tom costello, nbc news at the national zoo. >> that is "nightly news" for this friday. holt. please take care of yourself and each other. good night. that is "nightly news for all those making it big out there... ...shouldn't your mobile service be able to keep up with you? get wifi speeds up to a gig at home and on the go. introducing powerboost, only from xfinity mobile. now that's big. xfinity internet customers, cut your mobile bill in half vs. t-mobile, verizon, and at&t for your first year. plus, ask how to get the new samsung galaxy s25+ on us. right now on nbc bay area news tonight, the president and the first lady just now wrapping up their trip to california. what he promised to the wildfire victims. and does federal aid come with strings attached? also, a homeowner in the palisades comes to san francisco to thank the fire crew that saved his

tom costello. tom, that aircraft that they identified as the american airlines aircraft. what do we know about the seating capacity of that plane? >> well, this is if it's a typical a typical crj, a regional jet. and this is made by bombardier and is flying on behalf of american airlines, 50 to 100 people generally is what those will will take. as you know, it's a single aisle flight and it flies into the smaller airports, generally around the country. right. you'd be leaving from reagan or you'd be going into reagan, but you'd be going from smaller airports. in other words, you wouldn't necessarily fly that plane from, you know, jfk airport, for example, or from this is going to be a smaller airport or airplane, i should say, coming in and handling this kind of regional jet service. and then, of course, the question is, what exactly was happening with this sikorsky h-60 helicopter over the river? it appears they collided over the potomac river, and the river is right off of that runway that you me

tom costello. thank you, tom. >>> and we've learned more about that black hawk helicopter and its crew. pentagon correspondent courtney kube joins us. courtney, what are you finding out from your sources? >> reporter: the black hawk crew included three u.s. sold belvoir, virginia. army officials calling experienced crew, includh over 1,000 flight hours.as a routine annual evaluation of the pilot's ability to fly at night, the crew well aware of the route and the rules in this air space. now, while the military has not yet identified the crew, officials say one of the members was a woman. army officials confirming they did have night-vision goggles, though it's still not clear if they were wearing them. tonight, only one ofiers has been recovered. lester thank you. >>> in 60 seconds, more on how presiden diversity programs to the deadly fierc quickly followed. (sigh) if you struggle with cpap... you should check out inspire. no mask. no hose. just sleep. inspire. learn more and view important safety

our senior correspdent tom costello at reagan national. nt trump in just a few moments. 8:00 on the west coast. let's bring in garrett haake this morning. garrett. >> we have been hearing from members of the trump administration all night long as they have been briefed on this situation and throughout the morning. in a new video message just posted on x, pete hegseth shared more details about the three individuals on board that army black hawk helicopter. and what type of training mission they were involved in at the time of the crash of that passenger jet. listen to the new defense secretary here. >> it was an annual proficiency training flight. and when we look at the crew and we're not all kin have been notified so we're going to with hold ranks and names at this point. we do know on our side who was involved. crew.s a fairly experienenced and that was doing a required annual night evaluation. they did have night vision goggles. >> reporter: the new defense secretary sworn in just on saturday, responding to this disaster. meanwhile, the

tom costello. >> i'm lester holt. please take care of yourself and each other. good night. with the way that pg&e handled the wildfires. yeah. yeah. i totally, totally understand. we're adding a ton of sensors. as soon as something comes in contact with the power line, it'll turn off so that there's not a risk that it's gonna fall to the ground and start a fire. okay. and i want you to be able to feel the improvements. we've been able to reduce wildfire risk from our equipment by over 90%. that's something i want to believe. [skateboard sounds] right now 430. we begin with brbreaking news. president trump is in southern california right now, touring the devastation in pacific palisades. he has

nbc's tom costello with new reporting tonight on the staffing levels inside the air traffic control tower. >>> and the heated hearings for two of president trump's most controversial nominees, kash patel and tulsi gabbard. will they get enough republican votes to be confirmed? >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt, reporting tonight from washington, d.c. >>> good evening from reagan national airport, where flights resumed today following last night's deadly mid-air collision between an american eagle passenger jet and an army blackhawk helicopter. today families of some of the 67 people now presumed deadad bega arriving here as search teams recovered the victims from the icy waters of the potomac. some of the country's most promising young figure skaters among the victims. tonight the ntsb has dozens of investigators at the scene. nbc news has learned that air traffic control staffing was not normal when the crash happened, but still considered acceptable. president trump first offering condolences, but then turning political, suggesting diversity programs played a rol

here's nbc senior correspondent tom costello with a look back and a look ahead. america's 2024 space odyssey had drama boeing starliner is back home from space overnight, but it came back with an empty cabin. breakthrough technologies. and international intrigue. but above all, it was yet another year of triumph for elon musk's space x test, flying six uncrewed starship rockets that one day will carry astronauts to the moon and maybe mars with stunning new capture technology for the booster rocket. spacex will soon provide the ride home for astronauts sunny williams and butch wilmore, whose ten day mission last june to the space station will last nine months until at least late march. after nasa brought the troubled boeing starliner spaceship home empty, concerned it wasn't safe for the astronauts. we're both, you know, navy. we've both been on deployments. we're not surprised when deployments get changed. schiff dahle 2024 was also another big year for the chinese space program, landing a second robotic mission on the far side of the moon, then returning home wi

but first, nbc news senior correspondent tom costello has the latest on where that recovery effort stands right now. yeah. good day from reagan national airport, where they have now reopened and reopened at 11:00 this morning after being closed since about 9:00 last night. the investigation right now is still very much focused on recovery. this is no longer a rescue operation. according to the fire chief. it is about recovering the victims, all of them from the water. 64 people on board the plane, three on board that blackhawk helicopter. and also preserving evidence that could be perishable. the ntsb wants to quickly try to get the black boxes from the plane and the helicopter so they can analyze those black boxes. they want to get them out of the water, as well as the critical pieces of evidence from the plane, and then they will try to interview as quickly as possible the air traffic controllers, who were on duty before too much time elapsed, and they may start to forget certain details. they want to do interviews very quickly. this is the worst commercial plane crash in this country s

. >> tom costello with nbc news. does it hurt your investigator process may be for the chairman, does it hurt your investigator process to have a president already suggesting possible causes here as you try to keep an open mind and begin this investigation? >> tom, with all due respect, i think that the press also likes to state what probable cause is before we get to the probable cause. what i will say is that you need to give us time. you need to give -- it's not that we don't have information. we do have information, we have data, we have substantial amounts of information. we need to verify information. we need to take our time to make sure that it is accurate. that is best for you. that is important for the families. it is important for legislators who are seeking answers to try to figure out what they are going to do about this. and so it will take time. we do have a lot of information, but we need some time to verify that. >> yes, member chase williams at fox business, i am wondering about the conditions in th

tom costello has been looking into this for us, tom? so i received several of these text messages telling me that i owe $6.99 two massachusetts easy pass. since i rarely drive there, i was suspicious. when i asked the newsroom if anybody else received these, almost everybody's hands went up. >> on its website, massachusetts easy pass warns the overdue toll messages a scam and it's happening across the country. criminals posi as tolling authorities in washington state, california, colorado, texas, florida, minnesota, virginia, connecticut, probably every state. in other countries, too. when glenn got the message, he clicked on the link. >> it was awfully odd that i got a reminder that i owed $6.99. >> cyber security pros say the scam softwarare was built in china and soldstolen credit card in apple pay or google pa to criminal gangs around the world. >> what hey really want is the one-time code, from your bank, so they can enroll your stolen credit card in apple pay or google pay. >> the california attorney general with this warning, the

tom costello is here. tom, what can you tell us about this?he debris from starship fell out of the skies and over the turks and caicos islands. while nobody on the ground was injured, there are reports of property damage in the region. with falling debris, air traffic controllers had to quickly declare a large section of air space off limits to planes. hundreds of flights had to detour around the area or hold on the ground, including some that had been in the air for a long time and were then short on fuel. they were forced to declare a fuel emergency to fly through that air space at their own risk. listen to this iberia pilot coming from madrid, spain, with 283 people on board. >> mayday, mayday, mayday. [ indiscernible ] >> headed to san juan, puerto rico. all planes, in fact, did land safely. elon musk has said they're now looking for a cause. the faa requiring spacex to conduct a mishap investigation before there's another launch attempt. >> boy, some nerve-racking moments. >>> coming up, it's one of the worst flu seasons in years. hospita

joining me now, nbc news senior correspondent tom costello at reagan national airport, nbc senior national security correspondent courtney kube at the pentagon, and former ntsb and faa safety investigator jeff guzzetti. so, tom, a lot of new developments this morning. what's the very latest? >> we have a lot of multiple developments on multiple fronts. but let's start with that air traffic control focus. and that is because as you mentioned, there was only one controller wednesday night handling both helicopter activity and plane activity. right behind me right there. and as you can see, as we have planes moving on the tarmac, the river, the potomac river is right behind. let me just come out a second. that plane that's coming in and the planes you see taking off right behind them is the potomac river. so that is heavy with helicopter traffic constantly, 100 helicopters a day, more or less. and then, of course, the plane activity into and out of reagan airport, also known as dca. i can tell you that today that runway, runway three three, which the which the regional jet was coming in to ma

tom costello for us there. tom, thank you again. at this hour, 28 bodies havbeen recovered. one from the chopper, 27 from that commercial plane. we're going to have much more ahead on today. this has been an nbc news special report. 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. breaking right now at 5:00. fiery midair tragedy. a regional jet collides with a black hawk helicopter near reagan airport outside of our nation's capital. we have a live look at the scene this morning. the crash sending the plane plunging into the icy waters of the potomac. divers overnight pulling multiple bodies from the water. authorities, sadly, are now calling this a recovery effort. this is today in the bay. good morning and thanks for joining us. i'm laura garcia. and i'm marcus washington. we want to get right to that breaking news out of our nation's capital this morning. back to our live scene. you can see there this morning. this is where last night, an

tom costello with nbc news. does it hurt your investigative process? maybe for the chairman. does it hurt your investigative process to have the president already suggesting possible causes here? as you try to keep an open mind and begin this investigation? >> thank you. >> sir. >> thank you. >> tom, with all due respect, i think the press also likes to state what probable cause is before we get to the probable cause. so what i'm going to say is you need to give us time. you need to give ntsb. it's not that we don't have information. we do have information. we have data. we have substantial amounts of information. we need to verify information. we need to take our time to make sure it is accurate. that's best for you. that's important for the families. it's important for legislators who are seeking answers to try to figure out what they're going to do about this. and so it will take time. we do have a lot of information, but we need some time to verify that. >> remember chase williams and fox business? i'm wondering about the conditions in the tower last night. were there any

tom costello joins us now with more. tom, what have you learned? >> it happened at about 5:30 p.m. eastern time, lester, and starship was off the pad very quickly. everything looked like it was going just great. and a few minutes after lift-off, in fact the booster rocket came back down to the pad just as spacex planned and demonstrated they can do in that incredible move. however, at about the same time starship, the spaceship, apparently disappeared. spacex says that they lost telemetry. we have video from the turks and caicos islands of what may be starship breaking up over the islands. so now spacex says they will try to understand the root cause of what happened as it apparently disassembled in the words of spacex, broke apart over the islands there. this is a rocket they want to use someday to go to the moon and maybe even mars, lester. >> pretty dramatic pictures there. tom, thank you. >>> tonight a stunning about-face over tiktok. for months there was rare agreement in washington that it should be banned if its chinese owner didn't sell it. but now the white house and other

tom costello is following this for us. tom, what happened?is happened at savannah hilton head airport this morning, on a flight that was supposed to go to chicago midway. airport police removed pilot david allsop from the plane this morning and arrested him for driving under the influence. he was booked into the chatham county jail on a $3,500 bond. southwest says the employee has been removed from duty, customers were accommodated on other flights, "and we apologize for the disruption to their travel plans." under the faa's so-called bottle to throttle rule, pilots are supposed to wait at least eight hours after their last drink before flying or if they have a blood alcohol rating greater than .04, lester. >> and tom, the transportation department also announced it's suing southwest for operating chronically delayed flights. >> yeah, that's right. the biden d.o.t. accuses southwest of operating 180 flights back in 2022 that were chronically delayed with unrealistic schedules. southwest says it's disappointed in the suit, saying "last year it

tom costello, who's tracking the latest from reagan national. tom, what can. >> you tell us. >> in terms of where the investigation stands and just what's happening in this moment? >> well, i think anthony is right. i mean, the question is going to be immediately, of course, how how in the world did this happen? right? because both planes are operating in the airspace. they have been told about each other, the regional jet, the american eagle flight was coming in for a runway landing on three three. it's the military helicopter that had been told. do you see the rj, the regional jet? do you see the rj? now? i got to say, i'm not 100% sure if the military chopper pilot acknowledged that. yes, he did see the rj, but i you know, i think the question is going to be if he thought he did, did he see a different plane instead? i mean, i think this is going to be all part of the conversation because at that same moment, as you know, we've run this video of the midair collision and you'll see another plane taking off at that same time, right? taking off f

and i want to bring in our senior news correspondent, tom costello on this, who covers aviation as well. explain, tom, why the investigations can take so long and what we know about the current investigation underway. >> the ntsb is already on the scene. they were here immediately after this crash last night. once they have once firefighters and rescue teams have recovered the victims from the water and stabilized the wreckage, the ntsb will begin and will take ownership of this investigation. that's according to us law. and their their priority is going to be and is now to preserve the perishable evidence. in other words, those things that they could lose if they don't act quickly. so, for example, they need to gather as much evidence out of the out of the water as possible before that stream might carry it further down river. they need to get the black boxes out of the chopper, presumably also out of the rj, the regional jet. they need to interview the air traffic controllers. they want to do that soon because of course they don't want too much time to lapse. they want to keep it fres

nbc's tom costello has been following this from the start. what's the latest? tom. >> let's first start with the information you were referencing about closing some of that airspace off to helicopters. as we've discussed for days now. on any given day, you're going to have 100 helicopters moving up and down the river. the faa is now closing one of those tracks, if you will, one of the highways for helicopters. it's called zone one. closing that to all but emergency type of helicopters. right. so we're talking police, fire, coast guard and medevac. beyond that, that zone is being limited. part of the reason is because behind me. and can i ask our photog, brian, can you zoom in a little bit? i just want to draw attention to the current conditions out here. it's really changed. look at the fog that has now descended over the potomac river. and in that fog out on the river, you have the fire rescue boats, the coast guard boats, the divers going into the water. still, chris, because they're trying to work on recovering those victims who have not yet been recovered fr

tom costello on the new scam and how to protect yourself. oscar nominations are out and controversy is swirling. the new flashpoint over ai in hollywood. could it impact who wins? 35 years after "when harry met sally" melted hearts, billy crystal and meg ryan are together again. >> this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt. >> good evening and welcome. a federal court judge temporarily blocked one of the center pieces of president trump's rapid fire reshaping of american policy. today a reagan-appointed judge declared the order blatantly unconstitutional and putting a pause on the president's action. the first but likely not the last legal challenge to the trump administration's crackdown on immigration which the white house reports is underway with hundreds of arrests of undocumented immigrants. numbers similar to the biden administration. gabe gutierrez now with the latest from the white house. >> reporter: tonight the first legal roadblock for president trump's new immigration agenda. a federal judge blocking the president's attempt to

and joining us now, nbc's tom costello. courtney, qb john cox, a 30 year veteran with u.s. airways and an msnbc aviation analyst. and ronald bazman. >> a retired. >> faa air traffic controller. so, tom. >> just in the last couple of. >> minutes, we're learning. >> there have been. some new restrictions. >> placed on helicopters. >> around dca. >> yeah, we've got several restrictions right now in and around reagan airport. the faa is essentially limiting. to set this up. you have to understand that out there over the river, the helicopters operate in essentially four tracks, right? track one, two, three, four. they're limiting operations on one of those tracks now to just police and medevac activity. and there could be a couple reasons for that. clearly. one of them is there's a tremendous amount of activity out on the river right now where they continue to search for the remaining victims and for the debris. and as a result, there is already a lot of that kind of police and fire and coast guard activity on the water. and that also includes chopper activity. then in addition,

tom costello mentioned that earlier and he's absolutely correct. you know, i teach aviation safety classes. i just taught one today. and i indicated that we've had an incredible record here in the united states. there hasn't been a major catastrophic u.s. airline crash since 2009. colgan air in buffalo. and that also happened about a month before or a month after the sully sullenberger miracle on the hudson. stephanie, there hasn't been a major airline accident since then. now, you know, there's been an event in philadelphia a few years ago where a woman got sucked out of a 737 a southwest airlines, but the airplane landed safely. we haven't had a loss like this in, what, 16 years now? and it's going to shake up the aviation industry. >> certainly is. transportation secretary sean duffy was just sworn in today. right now he is at faa headquarters monitoring the situation. how critical will his role be? >> it will be very critical, you know, and i must say that this is a bad time for an accident to happen at the faa. they currently do not have a con

back to you. >> tom costello, love that. i lived in d.c.aven't seen the pandas. i think it's time i check it out. if you haven't, go see them. >>> up next, out of office. here are the signs you may be due for a mental health day and how you could make the most of it. we'll have that ahead on "nbc newsaily. d (vo) with fargo, your virtual assistant from wells fargo, you can pick up ththe tab, en when you forget your wallet. (kaz) i got thisis. (ben) fargo, send kaz $145 dollars with zelle. (kaz) smooth. (vo) learn more at wellsfargo.com/getfargo. these hands cook for 30 people, 3 meals a day. i can't stop when i have dry hands. i trust o'keeffe's. it's america's #1 selling hand cream for guaranteed relief. if it works for these hands it'll work for yours. also available in o'keeffe's for healthy feet. are you 50 or older? well, this news is for you. the cdc now recommends you get vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia. why? if you're 50 or older even if you're healthy... you're 6 times more likely to be hospitalized. so, schedule at vaxas

joining us now, nbc news senior correspondent tom costello. nbc news correspondent covering national security, and the pentagon courtney colby and former director of the office of accident investigation at the faa, stephen wallace. there was just a news conference. >> a moment ago, tom, giving. >> us an update. >> on the. >> recovery efforts. >> and the body. >> and also the recovery of the fuselage of the plane. what did we learn. >> about here are the headlines as of this hour. according to the dc fire chief, they have now recovered 41 of the victims who are still in the who were in the water. and that leaves 26 who are still on the water. and the dc fire chief says that they now believe that they will recover those victims when they are able to lift the fuselage out, and that will likely require a salvage team. so 41 remains have been recovered. 28 of those have been positively id'd, and 18 next of kin have now been notified. in addition, the one of the leaders of the airport here of reagan airport was asked repeatedly, are you comfortable

tom costello made the comment. it's perishable evidence. it's in the water. so you want to try to get it as quickly as you can. there is virtually no analysis going on right now. it's all gather evidence. once you have it, then you can sit down and objectively look at the evidence and see where it leads you, because that's what you have to do as an accident investigator. the evidence leads you where it leads you. it's objective. it doesn't matter. you're not trying to affix blame. you're just trying to find out what happened and prevent a reoccurrence. so that's what the protocols that ntsb is going to follow. they're one of the premier investigative agencies in the world. i have no doubt that they will figure out what happened here last night and do everything we can to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again. >> this is a horrific and broad loss of life. we have reminded news viewers of the data, and we heard from some of the experts referring to the data that casualties in u.s. air accidents are very rare and certainly at this scale. so we're

nbc news senior correspondent tom costello has the latest. >> a source tells.> crash indicates staffing at the reagan airport tower was not normal for the amount of traffic at that hour. normally, one controller handles planes, while another controls helicopters. but wednesday night, one controller was doing both at the time of the crash, though that is acceptable under established faa standards. investigators best clues into what went wrong may rely on those last few words, as controllers asked the chopper crew if they could see the crash. the regional jet. >> searching for antifa george. >> pittsburgh has an. >> aircraft sense separation. >> the response is garbled. does the chopper pilot say aircraft in sight. >> has. >> an. >> aircraft in sight or separation? >> if so, why did they collide? miracle on the hudson. captain sully sullenberger says that radio response is critical. >> it changed the rules, and it required that they see each other until they were safely clear. >> like many airports, reagan has had its share of close calls in recent years. march 7

correspondent tom costello.otten any further beyond what i just said? and is anything that i said inaccurate? >> no. you're absolutely 100%. >> accurate. >> at least as of this moment. no surprise. reagan airport is now shut. >> down as we are dealing with a major emergency. >> here, right on. >> the potomac at reagan national airport. as you mentioned, this is apparently a regional jet coming in from wichita, and a regional jet can carry anywhere from 50 to 100 people, depending on how crowded it is, how busy it is. and then a black hawk helicopter. and anybody who's been to reagan airport, you know that there is a lot of military type of helicopter activity right over the river, right across the river, because of course, we've got we've got the helicopter base that handles everything for the white house, for the president. and then you've got an awful lot of diplomatic type of helicopter traffic up and down the river. so exactly how this happened, how we have this apparent collision mid-air over the potomac ri

tom costello is following this. what happened? happened at savannah hilton head airport this morning, a flight supposed to go to chicago midway. airport police removed the pilot from the plane this morning, arrested him for driving under the influence. he was booked into the chatm county jail under $3,500 bond. he's been removed from duty, customers were accommodated on other flights and we apologize for the disruption to travel plans, southwest said. under the faa's so-called bottle to throttle rule, pilots are supposed to wait at least eight hours after their last drink before flying or if they have blood alcohol greater than 0.04. lester. >> and tom, the transportation department announced he's suing southwest for chronically delayed flights. >> the biden administration accused them of flights chronically delayed with unrealistic schedules. southwest says it was disappointed, last year it completed 99% of flights without cancellations. dot has also find jetblue and frontier. for allegedly chronically delayed flights. >>> in sod

tom costello has details. >> reporter: on board ited flight 613 the aftermath of a rrifying few moments. passengers holding tight to seat backs. the cabin littered with food and personal belongings. ceiling panels damaged and smeared with drink residue. it happened just 90 minutes into the flight from lagos, nigeria to washington as flight attendants were serving passenger meals. flight radar 24 shows the boeing 787 dreamliner at 36,000 feet over the ivory coast when it experienced a sudden jolt, dropping 185 feet, then climbing more than 200 feet. passengers and flight attendants went flying, some hitting the ceiling and reportedly unconscious. the pilot quickly announced they briefly lost autopilot and navigation and were returning to lagos with ambulances waiting. the nigerian airports authority reports six people were seriously injured, another 32 treated for minor injuries. united tells nbc news the plane returned to lagos after a technical issue and an unexpected aircraft movement. >> this could have been something like cruise control in a car that suddenly disconnected and applie

back to you. >> tom costello from reagan national airport, thank you. >> leave the drinking to us back> coming up, actress eva longoria will help shine a line on second responders who are helping families both recover and soon rebuild. >>> first, vicky nguyen is taking a closer look at the decision to ban a controversial red dye found in many popular foods, candy, even medicines. hey, vick. >> good morning. laura, craig, carson. yeah, the fda will ban it, in sausage and vegetarian meats. i'll have everything you need to know next on "today." some things should stand the test of time. long-lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision. more people on eylea hd had no fluid in the retina compared to those on eylea at 4 months. eylea hd is the only wet amd therapy that helped 8 out of 10 people go up to 4 months between injections after 3 initial monthly treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eylea hd may cause eye infection, separation of the retina, or rare but severe swelling of blood vessels in

our tom costello reports on the search for answers in the face of tragedy. >> reporter: a source tells nbc news a preliminary faa report on the mid-air crash indicates staffing at the reagan airport tower was not normal for the amount of traffic at that hour. normally, one controller handles planes, while another controls helicopters. but wednesday night, one controller was doing both at the time of the crash. though, that is acceptable under established faa standards. investigators best includes into what went wrong may rely on the last words as they asked the chopper crew if they could see the crj, the regional jet. [ radio transmission ] the response is garbled. does the chopper pilot say aircraft in sight? if so, why did they collide? miracle on the hudson captain sulley sullenberger says that radio response is critical. >> they changed the rules. and it required that they see each other until they were safely clear. >> reporter: like many airports, reagan has had its share of close calls in recent years. march 7, 2023, controllers ordered a united flight to abort takeoff after ano

tom costello, on the new scam, whose behind it, and how to protect yourself. >>> the oscar nominations controversy is swirling, the new flashpoint over ai in hollywood, could impact who wins? >>> in 35 r "when harry met sally" melted hearts, billy crystal and meg ryan are together again. the only question now is, why? together again. the only question now is, why? blatantly unconstitutional

we lost tom costello. all right. tsb investigator jeff guzzetti and former ntsb senior air safety investigator greg feith. guys, we'll get tom back in just a minute, but i want to put that to you. jeff, i can begin with you. just your assessment of what i was saying there about john cox, who was telling us in our last hour, not optimal to have one person in the tower, but you can do it that way. but at the end of the day, the clear message was delivered from the tower to the helicopter to look for the plane and come in behind it. not saying that to blame the helicopter pilot because we don't know what happened. there could have been equipment failure, but in fact, you can have one person in the tower. what's your assessment of that? >> well, i would agree with captain cox. >> two things. >> can. >> be true. >> at once. >> you can have a. >> shortage of air traffic. controllers in a facility. but with regard to the specific. accident or event that. >> may have had. >> no. >> factor at all, when you listen to the air tr

nbc's tom costello with new reporting tonight on the staffing levels inside the air traffic control towere heated hearings for two of president trump's most controversial nominees, kash patel and tulsi gabbard. will they get enough republican votes to be confirmed? >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt, reporting tonight from washington, d.c. >>> good evening from reagan national airport, where flights resumed today following last night's deadly midair collision between an american eagle passenger jet and an army black hawk helicopter. today families of some of the 67 people now presumed dead began arriving here as search teams recovered the victims from the icy waters of the potomac. some of the country's most promising young figure skaters among the victims. tonight the d.c.-based ntsb has dozens of investigators at the scene. nbc news has learned that air traffic control staffing was not normal when the crash happened, but still considered acceptable. and president trump first offering condolences, but then turning political, suggesting that diversity programs playe

tom costello with some of the cutest ambassadors that the country has ever seen. >> this is "nbc nightlynews" with lester holt. >> good evening and welcome. the new trump administration making visible strides as it looks to demonstrate the seriousness of its illegal immigration crackdown. since yesterday ice agents carried out several hundred arrests of undocumented immigrants with criminal histories and some rounded up in newark, new jersey overnight which has drawn anger from local officials. along the u.s./mexico border additional troops are on the ground to reinforce security. military air crews flying deportation missions. the wide net being cast now includes the deportation of certain migrants who are allowed in the country under rules established by the biden administration. it is where we will begin tonight with gabe gutierrez. >> tonight a dramatic escalation of president trump's illegal immigration crackdown, the first of 1,500 extra troops touching down in el paso, texas to support border security, and for the first time migrants being deployed, not on charted flights like bef

nbc's tom costello introduces us to a pair of these special 3-year-olds. >> while new occupants have moved into the nation's capitol, it's the other new residents, just up the street who have complete bipartisan support. they're snow sur ching, somersaults and tree climbing, stealing hearts at the smithsonian national zoo. on loun from china, lao li, and which i think ching bao made their debut. an 18 degree cold at 5:30 p.m. >> i've loved them since i was a kid. >> there's something special about watching a giant panda chomp down on bamboo on a cold day in january. >> i think pandamonium is going to break out at the zoo. >> reporter: part of a diplomatic and global conservation program that was put on pause in 2023. as u.s./chinese relatives soured. now, bao li, and ching bao are finding their bearings in their home. >> our shared love for pandas have deepened my conviction that china and the united states have much more in common than divides us. >> reporter: the global program is work ing. >> we have 3,000 pandas in the wild and in breeding centers around the world. >> reporter: t

tom costello covers aviation for us. he's at reagan national for us. llowed a supervisor to leave early. as a result, there was only one supervisor wednesday night handling both helicopter traffic and plane traffic. normally you had one dedicated to helicopters and one dedicated to planes. that will clearly be a part of this investigation. air traffic control staffing nationwide, as you know, has been an ongoing issue with the shortage of 10,000 controllers nationwide. it's been a problem years in the making. now they will question will staffing in any way played a role in this incident. i have learned that investigators are going to be looking closely at the black box, the flight data recorder when they get it from that black hawk helicopter because that will tell them and give them a precise read on that. there is evidence that the helicopter was higher than it should have been. in fact, at the same altitude as that plane. the question is why. did they have an misfiring or misreading? the ntsb spent time with the families of the victims yesterday here

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

joining us now, nbc news senior correspondent tom costello, live from reagan national airport. 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

nbc news center correspondent tom costello is on panda watch. >> reporter: while a new couple just movednald john trump dooshs solemnly swear -- >> reporter: it's the other new resident right up the street who have stolen the spotlight in d.c. 3-year-old giant pandas bao li and qing bao making their official public debut on friday at the smithsonian national zoo. the pair slipping and sliding in the snow and winning over crowds in a wintry cold washington. you had to come on a day when it's 18 degrees instead of waiting until the summer, right? >> yeah. this is the first day i can come see them. yeah. absolutely. >> they've always been special. i've loved them since i was a kid. >> reporter: on loan from china, the bears arrived in october on a fedex plane dubbed the panda express. since then they've been getting their bearings with their new handlers in their new home. >> they have acclimated very well. you know, of course in the beginning they have new food, new enclosures, new keepers. >> reporter: lori thompson has been working with pandas here for three decades. >> they're amazing a

tom vacar live with this breaking report, tom costello notes here. >> so i want to get right to them now, sometime after 10 a.m, a person was stabbed. apparently some sort of an altercation occurred at the entrance turnstile of hayward, bart, where one person who did not pay was confronted by another person who did pay. that resulted in one person being stabbed. bart police as well as hayward police responded, but the assailant or assailants had already departed. we're told that two people had been detained, possibly at the south hayward station. all of this needs to be put into perspective. however, the latest numbers from bart police department show that at the end of august, overall crime in the system was down 15% compared with the same period in 2023. the trend includes a 10% drop in violent crime. the decline in crime rate comes as bart has been experiencing an increase in ridership now. the station reopened at about 11 a.m, but immediately closed thereafter because the crime scene still existed. so police once again, in order to protect that evidence, reclose the station. no w

nbc senior correspondent tom costello has more from the national zoo. what's the story there, tom?here's a new resident at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> but it's the. new residents. >> here at the national zoo that really have this city buzzing, right? giant pandas are iconic here in washington. they have been for more than 50 years. and now we have two new pandas that have come from china. they are on loan. the national zoo is paying $1 million a year for. ten years. bao li and ching bao are the two three year olds. they've already been frolicking in the snow, rolling down, sliding down, climbing in the trees. really a lot of fun to watch as we've had awfully cold temps here in washington and a lot of snow. but of course, the pandas have absolutely loved that. we're told that these two have unique personalities, right? bao li is the male and he is like a typical boy. he is very active. he likes to play. he likes to interact with humans. ching bao is the female. she's more reserved. she's a little quieter. she likes to keep to herself. these two are being kept essentially apart from