extremely busy and congested airspace that is. and also because of that very reason, not just the commercial aircraft or air traffic that goes in and out of there, but bolling air force base, fort myer aircraft are flying, taking off and landing out of those places. fort myer doesn't have a runway, but they have helicopters that are taking off out of there. also, we have quantico, fort belvoir. there are a lot of military aircraft. not to mention there's coast guard, there's mpd, the dc police that also have an active air presence. so because of that reason and because of just the extremely close proximity to things like the white house, the capitol, this is restricted airspace. pilots who fly in here are well aware of it. they know where they can and cannot fly. that i think is one of the reasons that military officials who i was speaking with all night and early this morning are perplexed by how this could happen. and especially when you see that video of the helicopter

appearing to fly into that commercial airliner, there will be a lot of questions about how exactly that happened. look, this was a nighttime flight. and keep in mind, that makes everything more complicated. okay, a lot of what they are relying on here is literally their vision. there are instruments, of course, but a lot of it just has to do with vision. nighttime is more difficult. but still, i think the biggest question that will be asked today is what was that helicopter doing there, and how did they not see that there was this a steady stream of commercial airliners coming and going straight in the path of where they were flying? >> yeah. courtney. good morning. you're exactly right. that will be the question here. can you talk to us a little bit about the aircraft itself? the helicopter, how sophisticated this piece of equipment is and what sort of warning systems and collision avoidance systems may have been on board that apparently yesterday, you know. not seemed to work or not utilized. >> yeah. they should they they

would have a lot of the same, the same kind of basic equipment that we think of in a civilian airliner, in that it should have a flight data recorder, a black box that will hopefully be able to give us some sort of a sense of, of what was happening in those last moments before this, this collision. it should also have collision avoidance systems. now, we don't know exactly what was happening in that helicopter right before that collision. again, with this nighttime video that we have seen there. there is no obvious apparent view that the helicopter is, is weaving, is dipping up and down. nothing like that. that that would be an obvious indicator that it was experiencing some sort of technical difficulty. again, we don't want to speculate, as you said, but there should be warning systems that would give them a sense of something that could be coming. and again, as you know, as i was saying earlier, there's the pilot, there's the copilot, and then there's the observer. so there are eyes, you know, if nothing

else, if the equipment fails, there are eyes that would be able to see this aircraft coming in. yes, it was nighttime, but there would be a lot of lights. you can even see, you know, reagan national airport. there's just the basic lights that are aligned along the runway there. and there are so many lights along the potomac there. so it it doesn't at this point, there's not an obvious reason for the for why the pilots and the crew would not have been able to see this airliner coming in. there are blind spots. okay. when we have to remember that. so depending on the altitude that this helicopter was coming in, it is possible that there was a blind spot that would have existed, but that would have been a relatively short window. so again, these are all the questions i will say. i expect that we will have answers to some of these questions, at least preliminary preliminary answers to these questions as early as today. we won't have, obviously, a final investigation. that could be weeks and months, but i think we'll have answers to some of these questions relatively

quickly today. >> nbc's courtney kube, thank you very much. and david ignatius courtney was talking about just how congested the area is. but also this airspace being one of the most busiest and congested and the confluence of public travel with military travel landings taking off, the white house, the pentagon, major landmarks nearby. there are a lot of challenges here, with different streams of aircraft coming in. your thoughts on that? >> so it's a it's an. >> extraordinarily congested area with these interpenetrating streams of traffic. i'm struck as i listen to this, this morning's initial discussion of this tragedy, how dependent we are on expertise to make these complex systems work. you think about all the traffic over this airport, but multiply that by all the big airports in america. and when tragedy happens, we turn immediately to this narrow

group of people who really know how these systems work will depend on them in the coming hours to begin to explain what happened. but but we, we hang on a more slender thread than we sometimes realize in terms of technical expertise in these very crowded, difficult situations. >> yeah, we are awaiting a press conference. hopefully we'll get more information at 7:30 a.m. eastern time, the sun will be up. and of course, this massive search and rescue operation is underway right now in the frigid potomac river. we're going to go back, live to the scene along the potomac, where, of course, a passenger plane plunged into the river after colliding with a military helicopter. as of now, we are told 30 bodies have been pulled from the river and they pulled from the river and they are looking for more. today, i chooseth how to screen for colon cancer! give me cologuard, or— excuse me. you just need a prescription. victory!

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>> elevated design. >> for thoughtful living thuma. >> welcome back. at 52 past the hour, we are covering breaking news for you. search and rescue operations are now underway after an american airlines passenger flight collided mid-air with an army helicopter near reagan national airport. video captured by earth cam shows the moment of the collision over the potomac river. it happened just before 9 p.m. eastern time. two sources tell nbc washington that at least 30 bodies have been recovered from the river. the

plane departed from wichita, kansas. an american airlines flight with 60 passengers and four crew members on board. officials say the black hawk helicopter, which is part of the 12th aviation battalion, had three soldiers on board. an army official tells nbc news they were on a training flight from fort belvoir. we're looking at live pictures right now of the search operation underway. we also have audio that appears to show the moment air traffic controllers witnessed the crash and relayed the information to other pilots. listen. >> american 4731 3231 seven. >> did you see that? >> i don't know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was. >> a collision on the approach to 33. >> we're going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future. if you want to go back to the gate. i highly suggest you guys coordinate with somebody. let me know what you want to do. >> all right. we'll let the. company talking to them right

now. yeah. >> we witnessed the whole thing. >> all right. u.s. figure skating confirmed several of its members were on board the american airlines flight, returning home from the national development camp held in conjunction with the skating championships in wichita overnight. republican senator jerry moran of kansas addressed the. tragedy. >> the circumstance. >> i would. >> describe is. >> that i know that flight. i've flown it many times myself. i lobbied american airlines to begin having a direct nonstop flight service to dca. that flight has been in existence about a year. >> and it is. >> certainly true. >> that in. >> kansas and in wichita in particular, we're going to know people who are on this flight, know their family members. >> know somebody. >> and again, we are awaiting a news conference that is set to happen in about 35 minutes.

we'll take that live. reagan national airport is set to remain closed until at least 11:00 this morning. willie. >> let's bring into the conversation former ntsb senior air safety investigator greg feith. greg. good morning. so you've digested all the information available to us publicly. talk to people you know in the aviation industry. what do you make of what we've seen as the sun begins to peek up over the potomac this morning? >> well, i think as. >> the night has gone on and new information. seems to be coming out in. bits and pieces, i. think now that daylight has has sprung. of course, there'll be a better understanding of the exact wreckage, what it looks like, what. difficulties the ntsb is going to have in trying to remove the aircraft, both aircraft, from the river. it will be a process. there still is this search and rescue operation going on that has to

take precedence. so i think from that standpoint, the board will have a better understanding of what's going to be needed to recover the wreckage so that they can begin reconstructing the event physically with both aircraft to determine exactly where the helicopter struck the regional jet. i think that's going to be one part of it. and then, of course, they're still working on getting additional information from the air traffic control tower, the air traffic control tower, and they're going to be wanting to talk to air traffic controllers, get the radar data, ads-b or surveillance radar data. and then, of course, their primary goal is to get the cockpit voice recorder, flight data recorder from the regional jet and the mdr or the maintenance data recorder, basically a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder from the military aircraft. >> so, greg, from the video that

we've been showing this morning, a direct impact of that black hawk helicopter into the regional jet from the air traffic control communications that we've heard that have been made public. what are the initial questions you would have as an investigator? >> i think. >> there are quite a few questions. if you look at. the video and really examine it and then of course, marry up the air traffic control discussion that the controller was having with the military crew and getting them to actually identify. do you see the regional jet? we've seen this in the past, willie, where there has been a misidentification by a flight crew. it happened with the psa 727 in san diego, where there were a number of similar airplanes in the air, the small training aircraft, they were asked, the crew was asked, do you see the cessna 172? the crew

reported affirmatively. unfortunately, they apparently had identified the incorrect airplane and struck a cessna 172. that's going to be a question here. given the saturation, the number of aircraft that were moving at the time in and out of reagan national. did this particular flight crew, the military flight crew, identify the regional jet that they were supposed to be looking for, or did they misidentified air traffic controllers? were they monitoring visually that aircraft as it was inbound? that is the regional jet. and were they looking at it on radar? was it identified as a primary target or a tagged target? that is the military aircraft. did it have a return typical of what you would see with this commercial airliner, where you identify the flight number, you have a ground speed, you have an altitude. we know based on some data that's floating around out there, nothing's real official

that the aircraft was at about 400ft when the collision occurred. the question is, were they supposed to be that high? those low level helicopter flight routes down there have a ceiling that is a maximum altitude, and typically it's about 200ft just to keep them out of the airspace for these arriving and departing aircraft. >> so, greg, obviously we're just over ten hours since that collision and both aircraft going into the potomac hoping against hope to find survivors in that water that we hear is about 36 degrees this morning. so as you look at these images, as you watch these first responders do their work, what is now in motion from the ntsb perspective, what are they doing right now to begin to get to the bottom of this? >> well, again, they would be watching, of course, the recovery search and rescue recovery operation because as

they recover victims and still search for the possibility of survivors, they're going to be looking at the wreckage that is pulled up, that is retrieved out of the water. that's considered to be volatile evidence, because as you start manipulating the aircraft wreckage to recover victims, of course you're distorting the wreckage. they want to try and keep it as intact as possible, because when they do the reconstruction, willie, they're going to be looking for transfer marks. that is, marks that the helicopter would have made when it collided with the regional jet. so they they want to be able to at least start documenting at the same time, there's a parallel. the board is actually collecting radar data and surveillance data. this is the ads-b data that you've heard people talking about. it is very precise. it comes in at about one one second. so you can reconstruct the flight path of both aircraft

very easily with that amount of data. they're definitely going to want to talk to air traffic controllers. so they'll be setting that up. so and then of course they're going to be getting information from the military. purpose of the flight. was this flight crew using night vision goggles, given the fact that this was a training flight they had been flying possibly the shoreline of the river. and of course, when you're using night vision goggles, with that amount of light in the area of reagan national airport, you get a blossoming effect. where were those pilots looking? what were their their military procedures as they transited that area? there's a lot of questions, but the investigators have already started to collect a lot of that data. and i think as the day goes on and the ntsb starts providing briefings, we're going to hear more detailed factual information. they're not going to come up with any kind of

conclusions. >> all right. it is the top of the hour. and we are following the breaking news this morning out of washington, d.c, where three soldiers on board a u.s. army helicopter that collided with a passenger jet carrying 64 people, including the crew. there is no word at this hour on any survivors, and the last reporting was that at least 30 bodies have been pulled from the frigid waters of the potomac river. the passenger flight 5342 was coming into d.c, a reagan national airport from wichita, kansas. and we do know that members of u.s. figure skating were on board that flight. coaches and athletes. upon approach to landing, the jet was was contacted by air traffic control at dca and was rerouted to a smaller runway. they were in communication when this mid-air collision occurred. this mid-air collision occurring at one of the most tightly

monitored and busiest air spaces that includes public and military aircraft. of course, close proximity to the white house, the pentagon and major national landmarks. as i said, at least 30 bodies have been recovered so far from the potomac river. courtney kube reporting that this was a routine training flight for the helicopter. it is the type of flight that that carries vips, but no word on vips being on board. defense secretary pete hegseth is calling for an immediate investigation. the army black hawk as well, had three on board. and one pattern that we're seeing in our coverage from reporters and experts so far is just how busy and congested this area is. another factor, potentially, or making it more complicated, is that it happened at night. this mid-air collision happening at 9 p.m. last night. so the confluence of public travel, military aircraft and the proximity to the white house

makes this especially surprising, but also questionable in a lot of ways. other challenges, of course, right now, in terms of the search and rescue operation, is the temperatures, the frigid waters and trying to find bodies. or potentially there was a scramble at one point even looking for signs of light. the questions, signs of life, the questions that we've been looking into here so far is whether these aircraft had these collision avoidance systems in place. were they functional, were they used, was there equipment failure? and also why didn't the pilots in the helicopter actually see the plane? they were asked about that by air traffic control. did they see another plane. was there a miscommunication? again very early questions in this investigation. and joe, there'll be a news conference at 730. and from some of the experts we've talked to so far, they feel that answers will come quite quickly. >> well, the biggest question

right. >> now. >> john lamiere, is what exactly happened with the helicopter pilots. >> they they. >> were in communication with air traffic control. >> we've all. >> talked about and we. >> all. >> know how busy the flight pattern is around reagan national. we also have heard from john cox and other aviation experts. busy. but you've. >> got some. >> of. >> the best. >> air traffic controllers anywhere in the united states. they understand how busy and difficult this is. so this is something that usually goes. off without a hitch. so there. >> will be a. >> lot of questions about. what went wrong this time. >> busy, difficult, but also routine. >> that's what we keep hearing. this is the kind of thing happens every day at dca. these flights are coming off a pace of 1 or 2 every 1 or 2 minutes. one is either landing or taking off. and this is because of all the military installations here around the nation's capital. there are a lot of military flights up. it is all carefully

coordinated and choreographed. and that's why this mishap is so stunning. we don't know, of course, what happened just, just yet. >> we also heard from john cox and others, and you talked about it before as well, that below a certain altitude, some some of the avoidance equipment does not work. yeah. again, what's so surprising here is they were on their final descent going into reagan. you know, where you find people that have done this, you wind wind down the potomac right before you go on landing. so they were at 300, 400ft, that sort of altitude, the helo flying low. so the question is, was it below where they could use the, the equipment? >> that's one of the questions we hope we'll get an answer from later today. but i mean, the army black hawk is an extraordinarily sophisticated and expensive aircraft with all sorts of warning devices, including collision avoidance equipment. it's unclear. that's one of the many questions we have so far today about why this

could have could have happened. and it is an early challenge, ali, for the for the trump administration, we heard from the president last night. we'll get into that in a moment. but we also his new defense secretary, pete hegseth, has weighed in calling for an investigation. his new transportation secretary, sean duffy, confirmed yesterday this will be his first full day on the job he will have to handle. this will be top of his list, and it comes here in washington on a day that we thought would be consumed by the still ongoing confirmation hearings for three of president trump's selections robert f kennedy jr for health and human services. he had his first hearing yesterday. second will be today. we also have the first hearings today for kash patel, fbi director tulsi gabbard for intelligence. and it just this is real, a real world lesson as to how important it is to have your administration staffed with good people, experts who can step up in a time of crisis. >> to me, it brings into focus why these confirmation hearings are important in the first place. one of the common threads between all of these nominees

has been the question, the correct one are they qualified to serve in these highest positions in government? you have more of these confirmation hearings happening today. jerry moran happens to sit on the intel committee, among others. he's one of the senators who we played from kansas, who talked about the fact that he lobbied for this exact flight from wichita to d.c. it again speaks to the way that members of congress and others in washington use dca, because it's so close and because it's so convenient. but it again brings into sharp focus that it's not partizan to question experience in moments like this. it also underscores how important a transition is. there are all of these mechanisms in place to make sure that the incoming administration has all of the information that they need to hit the ground running, and this is an exact example of why you would want to know all of that information, so that on day one, if you are the transportation secretary, as sean duffy is, you can come in and have a little bit of expertise about an otherwise unfamiliar place that you are walking into. and i think it's really important for

us to keep that in mind that as we go through these confirmation hearings, these are the exact moments that you want to have confidence in the individuals who are there and trust in the information that those individuals are able to bring you. >> and that is a question really time and time again with all of these nominees, their competence, whether they have the experience to run agencies because when, when these things happen, of course, as ali said, you have to be ready. i'm reminded, willie, of a maureen dowd column that she wrote years ago that that that every president's best laid plans are soon pushed to the side by outside events. and then the question is, how do you respond to those events? maureen dowd, of course, talked about george w bush in 2000, talking about a humbler, more restrained foreign policy. and then she said, then september 11th happened in 2001, and everything changed. and again, we have a lot of nominees that have been put up that just

some people have openly said, well, they'll be good on tv. well, right now you need people who aren't good on tv. you need people right now who have real world experience and the agencies that they're going to be running. and while we're just talking about it, on a side note, rfk jr, a guy who his own family said is not qualified to run hhs, let alone much, much any agency continually being hammered, even by murdoch owned papers. >> yeah, obviously, bobby kennedy had a very contentious hearing yesterday where he tried to convince a panel of senators that all the things he said over the last 20 years, maybe he didn't really mean and suggested that he effectively would do what donald trump told him to do. just to your point, joe, about the wall street journal editorial page has been very tough on bobby kennedy. and this morning we would just note the cover of the new york post, also a murdoch owned newspaper, with that headline, so that all of

course, in the background now with this plane crash, kash patel, his hearing at 930 this morning, another nominee that people have deep and serious grave questions about. so we'll be covering that as well as we await about 20 minutes from now, we're told, an update on the investigation on the search and rescue mission here. as mika pointed out earlier, a total of 67 people, 64 on that american eagle regional jet, 60 passengers, four crew members and then three soldiers on that army blackhawk helicopter that collided under clear skies last night just before 9:00. so we're over ten hours now. since then, as you see, there are chunks of ice. it's actually relatively balmy in washington. it was 50 degrees at the time of the incident, but it has been very cold. and so there is still, of course, ice floating through the river and the temperatures 36 degrees, we're told there. so, greg, as we kind of reset and wait for this news conference,

perhaps an update on what nbc washington, our affiliate there, is reporting more than 30 bodies have been pulled. of those 67 that they're searching for, if you just take a look now with the sun up eyes on it makes the job easier. obviously for first responders here. but again, with your experience as an air safety investigator for the ntsb, just your kind of your first instincts, without speculating about what you saw here. >> yeah. >> one of the things that i grew up in, in the dc area, so i'm quite familiar with all the traffic up and down the potomac river, both the civilian traffic and the military traffic. and as a lot of your guests have said in the past, over the last, you know, ten, 12 hours, it is a heavily congested airspace. it is a well choreographed dance as well, because the air traffic controllers have got to weave that traffic that is flying low

level over the potomac in with arriving and departing traffic coming in and out of not only reagan, but of course, the military fields that are close proximity. plus there's a couple of small general aviation airports that are just down river from reagan national as well. so you have a lot of mix of traffic. we talk about the traffic collision avoidance systems and the fact that, you know, were they working? well, these what's called tcas are designed to be inhibited below a certain altitude in the aircraft because they become what has been identified as nuisance warnings. that is because you're getting low to the ground, because you're getting in close proximity to a lot of aircraft that are landing and departing at the airport that you're going to that that tcas system is constantly triggering. so it's designed to be inhibited so that the pilots can focus their

attention on either landing or taking off. and the immediate vicinity of the aircraft, if that warning is constantly going, that becomes a distraction. and we've seen and we've actually cited as the ntsb, when pilots get distracted, their attention is drawn somewhere where it shouldn't be. and all of a sudden now we have these kinds of events, either a near miss or in this case, a mid-air collision. >> all right. former ntsb senior air safety investigator greg white. thank you so much, katie. >> thank you sir. >> yeah, i mean, a couple of other things that have come in. the kremlin, by the way, has confirmed that there were three russian figure skaters on board. two. two of them had been world champions. so it's not just the united states. there are other countries who had nationals on this plane as well. one thing that does strike me, just looking at some of the social media feeds, which perhaps, you know, is not very helpful at the moment, but it's worth looking at. there is an enormous amount of conspiracy theories already

being put on social media, fueled by some misinformation. that's not helpful, of course, to investigations. it was interesting to see pete hegseth, the defense secretary, come out with a very straight couple of tweets exactly as it should be, saying this is search and rescue is ongoing. the investigation has been started immediately by the doj, dod and the army. but president trump put out a truth social post overnight, and i don't know whether he had had a briefing. we know that he had been briefed on this, of course, but i don't know if he'd had a briefing that had implied that there was something else going on. but i just think if you read it, 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 was a clear night. the lights on the plane were blazing. why didn't the helicopter go up or down or turn? and i think those are the questions everybody had. but if you read that truth social post, i don't know if the president is saying that because he's been briefed that there was something odd going on that shouldn't have been going on. but i think you could take that and go on social media, and you're seeing that

replicated by. >> others. >> whether he's actually informed speculation or just reacting to what he saw on television, seems really irresponsible to get ahead of the investigation. and i'll just say, at minimum, though, this is another moment. we've seen this from donald trump since he entered political life, and certainly since he became president first term. and now this where he reacts to things as an observer as opposed to being the person in charge who actually has to his team, his administration, or those who have to get to the bottom of this, who have to come up with these answers. it seems to be a way of sort of almost shifting responsibility. >> that's very different from pete hegseth tweets that were put out this morning, which are much more straight. exactly what you would expect from some. investigation and investigation is happening, and we'll give you the answers when we have them. >> so we're following breaking news here on morning joe. if you're just joining us as the sun comes up over washington dc, you'll see in live pictures here that recovery efforts are underway, ongoing since 9:00 last night when a passenger jet with 64 people on board, including the crew, collided mid-air with an army helicopter with three people on board. so

far, the latest reports are that 30 bodies have been pulled from the icy potomac river. american eagle flight 5342 was coming in from wichita, kansas. we know the plane was carrying members of u.s. figure skating returning from a training camp in wichita. and katie, just getting reports that some russian figure skaters were on board as well. we hope to learn a lot more at 730 eastern time in just about 15 minutes, when there is a news conference scheduled with more answers for now. joining us from alexandria, virginia, along the potomac river is nbc news correspondent aaron gilchrist. aaron, what can you tell us? >> well, as you said, mika, we do anticipate that we'll learn a lot more once this news conference happens in the next few minutes. here. d.c. mayor muriel bowser expected to lead that news conference, along with other officials who've been collecting information leading this investigation. whether the search and rescue effort through the night. we know that the ntsb

has already launched a go team from from washington, dc to do its part, the investigation side of what's going on here. but really, this effort to access the crash site to try to recover people who were on the plane is really the core function that's happening right now. the sun is now coming up here over the potomac river, and we're first getting our first real look with natural light at the scene here. these are live pictures you're seeing of law enforcement. we believe boats in the water around the wreckage site. we were told that there were some 301st responders who reacted to this scene initially. in the earliest hours of this incident last night, divers were put in the water. we saw that there were civilian boats that were in the area that were called upon. there was a large like a tour boat that came down, we believe, from d.c. and was was available to try to help out with the effort here and in the hours overnight, though, we know that helicopters have been flying

around, flashing lights into the water, trying to illuminate what really is murky water here in the potomac river between reagan national airport in arlington county, virginia, and joint base anacostia-bolling in the district of columbia and southwest d.c. so as that that effort continues, you did note that our affiliate here, our station here in washington, wrc, nbc four, is reporting that more than 30 bodies have been recovered. they've also reported that the d.c. medical examiner has set up what is essentially a makeshift morgue just off the shores near joint base anacostia-bolling at a d.c. fire facility, a place where helicopters launched from. they've set up a morgue, makeshift morgue there to start receiving some of the bodies that have been recovered from the river. >> all right. nbc's aaron gilchrist along the potomac river. with the sun now fully up for those first responders as they continue their search and rescue mission. aaron, thanks so much, captain sully. chesley sullenberger is speaking to the new york times this morning. and

he says he reminds us that this incident comes at what he calls an exceptionally safe moment in aviation history. as we've been saying this morning, the last major commercial airline crash was 15 years ago in buffalo. you'll remember that back in 2009, of course, the miracle on the hudson was in january of 2009 as well, when captain sully miraculously ditched the aircraft, landed in the hudson river, a u.s. airways flight, and saved everyone on board. here's what captain sully is saying this morning to the new york times, quote. we've had to learn important lessons literally with blood too often. and we finally had gotten beyond that to where we could learn from incidents and not accidents. he talked about reagan national airport, saying it fields heavy traffic, has short runways built in the late 1930s. he says, quote, it hasn't changed much since then. of course, we've added technology to it, but a lot of that technology is old. also underlying the challenges of

flying at night, even with all the technology available, he says, quote, nighttime always makes things different about seeing other aircraft. basically all you can do is see the lights on them. so you try to figure out, are they above you or are they below you? how far away? which direction are they headed? everything, says captain sully, is harder at night. he closes by saying, i'm just devastated by this. we have the obligation to learn from every failure and improve. captain chesley sullenberger, captain sully there, speaking to the new york times, joining us now from reagan national airport, nbc news correspondent ryan nobles. ryan, what are you seeing there this morning? >> well. >> willie. >> as. >> aaron pointed. >> out, the sun is. >> just. >> starting to rise over the potomac river. and it's clear from our vantage point here, and we are directly across from where those search. and rescue. boats appear. >> to. be near the. >> wreckage of this crash. and it just has. >> to give. >> them a much better view of

what they're looking for here. >> we know. >> as aaron. >> reported, that at. >> least. 30 bodies have been. >> recovered, and the sun has got to make it such. >> a much easier. >> process to find and locate anybody. >> that could potentially. >> still be alive at. this point. >> in. >> this rescue operation. >> this is. >> becoming a more grim prospect at this point. as the sun comes up, it seems almost like a worst case scenario in terms of what the outcome of this will possibly be. and it does appear as though the law enforcement and officials in this region are. preparing for the ultimate worst. and there are going to be a lot of conversations about the air traffic here at reagan national airport. as you pointed out, in that that point that was made by captain sullenberger, this is one of, if not the busiest runways in america. this is a very convenient airport. from where i'm standing. you can see the united states capitol. it is an easy drive to downtown

washington, d.c, which is part of the reason that makes it so popular. but as a result, more and more flights are added to this airport every single year. and there was a pretty big fight in congress just last session over adding more flights. and the senators from virginia and maryland fought against it. they believe that there were already too many flights here, and that there were people's lives at risk as a result. now, this is the early stages of the investigation, so we have no idea whether or not it is the volume of traffic that led to this problem. but it's not just the airplanes that are landing here every single day. there's a voluminous amount of helicopter traffic in and around washington, dc. as a result of the fact that we are near so many military and government installations, it is not uncommon to be driving the interstates in and around washington, dc, northern virginia, and suburban maryland and see blackhawk helicopters, several of them at the same time. so this is something that washington, dc folks are

accustomed to. usually it is not a problem for those aircraft to find a way to use the airspace without any issue. obviously, last night was a worst case scenario, and as the sun comes up, we're starting to see that grim reality start to set in. >> willie and ryan, to your point about flights being added, we heard from senator jerry moran of kansas. this flight originated from wichita, kansas. he and offering his condolences, saying he was heartbroken this was personal to him. he was the senator, among others, who lobbied for this flight for this route, which just came in just about a year ago. american 5342. nbc's ryan nobles at reagan national. ryan, thanks so much. still ahead here, much more on the collision between an army helicopter and a passenger jet carrying 64 people. three people. additionally, on the black hawk helicopter, 67, all told, as a search and rescue operation continues in the potomac river this morning, we'll have the latest reaction from the white house and beyond. plus, we're awaiting a news

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on us with a qualifying trade in. call, click or visit an xfinity store today. love.com. >> all right. we're awaiting a news conference. that could happen at any moment now on the major breaking news that has dominated our coverage this morning. a passenger jet upon landing at reagan national airport here in washington, dc, colliding midair with a military helicopter. the jet had 64

people on board the helicopter, three service members on board. let's go straight to nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander. he was one of the first reporters on the scene after this happened at 9:00 last night. peter, as we await more information from officials there, what can you tell us? >> well, it's walking you through the situation here from the white house side. i just hung up with the white house official moments ago, who tells me that the president has been briefed throughout the night. he was monitoring the response from the situation room. i'm told just hours after the collision, we first heard from president trump in an official white house statement. he thanked first responders and about those on board the helicopter and the plane. his statement read, may god bless their souls. then, after midnight, the president posted on social media where really he questioned how this happened. he wrote, quote, the airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. the helicopter, he said, was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. it was a clear night, he said. 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, he wrote. that looks like it should have been prevented. not good. we should note that we did hear air traffic control tell that helicopter that it should go behind the plane. the president later followed up writing, what a terrible night it has been. to be clear, mika, this is the first major crisis on the new administration's watch. the transportation secretary, sean duffy, was just sworn in yesterday, hours before the collision. the new defense secretary, pete hegseth, of course, announced an investigation by the army and pentagon was launched immediately. i should note, having been on the scene there in in a night that was pitch black, there was no light. there was no moon to be found in the sky. it quickly became clear how grim the situation was, because over the course of about 3.5 hours, that i was along the banks of the potomac, just south of dc, mika, we did not hear the

sounds of a single ambulance last evening. in fact, we saw a series of search and rescue boats and other park police who were scanning the water alongside the banks, looking to see perhaps if any bodies or debris had washed up there. but really, it was such a haunting and grim scene. and separately, as we've been talking about this over the course of the day, in my responsibilities as a white house correspondent about a decade ago or more, i was offered an opportunity to fly aboard hmx one that is one of the marine one helicopters. when president, then president obama was out of town. but it did give me a unique opportunity to fly in that restricted airspace. and from there, you really got a sense of how tight and congested this airspace is, where you have the restricted area on the washington side of the potomac, you have the commercial aircraft flying into dc. a on the other side. when you're landing a dc a as a commercial airliner, you can't come in from the east or the west. you have to come from north or south to avoid this

airspace. there are so many as you and anybody watching right now knows well so many helicopters, aircraft that congest the skies above and around washington, virginia and maryland at any point over the course of the day. it really it really did give you a better understanding of how complicated the circumstances are on any day, even for a routine flight. in circumstances like that. mika. >> peter. >> to your point of a moment ago, there was heartbreaking images of about 100 ambulances on the banks of the potomac, lights flashing, sitting there idling, waiting for anyone to be pulled out. no one ever was, as you said, no sirens to indicate that one of those ambulances was then taking someone to a local hospital. we've been talking about how president trump weighed in last night more as an observer than than commander in chief. in that truth social post, what has the white house indicated, what sort of updates they may be providing? today? we're waiting for a news conference. we have an image

now. it should be any minute for local officials, but do we expect to hear more from the white house itself and perhaps the president? are we going to see him today? will he be weighing in on this? >> it's a good question. to be clear, having just spoken to the white house, there is no definitive statement. i know i see muriel bowser. i'll stop as soon as she starts speaking. we will keep you posted. we have asked that very question of this white house. >> all right. we're going to go now to the news conference, which is starting right now. here's d.c. mayor muriel bowser. >> so. >> good morning, i'm muriel bowser, i'm the mayor of

washington, d.c. we are here at reagan national airport to provide an update on the tragic events of last night. i'm joined by u.s. transportation secretary sean duffy, d.c. fire and ems chief john john donnelly, american airlines ceo robert isom, the mwaa, the washington metropolitan washington airports authority ceo jack carter, un united states senator. mark warner, united states senator tim kaine, u.s. representative don beyer, as well as the chief of the metropolitan police department, pamela smith. and we are joined by first responders from across the metropolitan washington region. i speak for all of us when i say, and certainly all washingtonians, how very sad we are for american airlines, for the united states

department of defense, and for all americans, for the loss of life that happened with the collision of these aircrafts. we know that includes families from across our region, as well as in kansas and across the country. this morning, we all share in a profound sense of grief. i do want to thank the first responders who acted quickly last night, who ran towards danger, went into a very frigid river, and have worked throughout the night. chief donnelly reported in last night's last night's briefing aid agreement in our region, and those teams have worked together throughout the night and really tough and heartbreaking conditions, and we should all thank them for their heroic efforts. so we'll have several updates today. i'm first going to turn to the secretary of transportation, sean duffy, and

then you will hear directly from chief john donnelly with a situational update. >> thank you, mayor. again. >> sean duffy here, secretary of transportation, we wish we were gathering for different purposes today. i just want to let you know that the department. of transportation, the faa, along with the white house, president trump, local, state and federal partners all working together on this incident in unison. i couldn't be prouder of this team that's been assembled, working tirelessly. mayor, i want to thank you specifically for your work. a few details i'd like to give all of you, and some of you have reported this, but last night, if you live in the dc area, you would know that this was a clear night. last night. >> the helicopter was in a standard pattern. if you live in the dc area, you'll see helicopters up and down the river. this flight pattern is

seen oftentimes when you live in dc. this was a standard flight pattern last night as well. the american airlines flight coming in to land was in a standard flight pattern. as it was coming into dc, so this was not unusual with a military aircraft flying the river and aircraft landing at dca. and again, if you live in the area, you'll see that frequently with those two aircraft working together. as many of you have reported, we have located the two aircrafts, the fuselage of the american airlines plane was inverted. it's been located in three different sections. it's in about waist deep water. so that recovery is going to go on today as that recovery takes place of the of the fuselage of the

aircraft. ntsb is going to start to analyze that aircraft, partner with the faa with all the information we have to get the best results possible for the american people. i would just say that safety is our expectation. everyone who flies in american skies expects that we fly safely, that when you depart an airport, you get to your destination. that didn't happen last night, and i know that president trump, his administration, the faa, the dot. we will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public. you should be assured that when you fly, you're safe. >> thank you. >> yours. >> thank you secretary. thank you mayor. i'm joined today by with fire chief bonnett from the metropolitan washington airports

authority. and i'm john donnelly, chief of the district of columbia fire and ems department. last night at 848, the control tower sounded an alert which alerts responders to respond to a report of an aircraft crash on or near the airport that sets off an immediate response from the airport authority fire department from the district of columbia and metropolitan harbor patrol fire boats and other fire boats on the river in order to support that type of operation. very quickly, this call escalated. it became a, you know, the responders realized that they had a plane crash and immediately escalated to a response that ultimately included about 300 people. last night, these responders found extremely frigid conditions. they found heavy wind. they found ice on the water, and they're operated all night. in those conditions, i'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the

agencies that responded. in addition to d.c. fire and ems and metropolitan washington airports authority, montgomery county fire department, the prince george's county fire department, the charles county fire department, the baltimore county police department, the anne arundel county fire department, the alexandria fire department, the arlington county fire department, the fairfax fire department, the prince william fire department, the baltimore city police department, the maryland state police, the maryland natural resources police, the department of defense, the joint base in bolling fire department, and the staff there the us army, the us coast guard, the united states park police, the metropolitan police department, the fbi, and the ntsb. despite all those efforts, 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 from this accident,

and we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter. the district office of the medical examiner has lead on reuniting these bodies and these people with their loved ones, and we will continue to work to find all the bodies and collect them and reunite them with their loved ones. we should also acknowledge that the virginia medical examiner and the army army medical examiner are involved in this operation, and a very important part of getting people identified. so. >> our hearts are certainly with all of the crew and american airlines. and we'll hear from ceo isom. >> thank you mayor. good morning. i'm robert isom, the ceo of american airlines. i want

to express my sincere condolences for the accident that happened at dca last night. we're absolutely heartbroken for the family and loved ones, of the passengers and crew members, and also for those that were on the military aircraft. our focus right now is doing everything that we can to support all of those involved. and also the psa airlines team. this is devastating. it's we are all hurting incredibly. we urge any family and friends looking for information about. >> their loved ones to call. >> our designated helpline. and that's at. one 806 seven nine 8215 1-800-679-8215. and here's what i can share at this early stage american airlines american eagle flight 5342, operated by psa airlines, traveling from wichita, kansas to reagan

national airport, was involved in an accident just before 9 p.m. local time on final approach into reagan national. it collided with a military aircraft on an otherwise normal approach, and at this time, we don't know why the military aircraft came into the path of the psa aircraft flight 5342. a crj 700 was under the command of four crew members. they carried 60 passengers, as you know, for a total of 64 people on board. in addition to local resources already here in dc, american airlines has activated our care team, and that's a group of specialists that are trained to support these types of responses. these team members. >> are on site. >> or arriving soon. and additionally, we have members of our go team that are on the ground here in dc, and they're being deployed with resources to

do everything that we can to take care of the needs of the families and the loved ones, of the passengers and crew members, and that is our sole focus. and we're so grateful for the first responders. they've been working through the night. courageous efforts, and we're actively working with local, state and federal authorities on emergency response efforts and closely coordinating with psa airlines as they cooperate fully with the ntsb on the investigation. i know that there are many questions at this early stage. i just won't be able to answer many, but we'll provide additional information as it comes. thank you. >> i want to introduce the metropolitan washington airports authority ceo, jack potter. the authority manages washington, reagan, washington national and dulles international.

>> good morning and. >> thank you, mayor. >> first. >> let me begin by. expressing our condolences. for all the victims of this flight and for their families. there's a lot of grieving going on. >> and so. >> we're very sympathetic to that. i want to echo what was said about. >> the. >> first responders. when there's a problem in this area, everybody drops everything. >> and they. >> rush to where the problem is. so i want to thank the chief. >> the entire. >> team from washington dc. but just as important, the list of folks that the chief described, the federal authorities have been here and mass. and so a lot of effort was brought to bear. unfortunately, we were unable to rescue anyone. but we are in the recovery mode right now, and i just want to, you. >> know, last. >> night i expressed the fact that we hope to open at 11:00 today and that is still the case. we're going to open the airport at 11:00. and again,

condolences to the families. and thanks to the many, many who are still out there working very, very hard to complete this recovery. thank you mayor. >> thank you. >> i do want to acknowledge that the virginia transportation secretary is here, in addition to the alexandria mayor, and i will like to ask members of the virginia congressional delegation to the podium next, u.s. senator mark warner, followed by tim kaine and representative don beyer. >> thank you. mayor, i want to join with. >> everyone else. >> and express my condolences for. >> the. >> victims, for folks who don't live in the dmv. we are made up of a lot of jurisdictions, reagan airports and virginia.

>> across the river, we have maryland, obviously. >> the district, but has been indicated by the chief when tragedy happens, all those distinctions between the various jurisdictions and our federal partners all disappear. and i want to again thank all the first responders. >> on a personal note, i'll just. >> add that literally. >> i now. >> know i was coming back from the district from a dinner. >> to my. >> home in old town alexandria, and while i did not see the collision, i wondered. >> i'd never seen this. >> many red lights streaming towards the airport and across the river in maryland. >> about this. >> time. >> my phone started blowing up and i. >> realized that this accident. >> had taken place. >> there will be a time. >> to figure out. i know ntsb will have a briefing later in the day. >> but to the victims. >> our condolences to the first responders, our thanks. sorrow,

thanks and questions. so sorrow, as all have expressed to the. >> crew. >> to the. >> passengers. >> to the soldiers. to their families, to their friends, to their loved ones, to people who are still trying to get information and unsure whether their loved ones have been lost. we offer our profound condolences to them and our sorrow for this tragedy. thanks. i'll echo mayor, what you began with. when you see a challenge like this. >> and you. >> see people from so many different agencies local, state, federal, with different uniforms, different badges, but working in such a coordinated way and even in the midst of a tragedy, it does give you a sense of appreciation and pride in people's willingness to come to the danger and work together. and i. started to see that as a local official 30 years ago in richmond, and definitely have seen it here. and then finally, questions. they're going to be a

lot of questions, obviously, a lot of questions. and that's what the ntsb job is, is to be an independent investigator of incidents like this. and they are here. we were in dialog with them earlier today. they've been here since they got the alert. and they will. >> be doing. >> the. work and playing lead in answering the many questions that we have, and that's as it should be. it's not a time to speculate. it's a time to investigate and get answers to the questions we need. and i have confidence that will be done. thank you. >> following up on the senator, i think grief thanks and service with millions and millions of americans traveling every year, we are all grieving knowing that it could have been our loved ones. it could have been us. and our hearts go out to all those who have lost folks in the most partizan place. also, it's i'm really thankful that democrats and republicans, people from all over, have come together to try to make sure that the people are

served. it's a local representative. i want the families to know that our office is available to serve you in any way we possibly can through this time of grief and transition and loss, and then also just note that we're deeply grateful for the people. >> who. >> risked their lives last night on a moment's notice, and spent the whole night on the river and the ice and the wind do serving us. and then finally as as senator kaine. senator warner noted after the ntsb investigation, we've got to make sure that at the federal level and with the support of virginia and maryland, dc, we're doing everything we can to make sure this does not happen again. >> so with that, it's been said already that the national transportation safety board becomes the lead agency in the

investigation. our jurisdiction and dc where the crash occurred over the river is concludes as we in the leadership role of the unified command, as we shift to a recovery effort, we expect the national transportation safety board to provide briefings to the press later in the day. so at this point, we can take a few questions. yes, we. >> have a shadow of. >> a. >> doubt that people are. >> safe from. >> what we're talking about. what we can talk about today is what happened here with the collision of these vehicles. we said what we know and that the national transportation safety board continues to investigate. i don't know that any of us have been briefed on anything that would suggest any other aircraft or implicated. yes. >> you're still missing. >> 30 plus people in.

>> the. >> water where. >> something challenging. >> in. >> recovering them. >> right now, chief. >> so the rescue operation or the recovery operation goes on. it's a lot of touch and feel in the different parts of the plane or in the helicopter, and the crash area is a little spread out. so we've got some work to do, and i think it's a pretty normal type of situation. i don't think it's extraordinary. how spread out is this debris field. so the wind started blowing last night. so we've had debris travel from the airport down as far as the wilson bridge. >> mile wise. >> how far is that? i couldn't tell you. less than a mile. >> this is a question for, you know, the airport at 11:00 this morning. how are you going to do that? >> and what. >> impact does that have on operations, on passengers, on people's anxiety? how are we going to do? >> well. >> we're going to open the airport at 11:00. it's safe.

we've worked with all the federal agencies, faa and, you know, it's been determined that we can open that airport safely. the recovery effort that's on our property is on the waterfront, our primary runway, one 119, will be open. it's away from any activity. we're going to have a secure area around that. so all are comfortable that we can get back to operations. now. each airline will announce or communicate to their passengers what what their operations are going to be. obviously, their networks were disrupted overnight and so we might have a slow recovery. but the bottom line is we will begin to have aircraft move in and out of this airport at 11:00. >> okay. >> so one. >> two, three. >> and then recovery. >> your thoughts on that? >> i don't think we can say anything about what's in the ntsb purview.

>> you mentioned the airport opens three hours. >> from now. >> there's a lot of helicopter. >> traffic from the military. >> us parkland. >> and all that whole. helicopters be flying. right through here. >> as well. beyond the. >> recovery efforts. >> i don't know the answer to that. jack, do you have anything to add? we don't have anything to add about that. yes. >> major americans that. >> the us still has. >> the safest. >> and so the question is, can i guarantee the american flying public that the united states has the most safe and secure airspace in the world? and the answer to that is absolutely yes we do. we have early indicators of what happened here. and i will tell you with complete confidence, we have the safest airspace in the world. >> when it comes to. what does that look like so far by the end of the flight manifest, is there

any details on that? >> icu can you add anything? >> all i can say is that we. have published the one 800 number. we have family assistance centers set up here in dca. we do in wichita as well. i'm not at liberty to give the number of, of families that have been that have used those services. but we are making that use. we have over 100 team members that are either here or on their way, that are specially trained to work with family members, handle travel arrangements, hotel arrangements, incidentals to make sure that we're taking care of people in any way that they can. as you know, is our teams are hurting and suffering as our passengers and their families need assistance. we're doing everything we can. i don't have any other more information on that right now. >> thank you. >> chief donnelly, can i ask you to describe the next phase of

the investigation? how confident are you that you'll be able to recover all 67 of these bodies? and can you speak to some of the debris that's also being pulled out of the river? we understand there are some cases, some some other things that are down from the river. and i would like to ask anyone here, perhaps the transportation secretary or mr. eisen, if we know anything about these victims age, race, nationality. >> and so the next phase of this operation is, is going to be led by the ntsb. all of us are working together, though, to search the area and to find the victims. i'm confident that we will do that. and that will take us a little bit of time, though, and may involve some more equipment. as far as the things being collected, i don't have personal knowledge. i know that we have been collecting debris that you would expect to see from a plane. >> anything about the victims. >> so just so the question is about the victims, the ntsb is

going to lead that portion of the contact with the victims. i believe american is going to be involved with that as well. and so will the faa and the department of transportation. >> secretary, we'll take some questions over here. one, 234. >> chris. >> yes. for secretary duncan, the flight path that the helicopter was on, is that a common flight path? and is it normal for helicopters to get clearance to cut across busy forest path. >> so i don't know if you all could hear the question. it's a question about the flight path of the helicopter. i don't want to go into too much detail about the information we have from the faa, but obviously it is. it is not standard to have aircraft collide. want to be clear on that. but prior to 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. airspace. and as this investigation moves forward, we will be able to provide more information to you about the details of that statement. >> i wanted to follow. >> up. >> on that. >> question regarding the flight 57 standard. so can you speak to the conversation about the control plane slots here? >> so the question is, were there blind spots with air traffic control? i don't want to make statements about that. i don't lead into that answer. but again, i think whether it was air traffic control, whether it was military aircraft, helicopters or the american flight. everything was standard in the lead up to the crash. so obviously something happened here. you'll get more information and more details as this investigation moves forward. we'll learn what happened. but again, those who

live in the dc area, we see military helicopters fly up and down the river. it's a standard path that they fly. they're used to aircraft landing at dca. and there's a procedure in place because this happens every day. something went wrong here. i look forward to the time and point when we can give you that information, but i don't want to comment on that right now. >> if you all have been very vocal about your concerns about the new runways here for air traffic, i know it's still early in the investigation. i'm just curious if any step in your plan to take to address that. >> we have raised this. >> issue continuously. we've got very busy airspace. >> i think. >> we will ask questions, but at. >> the appropriate time. >> we are in. >> this period right. >> now where families are still being notified. >> we're trying to. >> figure out what happened. >> there'll be time for those discussions, i think. >> yeah, i'd just say the same thing. we've been pretty plain about our concerns, but it is a

good time to speculate. right now. we have faith that the ntsb will provide the answers about this. >> okay. >> and i'm going to say three in the middle. and then we're going to have to wrap one, two, three after this one. >> thank you. >> chief i know again. >> i can. >> imagine it must be traumatic for the first responders to do this. how are they doing. right now? and are you all going to be offering services. >> to help them as they. process this? >> so thank you for the question. i our first responders are resilient people. but yes, this call will be hard for them. our peer support teams are already engaged with the responders, and we'll be following up on that to make sure that they're okay. but i think the concern is real. >> what kind of communication. >> was it in the. >> helicopter. >> the power. >> plane in. >> the. >> tower. >> and the helicopter. and the plane? >> i don't want to say too much on the communication between the helicopter and the tower and the airline and the tower, but i

will say this. there was there was communication. it was. i would say standard communication. so there was not a breakdown, if that's your question, in communication between the military helicopter and the american airline flight, there was there was communication between the aircraft and the. >> tower where. >> there. >> was a. >> helicopter. >> in the area. >> the i would say the helicopter was aware that there was a plane in the area. >> so the president said yesterday when he returned to the briefing room, since then have spoken also a question about national security adviser michael bolton saying that there were 30 bodies that had been recovered, that you said that white house curious. i know you're in the white house, so that's fine for you to update, but i do have a question for. >> anybody. >> i'll give you the body first.

>> so in terms of body recovery, we as we recover bodies, we have a process. and we're not counting any bodies until they're in the possession of the medical director. so there may be some fluctuating in numbers that other people would report. but our numbers from the medical examiner. >> so in regard to the president in the briefing room, i've been with this team for the last hour. plus, as we've worked through the details of the information we wanted to give you, but it is my understanding that either this morning he was going to be in the in the situation room or the situation room is obviously briefing the president. he has been kept in full appraisal of what is taking place. >> okay. >> last two of you. >> and you ma'am. first, you mentioned that. >> the aircraft was on a standard flight. pattern which creates the airport. >> opens at. >> 11 today. will. play beyond that point. are they. being

recognized. >> at this point? >> do you. >> want to join them? okay. >> well, i mean. safety is paramount and i don't have that information quite yet from the faa. so i don't want to provide any information or i don't want to provide an answer or inaccurate information on what routes will be flown out of dca. >> two questions really quickly. >> what do you know. >> about the experience and history of the pilots of both airlines plane and the army black hawk helicopter? and then for secretary jaffe last night, the president had said that this could have been prevented and questioned why air traffic control didn't tell a helicopter what to do. is that something that investigators have determined should have happened to the situation? so do. >> you want to. >> quickly. >> secretary, just just quickly. i don't have a lot of information to release, but these were experienced pilots. i know that the captain was had

six years with with psa or almost six years at psa and the first officer almost two years. and again, standard approach. and that's about all i can say. thank you. >> in regard to the military, i don't have information in regard to the experience of the military pilots. i would just note that this was classified as a as a training mission. sometimes people could think that a training mission is someone who is inexperienced in the cockpit. this is we call these these missions that are flown in the dc area as our pilots are getting hours and experience training missions. so don't read into that that we had how many hours the pilots on the military aircraft had. and you had another question for me, that was. >> last night. the president has said this could be prevented, and also that air traffic control questioning why they may not have communicated to the helicopter. >> so we are going to wait for all the information to come in from, from this vantage point,

but to, to back up what the president said, what i've seen so far do i think this was preventable? absolutely. >> thank you. acting faa director. >> all right. you've just been watching a briefing at reagan national airport as we crossed the top of the hour here on the east coast and in washington, it's 805. the news coming out of that briefing from dc fire and ems chief john donnelly saying the operation now has switched from search and rescue to search and recovery, saying 27 bodies have been recovered from the plane. one of the three soldiers from the helicopter, one body recovered so far from that helicopter for a total of 28, remind you 64 people were aboard that american eagle regional jet that crashed collided with a helicopter. united states army flying on a training mission, a blackhawk helicopter, three soldiers aboard their total of 67 people involved in this

incident. this is the footage from around 847 last night of the collision from an earth cam and again 28 people, according to the fire chief. now 28 bodies have been recovered, but again, it is search and recovery, meaning explicitly that they do not believe there are any survivors. now, as we approach almost 12 hours since those two aircraft went down in the frigid waters of the potomac river, the police excuse me, the fire chief describing those conditions, first responders going in immediately after getting an alert from the control tower at 8:48 p.m. eastern time last night, extremely frigid conditions, high winds, ice chunks floating in the water did say that the regional aircraft, the commercial plane, had broken into three pieces and in some places very shallow water, waist deep water. so that in consideration as as they work to find the victims, the secretary

of transportation, sean duffy, was there, said they're near the end that there was communication between the control tower and the separate aircrafts. we've heard that communication, that audio, has been made public. but he did not believe there was direct communication between the helicopter and the plane itself. as they try to decide and determine and investigate what happened here, leaving most of that to the ntsb, careful to not speculate about what exactly happened. as that investigation continues. but mika mixed in with the appropriate condolences to the families of the victims here, and the gratitude for that heroic work of first responders that goes on this morning. is that new information that this is now a search and recovery operation, meaning officials don't believe that there are any survivors of this. terrible accident. >> members of u.s. figure skating were on board the jet. and we have a comment now from u.s. figure skating saying these

athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from the national development camp held in conjunction with the u.s. figure skating championship in wichita, kansas. we are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims families close in our hearts. we will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available. we also have word of some russian figure skaters who were on board the jet, as well. to the points you were making. willie. we heard from the ceo of american airlines, along with the newly sworn in secretary of transportation, sean duffy, and some interesting crosscurrents in those comments. but first, most important, the ceo of american airlines say their sole focus is on the victims families. they've set up a number for anybody who needs support or information. that number is one (800) 679-8215. they have set up family

assistance centers in washington, dc and wichita, kansas. and this again is american eagle flight 5342, which was on its way from wichita, kansas to washington, dc before it collided mid-air with a military helicopter just before landing. they were 300ft above the ground, which may explain why some avoidance mechanisms might not have been working at the time. we don't know. but here's what we do know. the ceo said the jet was on an otherwise normal approach, and we don't know why an aircraft came into the path. the newly sworn in secretary of transportation said that the communication was standard between the control tower and the aircrafts. he also says the helicopter was aware there was a plane in the area. nothing else beyond that. the ntsb is

obviously taking over this investigation. they're going to have a briefing later today. and i think a lot of the questions will focus on the flight path and the communication with the control tower and awareness of another aircraft on each side. let's go now to senator gary peters of michigan. he's the ranking member of the homeland security committee and also sits on the commerce, science and transportation committee, which oversees the faa. the last question we heard was, is there an acting director of the faa? they didn't answer because they were on their way out of the room from this press conference. do you know? >> i don't know. >> at this. >> point, no. >> what are your thoughts so far on on what we know, which i know is somewhat limited about this tragedy? >> well. >> first we. >> got to express. >> this. >> horrible tragedy. you know, we're all sitting here just just heartbroken as to. >> what happened. and we. >> all want answers. we want. >> answers quickly. >> we know that's going to take. >> some time. >> i've been in contact my staff. >> has with. >> the ntsb. which will. be

aggressively looking into all of. >> the questions. >> that have been. >> raised, both in the. >> press conference. >> and that you raised here. some of the. questions related to. >> transportation. >> to the communications that were. >> going on. >> there are crash avoidance systems on these aircraft, whether or not. they're operational, whether the. altitude impacted, you know, those are. >> all very important. >> questions to answer. but it's. also about that. >> communication that we. >> know this is a very busy airspace. you know. >> we. >> fly in and out of this regularly. their aircraft always. >> in the in. the airspace. >> around there. >> the coordination. >> is something. >> that. >> has to be very intense. but there's also very robust communication. >> going on normally. >> so one of the busiest runways in the country is at reagan airport. this jet, as we're reporting has told us, was rerouted to a shorter runway right at the last minute. but the communication seemed standard, according to reporting so far. and the transportation secretary says that at this point they have located the fuselage of the jet, which is in

three sections in waist deep water. and the ntsb is on the scene to analyze that. joining us now, nbc news senior correspondent tom costello, live from reagan national airport. tom, what can you tell us? >> well, i thought that the news conference we just had from the delegates who were here at the airport was revealing in that they did say that, in fact, this is no longer a search and rescue mission. this is search and recovery. i must say, for anybody who has been out here, certainly for the last, well, since 9:00 last night, it was cold. the water was 35 degrees. there's ice on the water. it became apparent that it was going to be a very, very challenging rescue operation. and unfortunately, that's proven to be the case. it looks like there are no no survivors either on board that regional plane with 60 people on board, plus 60 passengers and four crew members, and then also on the military chopper, three crew members on board that chopper.

we can tell you that the airport is supposed to reopen at 11:00 this morning. we'll see if that works. and i think the big question right now is, how is it possible that if, in fact, the air traffic control had contact with both the chopper and the regional jet and asked the chopper, do you have visual on the plane? and the chopper replied, yes. and was the chopper was told, maintain separation. and as i understand it, was told to essentially stay behind the plane. how did this mid-air collision occur? right off of the end of runway three three over the potomac river? i we've talked a lot about how much air traffic there is here in the dc area, especially over the river. a tremendous amount of helicopter activity, military and coast guard and, excuse me, coast guard and police activity up and down. diplomatic helicopters up and down the river. and i think a lot of us who watch the air traffic at

reagan sometimes hold our breaths. and we think, boy, that's that's awfully busy airspace. and in many ways, this is the worst, the worst nightmare for people who have watched this airport so closely over the years. as you have. mika, i know you grew up right down the road. >> well, yes, i have, and i always wonder about the congestion in the area with so many different things happening. the confluence of public flights, military flights, the white house, the pentagon, national landmarks, and the way you restricted areas. but the way pilots manage through it, it always seems dicey upon landing. and in this case, though, there seems to be a focus on communication. and i want to ask you about that. i do also want to share with our viewers that reagan national airport is still closed. they plan to reopen, and they seem steadfast in that news conference that they will reopen at 11 a.m. eastern time and reassuring passengers that it is

indeed safe to fly. we also heard from senator mark warner and tim kaine, tim kaine making it very clear that this is no time to speculate. it's time to investigate. i think referring to a lot of people speculating so far about what has happened so far with this terrible tragedy. we're going to hear from the ntsb later in the day. but i'm curious, tom, with your knowledge, covering aviation for so many years, this specific military helicopter and this jet, what do we know about, i'll say, black boxes that were potentially on board? do they have them and could they at this point reveal more than any of the audio that we've heard so far? >> absolutely. the regional jet, this american eagle flight did have black boxes of flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder. and literally it is exactly as the name suggests, the cockpit voice recorder records the voices in the cockpit, right? the pilots talking to each other, not just

on their headsets and their radio traffic, but also ambient conversations inside the cockpi. and then separately, the flight data recorder is recording hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of data per flight data parameters, how the plane is performing everything from airspeed to engine performance to pitch, to everything you can imagine. all of that is recorded now separately. the black hawk helicopter, we're told by our our reporter over at the pentagon, courtney qb, that in fact, it should have also had a black box. and i'm presuming that that would probably at least have been the flight data recorder. also, recording those data parameters on the on the chopper. but and while that's going to be critical absolutely critical, i think the key evidence at this point is already in the public arena. and that is the air traffic control conversations. and they will clean that up and try to make sure that it's not too staticky, that it's more it's more discernible. and second of all, of course, the video showing what appears to be this midair

collision and explosion. they will have a very meticulous interview process with every air traffic controller that was working that day up in the tower, understanding exactly what they saw, what they heard, and they will also do a full analysis and review of the pilot's actions and the pilot's days. literally. was one of the pilots tired? did they sleep enough the day before? was anybody on medication? i mean, they have a long laundry list that they check off every single time. this is not about in any way suggesting anybody did anything wrong here, but they've got to get to the bottom of what caused this. and it's usually multiple things. so often in these crashes, it comes down to a chain of events where a single item may not have actually caused the crash, but you had a chain of events. but let me also, if i could just underscore the fact that this country has enjoyed a remarkable period of safety in the skies, the last

fatal commercial plane crash in this country was 15 years ago in buffalo, when 49 people were killed in that crash. and since then, not a single fatal commercial airline crash in this country. so it's got a very good track record. as the dot secretary suggested. the question now is going to be getting to the bottom of this. >> all right. i'm just looking at some of nbc news reporting there were two near collisions at reagan airport last year that they that that it just to point that out. tom costello i know you're working your contacts and your sources. thank you so much for joining us for our live coverage. we appreciate it. so jonathan lemire, there's two, i think, 2 or 3 real pieces of news that came out of the news conference, along with a lot of condolences and admiration and respect and gratitude for the first responders who just came to the scene, 300 plus first responders, you know, diving

into the potomac river, frigid water, chunks of ice, trying to find any signs of life. and now, of course, we learn in the past hour that the operation has changed from rescue to recovery, that there is no potential for any signs of life. 64 people on board the jet, three people on board the military helicopter, the ceo and the transportation secretary. i want to focus in on comments they made the ceo, of course, american airlines for this flight, american eagle flight 5342 from wichita to reagan national, has set up a helpline for families who want information. one (800) 679-8215. that's for family assistance of anybody who was on board a family, members of anybody who was on board american eagle flight 5342. but he also said that this was an otherwise normal approach to reagan

national airport. he pointed this out. he said, i don't know why the other aircraft came into the path. is that right? okay. just checking the wording here. the secretary of transportation, later on in the news conference was asked specifically, did the jet know about the helicopter? did the helicopter know about the jet? and he said this communication was standard. the helicopter was aware there was a plane in the area. that's all he said. and so i think there'll be a lot more questions this afternoon. jonathan lemire, when the national transportation safety board has an update for us, they've taken over the investigation. i think the questions, of course, will first be on the victims. we got confirmation 27 bodies have been pulled from the potomac river, the area kind of from the crash site near the airport, spans almost a mile to the wilson bridge due to high winds last night. so they'll be working on

trying to get all the debris and investigate and look it all over. but there will be some questions about exactly what was the communication and who knew what. for each aircraft. >> we heard the air traffic controller speak to the pilot of the helicopter, alerting the pilot that the plane was nearby. >> i wonder, though, was there another plane? because did he think it was a different plane? >> yeah, there. >> are a lot of questions we will have to find out in the hours and days ahead. we do not know if the plane was given a similar heads up about the helicopter, that that will come out again as the investigation continues here, as it moves into recovery on the ground. and there's so much work to be done now to figure out what exactly went wrong. this ends a remarkably safe era of american air travel. a senator two two questions for you. we're so grateful you were here. first off the bat, just this is we were talking earlier on the show already. there's conspiracy theorists running wild. there's misinformation and disinformation. president trump and his truth social posts last night raising questions without

providing any sort of real answers. just first. obviously we're in the early stages of this investigation, but is there anything that you've learned, your committees have learned to suggest that this is anything other than a tragic accident? >> no, no. >> not at all. >> i mean, that's. what we have. >> and i quite frankly. >> i think it's. >> absolutely irresponsible. >> to. >> be putting. >> out theories of. >> what may happen. >> let's get to the facts. and the facts. >> will. >> come out. >> fairly quickly. >> we'll have to have a full investigation, which. >> will. >> take some time. >> but we've got. >> to let that process. the ntsb. >> is. >> a highly. >> professional group of individuals. they're going to get. >> the facts. we've got. >> to stick. >> to the. >> facts and. >> not. >> allow these. >> conspiracy theories and. >> other things to. >> to stoke. >> fear or. >> or. >> you know, uncertainty. >> out there. >> and thank you for that clarity. so important to stick with the facts at such an early moments of an unfolding tragedy. we've heard a lot from aviation experts that came up again at the news conference as well, just about how busy the airspace is around dca, not just it's because it's a major metropolitan airport that's so close to the city center, but also because it's washington, dc. it's the nation's capital. there's so many military

installations and military flights in the area. that's going to be something that's clearly looked at. but what is your degree of concern about how crowded are these skies? we've had so many near misses last night. sadly, tragedy struck. well, i think. >> it is. >> a discussion. >> for us afterwards. >> we want to. >> get all. the facts. >> of what. >> happened here, but there's. >> no question. >> it is. very crowded. >> as mentioned. >> this is one of the busiest. >> runways anywhere. >> in. >> the country. >> already with. >> the commercial. >> traffic and then all. >> of the military. >> aircraft that patrolled there. >> security aircraft too. >> you want to secure the skies around washington dc. from a homeland security perspective, homeland. >> security is very active. >> the committee. >> that i'm the ranking member. >> on, we know the. >> operations are. >> very extensive. >> so that's a. lot of. >> aircraft in the air. >> it takes a lot of coordination. >> a lot. >> of communications, and if there are any gaps. >> if anything. >> comes out from this investigation. >> we will act. >> you mentioned the crash 15 years ago. >> you know, as a result of that, we. >> found deficiencies. >> in pilot. >> training. >> and we're able to. >> correct that. >> to make sure that. >> our pilots. >> are the. >> most highly. >> trained pilots in the sky in

any country. >> in. >> the world. >> if there. >> are. >> gaps that we find. >> as a result. >> of this investigation, i'm confident. >> congress will act very. >> swiftly and aggressively. >> all right. ranking member of the homeland security committee, a member of the senate committee which oversees the faa. senator gary peters of michigan, thank you very much. we're going to take a quick break. of course, our live coverage of the breaking news, a military helicopter colliding mid-air with a passenger jet just before 9:00 last night. 67 people are presumed dead. the ntsb taking over the investigation will be having a news conference later today. and reagan national airport is closed. it is due to reopen at 11 a.m. eastern time. still ahead on morning joe. we'll talk to nbc's courtney kube about the pentagon's response to last night's collision. we'll also be joined by retired u.s. army helicopter pilot. morning joe is coming right back. >> you'll be back. emus can't

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>> back on morning joe, with breaking news coming up on the bottom of the hour here. 829. in washington, now, almost 12 hours since a mid-air collision between an army helicopter, a black hawk and an american eagle regional jet carrying 64 people, 60 passengers and four crew members, there were three soldiers aboard that helicopter. we just learned in a briefing from john donnelly, the chief of dc fire and ems, that 27 bodies have been recovered from the aircraft and one from the helicopter. so far, a total of 28. all told, 67 people went down in the potomac river. those icy waters and the chief now informing the public that this has become a search and recovery operation. he, of course, had been a search and rescue operation as they hope to find survivors now saying it is extremely unlikely 12 hours in cold water that anyone has survived. let's go to nbc news national security correspondent

courtney qb. courtney, good morning again. what more can you tell us from the pentagon's side about what happened? >> yes. so still no confirmation on the status of all three soldiers, as we heard from that press conference from from first responders and from d.c. officials. one of the remains of one of those crew members was pulled out of that helicopter. willie, just knowing what we know about this. so a 60 black hawk helicopter, there would be a pilot and a and a copilot in the front seat. obviously, they'd have a three point harness on, most likely, given the fact that there was only one other individual on board that was most likely the crew chief. we don't want to make assumptions here, but look, this is just how these aircraft operate with two pilots and a crew chief. the crew chief is not always buckled in in the same way that the pilot and copilot are, in part because one of the biggest jobs, one of their biggest roles as a crew chief is to be looking out the

windows and to be getting visual on what is around any potential threats, seeing what is around and being the eyes of the pilot and the copilot. so oftentimes if you're riding in a blackhawk, you'll see the crew chief sitting in one of the side seats looking out a window. if you're deployed somewhere in a potentially contentious or dangerous environment, there, even at times manning one of the weapons, one of the guns that are pointed out, those windows flying over dc, i can't imagine that was the case, but they are the eyes of that aircraft. most likely the crew chief would have been the one, the one body that may have been the most easily recovered, especially given how we are hearing this helicopter may have gone down in the water. it may be very difficult to recover the pilot and the copilot. so at this point, again, army officials are not saying anything about recovery of any of those three. we're just the three individuals were just getting that from that press conference. but one of the

things that really stood out to me in that press conference really was, was at the very end when we heard when someone, one of the reporters there asked if this was a this accident was avoidable. and the answer was very clearly yes. so i suspect that officials are already looking at exactly how this happened and trying to figure out how it was that this helicopter may collided directly with this aircraft in such a busy airspace. now, a little bit about the unit. this was the 12th aviation battalion. they fly out of davison army airfield at fort belvoir. one of their major missions is. their mission is operating in this area. they know what it means to operate in an extremely busy and congested airspace over the dc national capital area. they are familiar with the routes and the corridors that they have to fly in. because of this congested airspace. that is one of the

things that i suspect army officials are looking at. the us military is part of this investigation that is now being led by ntsb. willie, that's very common in a situation like this. because, remember, even though these are military aircraft, they're flying in airspace and they are talking to the commercial air traffic control in the area, they're getting their direction and their missions and communicating directly with the commercial air traffic controllers in the area. that's again, very standard, very standard, very common. i got to tell you, the fact that we're already starting to hear more and more. i think we will have a good sense, even as early of today is what may have happened here. not the final investigation, but but but more fidelity and information about how it was that this helicopter crashed. we still do not have any information about those three individuals on board, as is standard with the us military, when there's any kind of an incident there, the policy

is to wait 24 hours after next of kin are notified. so we may not get identified identities of the three people on board today. the way that it usually happens, though realistically, is social media is ahead of the notification process of the us military. so we may start hearing on social media from families, from locals who know the people who are on board. but again, i don't expect to get that officially. today. we have been hearing from the new secretary of defense of excuse me, of defense on social media, so we may get more out of him. secretary hegseth today as well. willie, that's one of the things that we're watching. >> yeah. and again, dc fire and ems saying one of the three soldiers has been recovered, the body has been recovered from the wreckage of that helicopter. nbc's courtney kube reporting from the pentagon for us, courtney, thanks so much. she leads perfectly to our next guest, retired u.s. army captain brian alexander, who was a helicopter pilot with the same battalion involved in this

deadly crash. captain, thank you for being with us today, boy. we're lucky to have your expertise, having flown this helicopter with this battalion very familiar with this airspace. what are your initial reactions? responses to what we heard in the press conference. but even just seeing the video and listening to air traffic control. >> yeah, well, first of all, with everyone else, you know, our prayers go out to all the victims. and it's just a terrible morning. there's nothing there's really nothing to say in terms of how tragic this accident is. i would echo the idea that it was one that certainly seems to have been preventable. based on the preliminary information, both radar and the communications that we've reviewed. i it's too early to speculate, but it does appear based on the fact that this is a routine flight. you've got the helicopter transitioning from the north to the south on the prescribed helicopter route. he's in communication with air

traffic control. their transponder is up so that the controller can see them on the radar. the same is true for the american eagle jet. so the controller can see both aircraft. and what you have is, is the one aircraft transitioning under visual flight rules. and then the commercial airliner coming in for what they described as a standard approach. i think what's interesting here is sort of two things can be following the rules at the same time, and you can still have an accident like this. unfortunately, because of the human factors involved here, i believe the fact that the crash was cleared away from landing south to north on runway one, which is absolutely standard and almost happens all the time to a circling approach to 33, which is to the northwest, brings the regional jet out over the river more than is typical, creates a different expectation for what

the helicopter pilots might have been anticipating. in addition, you've got multiple aircraft stacked up two runway one proceeding south to north. as the helicopter comes north to south. it's entirely possible that the aircraft he was informed of that he identified was in fact one of the other aircraft proceeding south to north for runway one, and he didn't see with all the lights in that area, the actual aircraft that was circling to land on runway 33. so that's speculative, of course, but certainly a possibility that the ntsb will be looking at when they process all the data. >> and we've been hearing that from other experts this morning. that's a really good point, which is that when air traffic control says to the helicopter, do you see the aircraft? they say, yes in the affirmative. this has happened in other accidents, smaller aircraft, but still air air disasters? yes, i do see it. but talking about a different aircraft, can you take us inside the cockpit of this

helicopter, like the one that was flown last night that collided? what would have been going on on a training mission with three soldiers aboard. what's the visibility? clear night, by and large. as you said, a standard approach for this plane. the helicopter, obviously very aware of the commercial aircraft coming in and out of dca. can you kind of walk us through what that night would have been like on a training mission and what they could have seen? >> sure. well, first of all, i think courtney was right. this is a heavily congested area, but it's sort of like any of us that commute into new york city or washington, dc every day and get on the 95. you know, it's still congested but routine and the routes are prescribed. it's a known that the traffic is there. so even though there's a lot going on, it is sort of quote unquote typical in this actual helicopter. we don't know what the routine training flight was doing, but it is in fact routine to have helicopter crews go through that area to learn the route structure, to become

familiar with communications, with air traffic control. there are a number of contingency missions that this unit performs. as you can well imagine, in the district of columbia, classified contingency missions, evacuation of federal buildings, evacuation of the white house, classified things of that nature. it could have been that, but i suspect it was a more routine familiarization or refresher training flight, which happens all the time for crews to maintain their proficiency in how to navigate this particular area as they operate in and out of the pentagon, for example. and as i said, i think what we'll find is the investigation will focus on the communications between air traffic and the two aircraft, as well as the visual and perceptive cues available to the crew in the helicopter, particularly on this particular flight. >> so as we talk about you

mentioned the communications with air traffic control. we heard from transportation secretary duffy that he doesn't believe the two aircraft spoke to each other. but as is standard, i think they communicate through air traffic control. would there be any kind of communication between the regional jet and the helicopter itself, or does everything go through the air traffic tower? >> yeah. so if assuming that they're all on the same frequency, everyone can hear everything that's going on. so the regional jet pilots would be able to hear the communications between air traffic and the helicopter. and the same for the pat 25 crew, but they do not communicate directly to one another. it's air traffic control that has the obligation to keep traffic clear of one another. it's the primary duty for air traffic control and to issue alerts and warnings as appropriate, to make sure that that traffic separation is confirmed and accomplished for obviously, for these very reasons. so again, i think what we'll find out is there are

obviously either some quote unquote miscommunications or an identification of perhaps the wrong aircraft, which may have been part of the sequence of events to bring this, to bring this about. >> we've been careful not to speculate this morning, and we will continue with that. but just because you have such experience and you have watched that video and you've listened to air traffic control, you've heard everything that we heard in that news briefing a short time ago. what is your gut telling you? what is your instinct telling you about what may have happened? >> well, as i was just describing, again, you know, most regrettably, i think the human factors element will will be the main focus. you know, having flown in that area so much, i will tell you that the lights and the amount of traffic, you know, i can i can i can see how a pilot could make this type of, of, of mistake in a moment. but again, way too

early to speculate. but that certainly is what the evidence is, is suggesting as a possibility. there could have been other distractions within the cockpit that we know nothing about at all. it does seem as though the regional jet was following air traffic controls, commands and sort of doing what one would absolutely anticipate in order to execute what started as an approach to runway one, and then became a circling approach to runway 33, would have a lesser opportunity to perhaps see pat two five. the call out from air traffic control was to the helicopter to identify and see and avoid the commercial jet, so that too bears some relevance here. but it's just a terrible tragedy and i could not agree more. one that was completely avoidable. >> yeah, a terrible human tragedy involving 67 lives. as we can see, those first responders still working right now to recover more bodies. the last word we got out of that

news briefing was at 28 in total had been recovered. retired u.s. army captain brian alexander. we are so lucky to have your experience and your expertise with us this morning. we appreciate you taking the time with us. thank you. >> thank you. god bless the families. >> absolutely. and as we creep up here on 9:00, it's 843 there in washington. again, those are first responders who, since that first alert came from the control tower at 8:48 p.m, coming up on 12 hours. now, since this incident happened, have been in that frigid water dive teams, we heard about the long list of first responders, ems, fire who have been on site all night working in really difficult conditions, trying to pull bodies in what is now a search and recovery mission. no longer a search and rescue, they don't believe that anyone remains surviving at this time and again. 67 tragedies for families this morning. 64 people

aboard that american eagle regional jet, 60 passengers and four crew members, and then three soldiers on a training mission in that helicopter that collided on what was a standard final approach for that airplane into reagan national airport in washington. we'll have much more on this story when morning joe comes right back. >> used car. >> shopping. >> two rows, two dogs. i'm sold. >> whoa whoa whoa. >> let's us. >> for the facts. >> whoa. >> like nearly. >> half of all used cars, this. puppy has been. >> in an accident. >> but carfax. com shows how an accident impacts price. so you don't have to overpay. >> unpause. whoa, whoa. >> wow. this is cool. yeah. >> wow. this is cool. yeah. ♪♪ some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking allstate first. like you know to check the game is actually over,

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and abortion. today, he appears at 10 a.m. before the health committee. so we'll be watching that also at 10 a.m. before the senate judiciary committee. kash patel, president trump's choice. this is actually at 9:30 a.m. we'll start and we'll perhaps show a split screen live. we'll definitely be monitoring it. kash patel is donald trump's pick to head the fbi. a controversial pick, to say the least, given some statements he said about retribution. and also starting at 10 a.m. eastern time. donald trump's pick to head the dni, tulsi gabbard. also, some say a very controversial pick. so far, his nominee choices, jonathan lemire, have gone through. >> yeah, it required a vice president vance to cast a tie breaking. vote for pete hegseth, the secretary of defense, to be confirmed. that's the first time that's ever been required for a pentagon pick. you know, we know he did pull the nomination of matt gaetz for attorney general

back in the transition. these are the three that most observers, including those in the trump white house, feel like there's going to be the most scrutiny, will have the toughest path. they're still optimistic about kash patel in particular, though. you're right, he's going to face a lot of questions from democrats about his enemies list, about plans for retribution, whether he will indeed act independently of the white house in terms of directing the fbi. some trump aides i spoke to yesterday were less than thrilled with how bobby kennedy did in front of the finance committee. felt like democrats really hit him with some really tough questioning on previous statements, including about vaccines. that said, they believe the path is still there towards confirmation. and as we've been reporting now for a week or more, it's tulsi gabbard whose chances are most in jeopardy that she is the one that even the president himself, as i reported yesterday, has cast doubt as to whether she'll get the votes needed to get through. i think a lot of eyes will be on her hearings later today. >> it's so interesting, especially when you look at rfk and what the job is he's nominated for, or kash patel or

pete hegseth, who has gotten through. but you look at a situation like the breaking news that we're covering, right, right now, put the politics aside. it's the expertise that matters. and some are concerned about the expertise of these nominees. we'll be following those hearings as they happen live. we'll be monitoring them in some cases as we cover the major breaking news that happened just before 9 p.m. last night. officials held a press conference on the deadly mid-air collision between a passenger flight and a military helicopter. they do not believe there are any survivors. 67 people total. 27 bodies were recovered from the american airlines flight 5342 that was coming in from wichita, kansas, to reagan national. one has been recovered from the black hawk helicopter. newly sworn in transportation secretary sean duffy says officials are working to figure out what went wrong, as the aircrafts were on a

standard flight pattern. >> safety is our expectation. everyone who flies in american skies expects that we fly safely. that when you depart an airport, you get to your destination. that didn't happen last night, and i know that president trump, his administration, the faa, the dot. we will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public. you should be assured that when you fly, you're safe. >> and also to that point, the ceo of american airlines, robert isom, said their sole focus is the family members of the victims right now. they have set up centers in wichita and dc. he did, though, make the point of saying that this jet was on an otherwise normal approach, and we do not know why the aircraft came into the path. carefully placing his words. transportation secretary sean duffy, who was sworn in

yesterday. this is basically his first day on the job. talked a lot about this being standard communication between the jets and the military helicopter and the control tower. he also said very carefully the helicopter was aware there was a plane in the area. the ntsb has taken over the investigation. they're going to be having a briefing later in the day. so there will be a lot of questions about communication and flight path and what happened right before this. a lot of the reporting this morning, a lot of the expertise analysis that we've been hearing uses the words avoidable, that this was avoidable. and we'll be hearing more about what exactly that means as more information becomes available. 27 bodies so far have been taken out of the frigid waters of the potomac river. and right now, reagan national airport is closed. it's

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the night reading executive. >> orders for this defining time in the second trump presidency. stay with msnbc. >> we saw. elon musk take. >> kind of. >> a powerful role. >> did anything about how he wielded. >> his. >> power surprise you? do you not need a katrina. >> level type of response that is. rebuilding to make. >> sure it won't happen again? you've obviously made a decision to resign. are there any lessons that can be learned. >> as you're. >> talking to members of your congregation, what do you tell

them about. >> how. >> to stand up for their own moral beliefs, but still find grace in this moment? >> 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 from this accident, and we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter. the district office of the medical examiner has lead on reuniting these bodies and these people with their loved ones, and we will continue to work to find all the bodies and collect them and reunite them with their loved ones. >> that was dc fire and ems chief john donnelly addressing last night's deadly mid-air crash near reagan national airport. we have a live look for you now at crews working in the frigid potomac river, carrying out what is now a recovery

mission. about 12 hours ago, an army helicopter collided with an american airlines flight as it was making its final approach to the airport. there were 64 passengers and crew on the jet, which departed last night from wichita, kansas. we also know that three service members on board the black hawk helicopter were on a training mission. so far, 28 bodies have been recovered. officials say reagan national airport will reopen at 11:00 this morning. again, as i said, this happened just before 9:00 last night. some 301st responders were on the scene within minutes, scrambling in the icy waters trying to find anybody alive. survivors, the fire chief announcing in a press conference in the past 90 minutes that the response operation has officially been changed from search and rescue to a recovery operation, that there is no possibility that any

of these 67 people on both aircraft could have survived this mid-air collision. we do know that members of the u.s. figure skating were on board this plane. a statement coming out from u.s. figure skating. several members of our skating community were on the crashed plane. these athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from the national development camp held in conjunction with the u.s. figure skating championships in wichita, kansas. we are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims families closely in our hearts. we will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available. we also have word that two russian skaters were on the plane as well, still looking to confirm, and there's still obviously a lot of families that are receiving this information right now, because notification of families is especially

important in situations like this. sometimes it is short ended by social media, but that is one of the primary things that american airlines is focused on right now, which is focusing on the families. they've even set up a hotline. one (800) 679-8215 for anybody who might have had a family member on flight 5342. let's bring in d.c. council member charles allen. he represents the waterfront along reagan national airport and is involved in the recovery efforts right now. what, sir, can you add to what we already know what is happening right now? >> yeah, well, i appreciate it. and obviously. >> my heart. >> breaks like everybody does for the 67 folks, the passengers, the. >> crew. >> our military members. you know, last night i was down on the waterfront. i was. >> talking to a lot of. >> our first responders, and certainly we were hopeful that. >> we were. >> going to see survivors there. and as the hours progressed, that became less. and less

likely. and as we know, it's now a recovery. you know d.c. and you know it well. we're a city. we're a big city. over 700,000 residents here. we're larger than the state of wyoming and vermont. >> we're not. >> strangers to a lot of air traffic, but we do have a lot of questions, obviously. that we need to see investigated as to how this happened, what could have been prevented here? it's a huge tragedy. i got to also give a lot of thanks and appreciation, though, to our first responders. our fire and ems crews were in dark, cold, murky water all night long, working hard, and they're second to none. and so really appreciate the hard. >> work. >> from our first responders. >> obviously, weather is always a question. when something like this happens, they look at every attribute of the situation at hand. but if you could describe the conditions as you were on the scene through the night as this response was happening, if you could describe more of the conditions, not just for the first responders, but i understand the fuselage is in three pieces in waist deep

water. and then there were some winds last night which caused sort of the spread of this scene to go all the way down from where this happened, which is just before landing right in the potomac river outside reagan national airport, just right before you land 300ft in the air down toward the wilson bridge. what more do you know about the conditions on the scene? >> well, last night was actually a very clear and crisp night in dc, so there weren't clouds in the sky. it was a very clear night. the sun had gone down, obviously, and the conditions. >> were. >> were cold and windy. >> so i know from a. >> first responder perspective we've. >> got ice that's. floating in the water. >> some of the boat launches themselves and some of the. >> marinas nearby were actually iced up. >> so the conditions in the water and on the water for the rescue were very dangerous. i know they. >> were working. >> hard to get. lights out there. it was dark, it was murky. it was icy, it was cold. so you're talking about rescue squads that are in full suits to

be able to be submerged in the water, and the danger of that ice that's still floating. >> around in the waterway. so very dangerous conditions. >> for our first responders. >> and. >> councilman, this is obviously a washington tragedy, but a national story. we know that a lot of people are already asking how they can help, you know, with, you know, we've heard from american airlines, as mika just noted, trying to notify family members and the like. but are you aware of is there whether it's gofundme or more, more formalized organizations that were helping right now to the people involved who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy, where should people go? >> i think we're going. >> to learn more about that, obviously over the course of the day. so certainly american airlines and i know the city and our federal partners have been putting out information to help connect families. the city is setting up, unfortunately, a mass casualty collection site. and so that will be where our our chief medical examiner is going to run, essentially an impromptu morgue where they're going to be able to receive individuals, sort of connect families. so at this time, that's really our primary focus

is that recovery and making sure we're connecting family members. and certainly though you've got 67 families that that have lost somebody, and there's going to be deep pain and tragedy, and there's a lot of need for support for them in the days, weeks and months to come. >> all right. d.c. council member charles allen, thank you very much. we appreciate your coming on for our live coverage. willie. >> ntsb, senior air safety and air safety investigator, greg feith. greg, thanks for coming back with us. we spoke to you before the briefing we got from officials there, including the chief of fire and ems and the transportation secretary, sean duffy. we learned that this is now a search and recovery mission, no longer a search and rescue. they believe that everybody aboard the plane and the helicopter has died. now, we're 12 hours past that impact. when the two aircraft fell into the icy potomac river. what stood out to you from that briefing? >> i think one of. >> the things. >> that stood out is the fact

that they're very guarded with the information the mayor had talked about, the fact that the ntsb is now really going to start running the investigation. you're going to see the ntsb is the face of the investigation, and they didn't want to give away too much information regarding the investigation or the process, necessarily. that's why they're deferring to the board and the and the briefings that they'll probably give later today, because the board has been investigating while the search and rescue and now search and recovery mission has been taking place over the past 12 hours. >> yeah. it was notable that every time he was asked, terrence duffy responsibly was saying, we're going to leave that to the ntsb or mayor, bowser said. we're going to leave that to the ntsb. we don't want to get out in front of that. were there any details that you heard from any of the other officials there that might have clued you in? we did hear pretty definitively from the

transportation secretary that this was a preventable accident, that we've heard that echoed now from some of our guests as well. anything else you can glean from the information we got in that briefing about what might have happened? >> i think. >> the big thing. >> is going to be the communication aspect. we saw it before where a crew has misidentified traffic that was called by the air traffic controller. that confusion could have led to, of course, the military crew not actually seeing the airplane they struck. they may have been looking in a different direction, identified maybe the airplane that was taking off as being the traffic that was in at least implied by the air traffic controller, as you know, passing behind. but when we look at that, the communication aspect, the fact that the, you know, are they monitoring the frequency, did they hear the air traffic controller and the military pilot communication, or was it only one sided? that's going to

be a very big aspect, willie. and i think both the cockpit voice recorder from the regional jet and of course, any voice recording the military airplane typically has what's called an mdr or a maintenance data recorder, but it also has a cockpit voice recorder in it as well. so i think the communication not only between pilots and controller, but amongst the pilots themselves, is going to be very critical in this investigation. >> so some people just waking up with us on the west coast to this news just after 6:00 out west. 908 in the morning there, as you look at those live pictures, the potomac river underneath that final approach, that pattern for that aircraft that collided with a helicopter going into reagan national airport in washington. so, greg, if just for people who are kind of getting dialed in and tuned into this, we can say that just over 12 hours ago, these two aircraft collided. and again, as you looked at that video and you

listened to those communications between air traffic control and the helicopter air traffic control, and that american eagle regional jet, as you heard what you heard from officials there at the news conference, just describe as somebody with such experience in these investigations where this investigation probably is right now and what you saw in the images. >> well, when i. >> saw the. >> video, it became very evident to me that the helicopter, which was the smaller light in the sky compared to the brighter light, those were the landing lights for the regional jet. they're mounted in the wing. they're very bright. and what i was looking for, as you can see, the strobe on the helicopter as it approaches the regional jet. and looking at where that aircraft passed, i never saw any kind of blackout of that real bright light from the regional jet, which suggested to me initially that that aircraft, the

helicopter, had at least struck at the wing or aft of the wing in the back of the aircraft, so that the crew of the regional jet didn't didn't know what was happening. and i'm sure that that will probably be validated when the cockpit voice recorder is played. but the big thing here was, again, there was no evasive action by either pilot. you never see the helicopter pitch up, pitch down, turn left, turn right, and you don't see the regional jet, which of course suggests to me that neither crew knew that there was an impact that was imminent. and again, i think from the investigative standpoint, that's where the telling is going to come from. cockpit voice recorder. communication between the pilots as they were on their respective flight paths. >> all right. former ntsb senior air safety investigator greg

feith, thank you very much. we appreciate it. and we are monitoring a number of things that are happening at the same time right now. they just finished a news conference in wichita where the mayor spoke, as well as members from the airport there. this american airlines flight 5342 was traveling from wichita, kansas, to reagan national airport, of course, when it collided mid-air with a military helicopter just before 9:00 last night. in fact, why don't we dip back into this news conference? this is the mayor of wichita, lily wu. take a listen. >> any family or friends of members or people? >> the care team. >> was activated last. >> night. and one family. was there. >> and i want to say thank you to our local. >> media partners. who were. >> respectful here. >> in wichita. >> that says. >> a lot.

>> about. >> our community. >> the care. team was. >> there to provide comfort. >> for that. >> family. and the council. >> members were. >> also there to provide. >> comfort for them. but at this time, that. >> is all we have in regards to family members. >> do you. >> know. >> how. >> many families. >> did show up. >> last night? only one. pretty normal for the beginning of this flight. >> taking off. >> i'll say that again, is everything. >> is a flight normal. >> taking off? >> i will have jesse. >> yes. to our knowledge, everything occurred as normal. >> so there was no abnormality. >> to the operation. >> that this flight continue. >> as normal tonight. >> where is this flight? on hold. >> you know. >> i know. reagan national was shut down for a while. they have plans to reopen the airport. and i haven't heard yet when

exactly. >> they're going to open. >> and i haven't heard specifically for this flight. but if we do have additional information that will come from american as well. and so if folks are looking to. fly on that route, just need. >> to continue. >> to check. >> with american airlines. >> the flight on the 700 is that same time. >> yeah. >> well good word. the configuration depends. >> you know, for each aircraft. but it is approximately about 75. seats normally. and i. >> would have to get. >> specifics on that aircraft. >> but i don't. >> have that at this time. >> has there been any contact with this being their plan. no. >> no. >> do you know whether where they are in the process of contacting the families? >> now? we do not. >> and. >> you know, most of this.

>> incident occurred. >> at dc and. is being. managed by. >> the local partners and. >> federal agencies. >> that. >> are responding in. >> the dc area. >> but as was asked earlier, the manifest will be managed by american airlines. >> and that information will be disseminated. >> through their official. sources as well as ntsb. i don't believe so. i don't. >> have that information, but. >> i can look. >> into that. >> can you. >> tell. us anything about figure skaters, obviously, that were on the flight, just hosted the u.s. national championships. >> so on social media. >> a lot of figure skaters. coming out to compete with the best any anything. >> i understand that some of that information is out there on social. >> media or through. >> other. >> media outlets, but. >> it's not information that we. >> can share at this time. >> mayor, can you talk. >> about we've heard from a few folks about how big this. >> last. >> weekend was with the u.s. figure skating championship. >> being held here in. >> wichita. >> and all. >> of these young.

>> olympic hopefuls. >> which would have raised our living room in the future. can you talk about. >> just how. >> big of an event. this past weekend was and what it what it meant for. >> the city. >> to have these young. >> skaters here. >> in town? >> it was. >> truly an. >> honor to. >> have future olympians and those. >> who are. >> at the highest competition level of figure skating, right here in the air capital. >> we were so excited. >> to. >> have the. >> opportunity to. host the national championship, and even yesterday i had folks tell me how wonderful these last few days have been with additional individuals that came into our community, whether to. >> watch or to participate. >> so our community was. >> really excited. >> and thankful that everything went well with the championship. and so right now we're just waiting for more information from u.s. figure skating that we can release. but right now, we're just hoping and praying

again. >> to family and friends and folks on being in touch with you all. i know there's a phone number for american, but if they want to connect with the local care team and they don't have an airport, how do they do that? >> they can reach out to. >> the. >> airport administration building. >> i'm going to look that up because all of a. >> sudden. >> sleep deprivation kicked in. >> and my mind went. >> blank on on the phone number. but let me respond back to you in just a second. >> all right. we're listening here to the mayor of wichita, kansas, and other representatives at the wichita at the kansas airport after a passenger jet departed wichita yesterday, they left that city for reagan national airport. and just upon landing at reagan national airport, the passenger jet crashed mid-air with a military helicopter. it appears

67 now are presumed dead, including, as you heard there from the mayor, future olympic skaters, u.s. figure skating coaches, family members, and skaters were reportedly in wichita for a training camp, and some of them were on that doomed flight. so 67 passengers total from both aircraft presumed dead as both aircraft plunged into the frigid potomac river. reagan national airport is closed. the ntsb is taking over the investigation, and hopefully we'll have a news conference later today. joining us now, nbc news senior correspondent tom costello, live from reagan national airport. tom, what more are you hearing from your sources about this tragedy? >> well, mika, as you rightly underscore, this is in fact a recovery operation there. at this point, rescuers really have no hope that that there's anybody out there who survived

and they would have faced just terrible odds last night, being plunged into the icy potomac river, literally ice on the water, 35 degrees water temp. last night at 9:00 at night, the wind was howling. it was dark, muddy water. and of course the fire rescue boats take some time to get out there. they're not going to be there in five seconds. and anybody who was watching that last night, we were all holding our breath and hoping and praying for the best. unfortunately, that has not turned out. the fire chief tells us that, in fact, the fuselage of the aircraft is broken into three separate pieces that it is sitting right now in waist deep water. parts of the potomac are a little bit deceiving. it's deeper in some places and it is not deep in other areas. so in this particular area where they're dealing with the wreckage, it's in about waist deep water. we're told in all 300 emergency responders were on

the scene here very, very quickly from across the district of columbia, as well as multiple counties in and around maryland, stretching all the way up to baltimore and multiple counties in northern virginia as well, responding. so i don't know how many fire departments. i think we probably had three dozen or more fire departments, as well as police and helicopter units and boat rescue units, doing all they could as fast as they could. but this was just a horrific scene. and the focus now, i will tell you, is very much on that video that we've been showing, which appears to show the mid-air collision and which appears to show the helicopter coming up from behind the regional jet, the american airlines eagle flight, and hitting it from behind. and then the explosion. now, air traffic control asked the pilot of the helicopter, do you have visual on the rj on the regional jet and the helicopter pilot acknowledged he did. here's

what's the question right now. okay, then how could this have happened if he had visual on the plane? or did he have visual on a different plane? was he instead looking, for example, at the plane that was taking off from runway one and not necessarily seeing the plane that was about to land on runway three three? this is an awful lot of conjecture and wonder from veteran pilots who come in and out of this airport all the time, and it will be up to the ntsb to finally determine what likely transpired. >> right. and on that, tom, i just want to because you have such experience in this and i don't necessarily think we need to show that video again, but the video of the impact, i'm just wondering, because often when you're looking at something in the sky, it can be an optical illusion and exactly what is where. but you say it's the helicopter coming from behind. how will the video, the audio, the wreckage? when the ntsb investigators are putting it all together, how will it reveal

possible answers here? >> well, that really is going to be the crucial key piece of evidence, at least so far, because it you know, what's amazing is how many incidents we've had lately over the last ten years, close calls, for example. and there's video. it really helps investigators piece together what happened. now separate from that of course they're going to be they have they're working on getting the black boxes the flight data recorder, the cockpit voice recorder from both the regional jet as well as the military chopper. that will give them a clue about what, if anything, was said in the cockpit of each of each aircraft. right. did the did the helicopter pilot suddenly say to his copilot, oh my god, you know, at the last second, we don't know. but that kind of a comment will give the investigators clues into what possibly transpired. and then of course, we also are going to be or they will be looking at the air traffic control recordings,

and they will be talking to the air traffic controllers, specifically in the tower right behind my cameraman right now. what did they see? what did they hear? what were they aware of? what were their scopes saying? their radar screens? they will do a full forensic analysis on all of this. and my guess is if they're following protocol, which i'm sure they are, they've already taken those controllers off duty and they will try to as quickly as possible, debrief them while it's fresh in their minds. >> nbc's tom costello, thank you very much for your coverage this morning. talk to you soon. we're going to continue our live coverage of the deadly collision over the potomac. house minority leader hakeem jeffries will join us to discuss this and the breaking news as we're following. we're back in two minutes. >> introducing a revolution. >> in pain relief. absorbing junior pro. >> the strongest numbing. >> pain relief available. >> it's the only. solution with. >> two max strength. >> anesthetics for. >> anesthetics for. >> fast, penetrating. relief on chewy, save 35% and shop all your favorite brands.

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it's supportive. free 30 day returns. >> shop now at honey. >> love.com. >> we continue to cover breaking news out of washington, d.c. here, where reagan national airport is closed until 11 a.m. this morning after a tragedy in the air above the airport itself

in washington, d.c. upon landing just before 9:00 last night, american airlines flight 5342 traveling from wichita, kansas, with 64 people on board, colliding midair with a military helicopter with three service people on board, with both aircraft then plunging into the frigid potomac river. 67 people are presumed dead. this happened, as i said, just before nine last night. 301st responders were on the scene within minutes, scrambling in the icy waters trying to find survivors. the fire chief announcing in a press conference about two hours ago that the operation has changed from search and rescue to recovery, indicating that there is no possibility that any of the 67 people on board both aircraft could have survived. let's go straight to house minority leader hakeem jeffries. he's in

los angeles this morning, where later today he will survey the wildfire damage in southern california. so while you're there doing that, if you could please comment on what you've heard about the tragedy here in washington, d.c. >> good morning. >> it's a. >> sad and tragic event. and certainly our hearts break for those families and friends at the loss of life that has occurred. and we're going. to have to make sure that the professionals in the aviation industry are able to do their work to determine what happened. why did it happen? and how do we prevent this type of tragedy from ever happening again? mr. leader, good morning to you. obviously, we've had a couple of briefings so far on the incident in washington. we expect to get further updates as we go. let's shift, though, to where you are, los angeles. a tragedy of a very different sort, but immense and terrifying there as well. the

wildfires that have plagued and continue to burn in southern california. give us your assessment of what you've seen, but also where things stand in terms of getting that necessary relief money to california. there's been some talk here, as you well know, here in washington, about perhaps putting some conditions attached. where do things stand? the devastation that i've witnessed so far in the pacific palisades was unthinkable. until you experience it on the ground. it was. >> a wildfire. >> of epic proportions, and we're going to have to make sure that we are there for every single american whose lives have been impacted adversely by the tragic events here in los angeles county. later on this morning, i'll visit altadena as well. and i know that there are people in that historic community who have lost everything. americans of modest means, just simply trying to

experience the american dream. and in an instant, everything is gone. it's going to be important for us in the congress, working with the administration to make sure that we do for the people of los angeles, exactly what has been done for other americans who've experienced extreme weather events, which is to support. >> them without condition. >> all right. house minority leader, democratic congressman hakeem jeffries of new york, thank you so much. we have a lot to get to this morning. we have confirmation hearings just about to begin here in washington, d.c. jonathan lemire, what's starting at 930 is that rfk's continued. >> at 930 will be kash patel. who is donald trump. president trump's selection, the fbi director. >> that will. >> be the first this morning, then followed at 10:00. we'll have both the day two of the robert f kennedy hearings, this time in front of a different committee. he, of course, spent hours being grilled yesterday by by senators about some of his

more controversial statements and views, including about vaccines, and then also later today, tulsi gabbard is the donald trump's pick to lead dni. her hearings will begin as well. all three of these, mika, are going to be under remarkable scrutiny. there was a little bit of strategy here by republicans to schedule them on the same day, to sort of diffuse attention. and obviously everyone in washington now very much focused on the events of this plane crash as well. but but all three are seen as being likely to receive fierce democratic support. tulsi gabbard, perhaps we heard from even from some lawmakers earlier today. she is the one who may be in the most jeopardy, but right now, it's simply unclear whether one, two, or three of these will face opposition from those. four republican votes that would be needed to sink a nomination. >> and then turning back to our breaking news. now, you look at those confirmations and you really think about forget the politics. it's expertise that you really hope lawmakers are focused on when they are deciding whether or not to vote someone through. but we want to

get back to the midair collision that happened just before 9:00 last night between american airlines flight 5342 coming into washington, dc from wichita, kansas, colliding mid-air with a military helicopter. and then the two aircraft plunging into the potomac river. transportation secretary sean duffy, in a news conference earlier this morning, said that the fuselage for the american airlines flight is in three pieces. it's located in waist deep water in the potomac. debris is kind of spread out over just under a mile. and the ntsb, the national transportation safety board, is on the scene and will be examining the wreckage, pulling together debris, still searching for bodies. we know of about 27 bodies that have been removed from the river. and american airlines joining in this. they say they're still working on notifying next of kin. we do know that members of the u.s. figure skating were on the

plane. u.s. figure skating actually put out a statement saying that coaches, family members and skaters were on board the doomed american airlines flight. the ceo of american airlines also spoke this morning at the news conference, along with the secretary of transportation and the mayor of washington, d.c. he says their sole focus is on the families right now, and american airlines has a number for anybody who has family members that might have been on the aircraft. that number is. one (800) 679-8215. and again, that phone number is for family members who had passengers on flight 5342. reagan national airport is closed. it's due to reopen at 11:00. on the tragedy and the collision itself, the ceo of american airlines did did make a statement on that, right? pretty much out of the box. and he said this quote, this is

robert isom. this was an otherwise normal approach. we don't know why the aircraft came into the path. and he seemed to be carefully placing his words, also carefully placing his words, because they obviously don't want to get ahead of an investigation would be the newly sworn in secretary of transportation, who said that the helicopter was aware that there was a plane in the area. jonathan, mayor, you want to add to that? >> yeah, we know that the air traffic controllers, the audio that we heard makes that clear, but we don't know and wasn't answered there. whether the plane knew the jet. exactly. >> whether the helicopter was in the path. also, there's been some speculation from experts earlier that perhaps the helicopter acknowledged saw a plane, but it was the wrong plane. we simply don't know. and i think that's why it's so important to stick to the facts. stick what we don't know, to recognize that this investigation is in its very early hours. we're going to get updates. we will continue to learn more. but as we've seen and unfortunately, it is the way of life in 2025 that we've already seen misinformation,

disinformation, conspiracy theories, some even fueled by the president. united states last night on truth social already taking hold. and that's why it's so important out of respect for the families, but also simply respect for the process and the need to learn what actually happened. >> to. >> avoid rampant speculation and let the let the process play out, the facts will emerge. >> yeah, there are a lot of little tracks of information going on here. back with us this morning, nbc news aviation analyst john cox. he's a former pilot and accident investigator with more than 20 years of experience. so, sir, tell us now what, as an accident investigator, what is the process that is that they are embarking on now that they started probably right after this happened, when first responders got to the scene just before 9:00 last night. >> well, the first thing is to let the first responders do their job. and at this point it's a recovery effort. so ntsb will take a step back and let the recovery effort unfold until they can get everything

recovered. and then it's a matter of collecting data. it's collecting evidence. you photo document everything that you possibly can so that later the analysis of that evidence can take place. and out of that analysis is where you begin to establish what actually occurred or the probable cause of this tragedy. it takes time. it's very methodical. every piece of evidence is documented where it was found, how it was found, and then also the recorders, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are analyzed carefully to see if there was any problems with the jet. the. unfortunately, the black hawk is not likely to have much in the way of recorders on board, so we're going to be a little bit less informed about what all went on with the black hawk. we know the air traffic control tapes have been pulled. they will be analyzed, the radar data will be analyzed. so it's

assembling all of this, a mountain of evidence and then determining what happened. >> all right. nbc news aviation analyst john cox. john, thank you very much for your help with us all morning on this. we certainly appreciate it. defense secretary pete hegseth, confronted with this tragedy about five days into the job since he was confirmed in a late night vote, put out a video that reads, he says in part, quote, the army unit involved was doing an annual proficiency training flight, a fairly experienced crew in a required annual night evaluation. they were wearing night vision goggles. dod is investigating to figure out what happened and why. that from defense secretary pete hegseth. let's bring in now former u.s. ambassador chesley sully sullenberger. of course, you'll remember the pilot who safely landed a passenger plane in the hudson river in 2009. he's also an aviation safety expert and previously served as ambassador

to the international civil aviation organization. captain sullenberger is so great to have you with us this morning on this terrible day. i'm curious just for your initial reaction, it's hard to believe it's been 15 years, almost to the week since the so-called miracle on the hudson, where you ditched into the hudson river, not far from where i'm sitting, saving the lives of everyone on board. i'm curious as to your reaction now, having seen the video. listen to air traffic control. heard the officials at the briefing, your assessment of everything you've seen, captain. >> well. >> it's great to be. >> with you. >> and it was. wonderful to. >> see my. >> old friend and. former airline. >> colleague, captain. >> john cox, on board. >> and he he did. >> a great. >> job of telling you exactly what. >> the. >> process is. >> it's early. >> we really don't know. >> much yet. >> what is. >> apparent to me. >> at this point is. >> that one. >> of the many. things that. >> will be considered.

>> is the fact that the airplanes. used a very common technique. >> when it's possible. >> in the visibility is good enough. >> visual separation. >> and that transfers. >> the separation. >> responsibility from. >> the air traffic controller to the pilot who has. >> said that they have the. >> aircraft in sight, that it's the right. >> airplane that they're supposed. >> to be looking. >> at, and that they're. >> going to maintain. >> their own separation from it. >> obviously. >> that separation. >> at some point was lost. >> so that. >> clearly is. >> going. >> to be something. >> that's going to. >> be looked. >> at, along. >> with perhaps. >> hundreds or. >> thousands of. >> other facts and contributing factors. >> and as. captain cox probably told you, this. investigation by the national transportation safety board. >> and by the us army. >> may take. >> as much as. >> a. year to. >> reach a final report. >> that's been. >> made that will be made public of the probable cause and the contributing. >> factors.

>> i should say also. >> that as ultra. >> safe as we have. >> made commercial. >> aviation. >> especially in the developed. >> world and in this country. >> haven't had. >> a fatal. accident since. >> 2009. >> the. >> we have to. >> keep reminding ourselves what's. >> really at stake. >> and. >> how hard. >> we. have to work. >> to avoid. >> any gaps, any. >> deficiencies in our processes and our. equipment and our in our human performance. >> you know, human. >> performance is a. >> huge part. >> of everyday life. >> for a. >> pilot and for flight crews and humans. save the day in. >> many small ways that. >> we. >> just don't. >> hear about every day. >> and we've got to find. >> out what. >> happened here. >> and learn from it. and unfortunately, throughout the history. >> of. >> aviation. over 120 years of it. we have learned. >> from costly. >> lessons, often bought with.

>> blood. >> and it's. important to. >> always realize that. as safe as we have made. >> aviation. >> we can't relax. >> we have to. >> keep on working. >> harder and. >> anticipate the. >> next challenge. and as we make aviation safer. >> it becomes harder to predict. >> what the. >> next challenge. >> might be. >> as you say, extraordinary. it's been 15 years now since the first major commercial airline accident, a deadly one in buffalo. so, captain sullenberger, can you speak to the challenges of flying in and out of washington, particularly reagan national heavy traffic, obviously short runways, as you pointed out this morning, what is it like to be a pilot making even like what we saw last night appeared to be a pretty routine approach flying in and out of there. what's it like? >> well, it's. >> a legacy airport. >> built in. >> and began. >> to be used in the 1930s. it hasn't changed. >> a lot in.

>> that time frame. >> it's landlocked. >> it's surrounded on. >> one side by development and another. >> side by the river. the runways. >> are not. >> as long as. >> some runways are. >> it's a very. busy airport. >> and the. >> mix of traffic. >> is often complex. >> you know. >> high speed aircraft, lower. >> speed aircraft. >> rotary wing. >> aircraft. >> helicopters, others. and that. >> kind of complexity. >> always makes things a bit more difficult. >> and of. >> course, at. >> night we're we're. >> unable to see a lot of the. >> things that we see. >> during the. >> daylight when the. >> sun light is. out and illuminating objects. so we have to look at the lighting. >> on aircraft, and. >> we often. only see their lights and. >> try to. >> determine which. direction are they headed? are they higher. or lower than we are? >> and is that the right airplane. >> that we're supposed. >> to be seeing? >> so much. >> to be done. >> here. >> to find out exactly what

happened, and the fact that that national. >> is. >> kind of a challenging airport may be. one of the factors. >> as you look at the video that we've seen from that earth cam last night, given all your experience, you've been obviously in the most difficult of situations possible for a pilot. do you see anything out of the ordinary? we keep hearing again and again from officials, from the transportation secretary, that this was a normal, routine approach by that regional aircraft, the american eagle jet. anything look out of the ordinary to you? >> nothing that jumps. >> out at me right now. but again, it's. >> very early. we don't have all the data. >> and. >> we won't for many months. >> so i mentioned you are ambassador sullenberger as well for international civil aviation. can you speak to why air travel in america and really in the western world has become so safe, let's call it in the last decade and a half. it feels like growing up in this country

anyway, you hear about 1 or 2 crashes a year that hasn't happened for more than a decade now. what are the steps that have been taken? what have been the successes to get us to that place? >> a lot of. >> people have. worked very hard over this. >> last 120. >> years to. >> always learn from aviation accidents and incidents and. continually make. >> things better. >> we have an obligation to do that, and it's this constant learning, this. constant improvement. never, never saying it's good enough. and aviation safety. you can never say it's just. >> good enough. it always. >> has to be the very best that we can make it. and it's this constant improvement over many, many years on the efforts of. many people. >> the people who. >> design, build and operate. >> our machines. >> our airplanes, the crews, the people who maintain them, every part of it. we every time we get on an airplane, there are thousands. >> of people.

>> behind the scenes that we don't know and don't know about who are doing. >> important things that. >> in many ways keep us safe on every flight. it's that that dedication, that diligence that's so hard to maintain it. we have to realize. >> that we. >> have to make every. flight safe for every minute of every hour. of every. >> day, of. >> every week, of every month, of every year, of every decade for what may be a decades long career. and that's something we have to deal with every. day to have. >> the. >> the, the determination to make it the very best we can. >> we've been hearing this morning and even last night from several people around the aviation industry and even senator moran from kansas. this flight originated from wichita into dca, that there has been a demand for more and more and more flights into washington. this was a relatively new route within the last year or so, according to senator moran. is that a concern to you at all

that there is such demand to go into certain airports that it could lead to potentially disasters like this? >> well, it it takes. >> a lot of. >> things going. >> wrong for a. >> disaster to help to, to happen because our, our. layers of safety are generally so. good that these, these things are. >> caught well before they become. >> a hazard. but once. >> in a. >> while, all the all. the gaps in. >> the system line up. >> and unfortunately, one of these. things slips by us. and so that's again just an indication of how diligent we have to be and how how multi-layered the system has to be. but it's always the people. >> who save. >> the day at the end of the day. and if they can. >> as you did yourself and you continue to lead that effort to make aviation even safer than it is already extraordinary, extraordinarily safe. ambassador and captain chesley sully

sullenberger, thank you so much for your time. we're grateful to have you here today. >> good to be with you, ali. >> and we'll continue to bring you the very latest on the deadly mid-air collision near reagan national airport as crews continue to work in those icy waters of the potomac river. at last check, according to fire chief of d.c. john donnelly, 28 bodies have been pulled from the potomac. we know that 67 people, all told, are involved in that crash, 64 of them on the regional jet and three of them on that army helicopter. we're also keeping an eye on the right side of the screen there. on what's happening on capitol hil. as a critical confirmation hearing is underway now for president trump's controversial president trump's controversial nominee to lead the some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking allstate first. like you know to check the weather first, before sailing. it's gonna get nasty later. yep. hey! perfect day for sailing, huh? (thunder rumbles)

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to the. >> big lie. >> is that there. >> was some. >> concerted plan near the capitol and it just wasn't. >> stuart was becoming. >> increasingly unstable. >> people are. >> gravitating to him like a son. i bet everything on him being locked away forever. >> it's important to remember that for all the statistics and square mileage and square footage and number of people displaced, they're all individual people with their homes, with their lives. >> driving around, there's almost. nothing left standing. occasionally you'll. >> see a house. >> that's okay. >> or a street. >> that's okay, but. >> that's occasional. >> i continue. >> to see, and i want. >> to. >> shout out. >> one more. >> time, the. first responders. >> who are. >> responding in. this mutual aid effort from. >> all. >> over southern california. >> it really has. >> brought out the best and most. >> inspiring part. >> about human beings. >> okay. >> we've been following breaking news all morning after a tragedy in the air above washington, d.c. reagan national airport is closed right now. upon landing

at just before 9:00 last night, american airlines flight 5342 traveling from wichita, kansas, with 64 people on board, including the crew. colliding mid-air with a military helicopter with three service members on board. this happened just before landing a couple of hundred of feet in the air, both aircraft then plunging into the frigid waters of the potomac river. 67 people are presumed dead. again, this happened just before 9:00 last night. hundreds of first responders were on the scene within minutes, scrambling in the water. in the water, trying to find survivors. the fire chief announcing this morning that there are no survivors, that the operation has been changed from search and rescue, looking for life to a recovery operation. no survivors, 67 people. go ahead. >> we just we just received word from white house press secretary caroline leavitt just tweeted a

moment ago that president trump will hold a press briefing to discuss this aviation disaster from the white house, from the white house briefing room at 11:00 eastern time. >> so, okay. >> a little over an hour from now, we heard from president trump last night, put out an emailed statement and then a truth social post that some have deemed somewhat irresponsible in his speculation. but he will be in the briefing room at 11:00 eastern, likely joined by some other federal officials, including transportation secretary duffy, who we heard from this morning as well. >> right. and actually, during that news conference, the newly newly appointed transportation secretary, sean duffy, he was sworn in yesterday. this is his first day, gave some information about the investigation. there's very little right now information to go on. but there is video, there is audio. and he says the fuselage of american airlines flight 5342 is in three pieces. and it landed in waist deep water. debris goes as far

away as the wilson bridge, just under a mile away. there was some wind that scattered the debris. right now they are focused on trying to get the remaining bodies. some 27 bodies have been pulled from the potomac river. and until they do that, the investigation holds back a little bit. the ntsb is on the scene. they obviously want to examine the wreckage, even pull wreckage from the water. but right now, they are still searching for bodies and working on notifying next of kin. we do know that members of u.s. figure skating were on board the doomed flight. in a statement from u.s. figure skating, they confirm several members of the skating community athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from the national development camp that was held in conjunction with u.s. figure skating championships in wichita. they were on their way home. coaches, athletes and skaters themselves.

we also heard this morning from the ceo of american airlines says that willie. they say their sole focus is for family members. right now. they've set up stations for family members to gather at the wichita airport and of course at reagan national airport, which is closed at this hour. and they have a phone number for family members, one (800) 679-8215 of course, reagan national airport is closed. it's due to reopen at 11 a.m. and, willie, of course, the ntsb should have much more information this afternoon. >> yeah, we're going to hear from the president soon. we're going to hear from the ntsb. there will be more news briefings through the course of the day. but the big change this morning, just over an hour or so ago, was when we got word from officials that this became, as you said, a search and recovery mission. it had been overnight search and rescue, hoping against hope in those icy waters to find survivors. but 28 bodies recovered so far. officially, that's the number we believe it may be even more than that.

according to our affiliate nbc washington, 27, recovered from the plane, one of them from the helicopter. three soldiers in that blackhawk helicopter that collided at about 845 last night with an american eagle regional jet, on what has been described all morning to us by experts as a standard approach. we just talked to captain sully, who said just looking at the video, he doesn't see from the perspective of the commercial pilot anything unusual until, of course, that helicopter enters the frame. so jonathan lemire, obviously there will be many, many questions about how this happened. the ntsb is already working on its investigation. but above all else in this moment, this is a human tragedy for 67 families this morning. >> yeah. >> we certainly. >> should not lose sight of that. american aviation has been remarkably safe, as we've been discussing all morning long. the first incident like this in nearly 16 years. there's a lot of questions that need to be answered here, but and we will have updates throughout the day and in the days and weeks ahead

as the ntsb conducts a thorough investigation. but right now, of course, our focus is on those lives lost on both the military helicopter and that plane with innocent souls coming from wichita here to the nation's capital. >> 67 total, presumed dead. this coverage continues now of the midair collision several hundred feet in the air. american airlines flight 5342, a passenger jet colliding mid-air with a military helicopter with three service members on board. ana cabrera picks up the ana cabrera picks up the breaking ♪♪ you know that thing your family does? yeah, that thing. someone made it a thing—way back in the day. but where did it come from? and how did it get aaaall the way to you? curious? ancestry can help you find out. because that thing has a story, and it's still being written. see for yourself at ancestry.

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assembled and serviced right here in the usa. try litter robot today. >> right now on. ana cabrera reports. >> we are following several breaking news. >> stories this morning. >> including a. >> tragic air disaster. >> in our. >> nation's capital. >> no survivors. after a mid-air collision between an american airlines flight. >> and an. >> army blackhawk. >> over the potomac. >> river in washington, d.c. >> president trump set to address this crash. >> in thet.