the experienced pilots on the blackhawk.hit johnson with the remarkable stories, the young ones, the skating stars on that plane. >> reporter: tonight, loved ones honoring the memories of the 67 people killed in that midair collision over the potomac. >> it's really fun to have a sister to skate with. >> reporter: 14-year-old everly livingston and her 11-year-old sister alydia were bright rising stars in the world of figure skating. our washington, d.c. affiliate wjla spoke with the sisters in 2022. >> when you get older, what do you want to do with skating? >> go to disney on ice. >> how about you? >> i want to be in the olympics. >> reporter: both lost their lives on their way home from a national skating camp in wichita, along with their parents, donna and peter. 12-year-old brielle beyer beat cancer when she was 4 months old. she died with her mom. brielle's dad telling me she was so proud to skate at that coveted camp just days before. what do you want the world to know about her and her competitive spirit? >> she was j

with the bl blackhawk showed yom the cr j.ss the question is but would explain the discrepancy on clearly they hit each other. >> the question is what would explain the discrepancy? that is what our job is, is to figure that out. that is what we are doing. giving information to dispel some information that may be out there. we are the gold standard across were because we are telling the facts but sometimes we have to give a little bit preliminary so you do not have an improper picture for that's what we're trying to do thank you. >> that 452nd delay you describe where was that? >> you been listening to about half an hour, maybe a little bit longer ntsb press conference. that seems to get a little contentious there the end joining us live in studio to discuss fox report anchor jon scott. jon is a licensed pilot. there is a lot of information that was presented with the one piece of information that it seemed like everybody in the press was latching onto and we were all latching to hear onset was this discrepancy between 80 sb f

a few updates in regard to the blackhawk helicopter. we can verify it was on a training flight that would utilize night vision goggles. we do not know at this time if the night vision goggles were actively being worn, nor what the setting may be. further investigation should be able to let us know if that occurred and what it may factor. it may play in the overall accident. we do know that the and we announced the combination cvr and the flight data recorder was extracted last night from the aircraft. when it was brought to our lab and opened. there was a water intrusion. again, this is not uncommon. if you recall, in the crash, that cockpit voice recorder also had a water intrusion. it is going through the same process of ionized water until it's put into a vacuum oven. we still are very confident we will have that data. on the blackhawk, we can confirm that we are looking into a priority air transport, and that's where you hear pat, that on the prior day. pat 11. was in close contact with a republic air flight. the republic air flight

i don't want to speculate specifically on the blackhawk. sorry. it's reverse right? >> i can't give. so. as previously stated, we know that the fdr and data provided indicated that the crash was at 325ft, plus or -25ft. we also initial preliminary data right now indicates that on the tower's radar scope that was available to the controller. initial data indicates that that would indicate that he may have seen 200ft. that needs to be verified. our our atc group is working it. we will have more data available, but those are the initial indications and no indication. >> for the for the blackhawk on. >> that screen at that same time. >> the data that i'm talking about, the 200 foot data that would have been available on that radar scope, that was the blackhawk, the 325 foot that we've given you is ads-b data, fdr data. other data combined to get an. a accurate altitude of the crash 325 plus or -25. the radar data where that helicopter is down at 200ft, it has less fidelity. so we're our team is looking into that. but i think it's important to note that this is a complex

the blackhawk helicopter was flying. it appeared to be flying about 100ft over the maximum altitude that it should have been flying around reagan and around the potomac river. so all of this is going to be crucial to this investigation. laura. >> danny freeman, so important to try to unpack what's going on here. thank you for that information. we've got a lot to unpack on what happened in those moments before the fatal crash right here in washington, d.c. i want to bring in former army blackhawk helicopter pilot elizabeth mccormick elizabeth. i want to begin with these frankly stunning videos that have been obtained by cnn that show two new angles of this collision. this video shows the helicopter flying at rapid speed over the potomac river, as the american airlines flight is seen flying, of course, toward the airport. then that collision happens. and then in another surveillance video that was shot from the airport grounds, it shows the plane's descent as the blackhawk continues to fly over the river, and they continue

that's not uncommon. >> sara ganim flight. >> pat 205 is an army blackhawk helicopter flying near theirport. crash is the american airlines. >> plane that. >> landed at. >> george. has a aircraft. >> separation. >> the helicopter. >> asked for visual separation. what that means is the helicopter pilot said to the tower that it would look for other aircraft and avoid other aircraft taking responsibility for seeing other aircraft and avoiding them. >> about 12 seconds after the pilot says. >> that the. collision occurs the helicopter. the blackhawk. >> coming from. >> screen. >> left., and. >> american flight 5342. >> coming in to land. >> on reagan national airport runway three three. and then there's a huge fireball and. >> you. >> see the. sparks fly and. >> pieces of the. >> fuselage of the plane fall into the potomac. >> and sort of the. helicopter arc. >> off and fall. >> into the potomac. >> it's a pretty grisly. >> piece of video. >> 3.7. went. >> did you see. >> that? crash. >> crash, crash alert three. >> 64 people are on board the airplane. three on the helicopter. nobody sur

. >> no data for the blackhawk on that screen at the same time? mr. banning: the 200-foot data that would have been available on that radar scope, that was the blackhawk. the 325 foot that we've given you is for the d.r. data, other data combined to get an accurate altitude of the c.r.j. 325 plus or minus 25. the radar data where that helicopter is down at 200 feet, it has less fidelity so our team is looking into that but i think it's important to know that this is a complex investigation. there's a lot of pieces here. our team is working very hard to gather this data, make sure we, as member inman has said, understand why this happened. mr. inman: i'll call on people. yes, ma'am. >> can you comment on what mr. banning just said? mr. inman: i'm going to try to say this one more time. the c.r.j. at the time of impact, based on adsp adapta and the data in the flight roaredder shows that of that that air was positioned at 325 feet plus or minus 25 feet. on the radar scope in the cab, our preliminary review shows that the blackhawk helicopter would have

flight from wichita, kansas, to washington, dc on wednesday night when it collided with an army blackhawk helicopter carrying three u.s. service members. no one survived. the investigation into what happened is well underway. and this next hour, we're going to tell you what we know about the circumstances surrounding this crash and look at some of the key safety issues the aviation industry has been dealing with in recent years. >> sort of a secret. 342 on that very miserable runway, one. >> wednesday, 8:43 p.m. on a moonless night near washington, dc. >> li qiang 5342. >> washington star one star 32021725. you take runway three three. >> air traffic control at reagan national airport asks inbound american airlines flight 5342 to land on an alternate runway number 33. >> yeah, we can do. three 3462, 342. >> the fact that the pilot was asked to switch says to me that the air traffic control tower was trying to get additional traffic into or out of the airport. that's not uncommon. >> jens laerke. >> pat two five is an army black hawk helicopter flying near the airport. crash is the america

once we realize the dynamics and intricacies of a blackhawk, we have the member on scene now providing direct technical assistance to ntsb. that does not mean that the dod is not working with us but in order to maintain our independence, we have our own blackhawk certified pilot in the working group for helicopters. regarding salvage at this point, the navy supervisor of salvage is conducting salvage operations at the current time. barges are on route from virginia beach and we anticipate them to be on scene early tomorrow morning. after their arrival, they will be secured and located and then significant salvage operations will continue. they are ongoing right now. this will be the main lifting. it's being done in conjunction with the d.c. medical examiner's office in order to make sure simultaneously that any additional victims are recovered and immediately turned over to them for identification and returned to their families. the supervisor of salvage is conducting a job remapping right now that will help and postaccident analysis of how the machine actually reacted to the incident.

. >> the black boxes from the blackhawk helicopter and the american airlines jet in wednesday's deadlyons are raised about staffing levels air traffic control at the time of the crash. foxbusiness correspondent grady trimble is live it reagan national airport. >> the helicopters and blackbox in particular will be critical in the investigation because if in fact that helicopter it was flying too high at the time of the horrific midair collision, that would be rebuilt on the voice recorder and the flight data recorder the so-called black box the ntsb says it recovered yesterday and is now reviewing at its lab. ntsb has begun removing debris from the river with his barges are on the way from virginia beach to help with the process. but, what we can see from her live shot those barges have not yet arrived. they're also concerns about air traffic controllers staffing at the time of that crash. we know ntsb is looking into the staffing levels. it's also started interviewing those atc air traffic controllers who were working at the time of the crash. >> we will go back and look at their past

and the blackhawk helicopter has arguably not the best visual f z ophelicors, if 7 of helicopters, the the pilot there is lots of seat, there is lots of instrumentation on that and looking out the is looking out the windscreen is like looking out of a windscreen ofjet rather a windscreen of 'et rather than a lam lemma helicopter. e?%777 re ort within 30 preliminary report within 30 days. thank you much days. thank you very much for sharing your views with us news. the us military has conducted airstrikes attack in the country since president trump returned to the white house. mr trump said many of those he called terrorists have been killed in southwest mali after an open pit 15 people died in the disaster, which happened three months ago. on a boarding school in ukrainian—occupied russia where civilians were sheltering. kilometres from the border with ukraine. four people were reported killed many of them elderly — were injured. more than 80 people are reported to have been parts of the kursk region have been under ukrainian control for five months. forces and russian troops who are s

we also questions about what was the position of the blackhawk? the elevation of the blackhawk?he black hawk pilots wearing night vision causal? if so why would they be flying a mission at 9:00 p.m. at night through really busy airspace around dca as opposed to flying it at 1:00 a.m. in the morning when there's very little traffic customer i want our military to be trained up and ready to go. i also want air travel is to be safe as well for this time and place to do it. not at 9:00 p.m. at night when there's heavy traffic. >> you mentioned is more broadly the issue of air traffic controllers more than 90% of the air traffic control facilities in this country are operating below the faa's recommended faad staffing levels. we know last year when congress passed a massive faa reauthorization they said at that point were down about 3000 air traffic controllers. so the first question, our our airways and airport safe? >> yes they are. we have the safest skies in the whole world. traveling by air is a safest mode of transportation. just to that point if it was not safe if there is an

at roughly 8:47 p.m, asking the blackhawk pilots to again confirm they see the jet. >> in flight.ft in sight. separation, separation. >> and fdr data showed the airplane beginning to increase its pitch. sounds of impact were audible about one second later, followed by the end of the recording. >> in all, 67 lives were lost in the accident. the 64 passengers and crew aboard that american airlines flight and three soldiers in the blackhawk. >> we will find out what happened in both of those accidents. we'll make recommendations, and we will attempt to never have to deal with those type of accidents again. >> chuck sivertsen, abc news, new york. >> as we learn more about the investigations, we'll of course post updates at our website, abc seven news.com and on our abc seven bay area app. this weekend, the remains of a missing americn soldier from sebastopol, killed in action during world war two are back home on u.s. soil. last night, san francisco police department and u.s. army held a ceremony on the tarmac at sfo for staff sergeant ewen hoppe. he's only living sister, 93 year old

loved working in the blackhawk. so, uh, part of his mission is to, you know, not only train other crew chiefs, but to work with the pilots when they go on different missions and when they go on an actual assignment in the field. the crew chief doubles as the door gunner. so that would that was his responsibility as well. when he was in afghanistan. >> mary, you must have been so concerned about him when he was in afghanistan as the crew chief, as gary was saying, he was the the door gunner on those missions. >> yes. >> absolutely. um. >> i was. >> worried the entire. >> time he was over there. but in. >> the. event that something. >> did. >> happen. >> i was. >> kind of prepared, given. >> where he was. >> that's something that i would. expect to happen over there. but not here in the in the united states. i never would have thought that that this is how it would happen. >> you were watching live on cnn this did you know that he had been flying that night? >> yes. no. well, we didn't know. >> not initially. >> and h

and then, you know, by 1230 they confirmed that it was it was his blackhawk. but, you know, now. >> you felt it. >> yeah. yeah. and mary's telling me, no, no, no, it's not the case. no. >> well yeah. he, he hadn't been flying recently so i told him that there's no way it could be him. um, but then his ryan's wife called me and said that. yes, he started flying 2 or 3 weeks ago. >> is there anything else you want people to to know about ryan, gary or mary? >> he was just a great guy all the way around. he was a good son. um, a very loving father to his little boy. >> out of all the things we've done, we're most proud of what we what our children have become. they become really wonderful human beings. and we're very proud of him. would have been proud of him in any vocation. but, you know, knowing ryan, if he had known that this would be the outcome, anderson, he wouldn't have changed anything. he loved working with the these this crew, you know, told us that these guys were state of the art pilots. he loved flying with them. you know, he was trusting them with

pete muntean is back with us along with brad bowman, former blackhawk pilot. pete, can i just ask you, as we're looking at these images out of philadelphia, you know, in the context of what we're talking about, a major airline disaster, 67 people in such a tragic loss of life in washington. and then and then you see something like this. it is it is right front and center on the national consciousness and national fear. and we're talking about what's happening here. i mean, you can see those live flames, pete, behind what appears to be obviously a residential set of apartment buildings. it's behind that looks to be perhaps the scene of where that single engine, we understand plane crashed. but but this is the this is just a what could be a horrible thing and an unbelievable fear to have something like this happen in such a populous area. >> it's important to make the distinction, erin, that this commercial crash involving the black hawk and american airlines flight 5342 is so rare, the mid-air collision here that took place and commercial aviation is incredibly

hoy en encontraron la caja negra de blackhawk, que esta en buenas condiciones para ser analizada.onocron el dia de hoy. nuevas imagenes del momento del impacto. un video muestra el recorrido del helicoptero hasta la colision y como los dos fuselajes caen al rio potomac. el otro video, tambien grabado con un celular desde una camara de seguridad y obtenido por cnn, muestra la perspectiva del vuelo comercial. cristina londono nos tiene la ultima informacion. >> la neblina y la. lluvia dificultaron hoy. >> los esfuerzos de. recuperar decenas de cuerpos aun. bajo las aguas del rio potomac. la baja visibilidad contrasto con las imagenes mas claras hasta el momento de la cadena cnn del fatidico choque entre el avion de american eagle y el hel helicoptero militar. esperamos recuperar todos los restos, dijo el jefe de bomberos de was washington. tambien aseguro que esperan mas equipo para continuar con la remocion de escombros. anadio que el enfoque de hoy fue el helicoptero blackhawk, al que se refirio el presidente donald trump. volaba demasiado alto, muy por encima del limite de 200 pi

the blackhawk helicopter, now also making its way up the potomac river.inutes later, air traffic control alerting the helicopter to that jet's approach. at roughly 847, asking the blackhawk pilots to again confirm they see the jet. >> at eight 4758, the crew had a verbal reaction, and fdr data showed the airplane beginning to increase its pitch. sounds of impact were audible about one second later, followed by the end of the recording. >> in all, 67 lives were lost in the accident. the 64 passengers and crew aboard that american airlines flight, and three soldiers in the blackhawk here in dc. we know the black boxes have been recovered. investigators hope this will give them a better glimpse into the final moments leading up to that crash. nicole d'antonio, abc news, reagan national airport. >> the democratic national committee has elected a new chairman. minnesota farmer-labor party chairman ken martin is now the dnc's new leader. he secured 200 and 46.5 votes out of a total of 428 members. dnc members cheered after he was announced as the winner. chanti

. >> reporter: the black boxes from the regional jet and the blackhawk helicopter are at the ntsb lab in dc for a complete read out. >> we have a high level of confidence that we will get a full download in the near future. >> reporter: divers spent the day working to recover victims remains. as of this morning 41 bodies have been recovered. 28 positively identified. victims still in the water, a salvage team will work to raise the fuselage. >> for us to raise the remains, we are going to need to get the fuselage out of the water>> reporter: on any day 100 helicopters fly over and around reagan airport. new video which first aired on cnn offers a more clear view of the crash. today president trump said the chopper was flying too high. >> it was above the 200 limit by double. >> reporter: the chopper may have been flying at 350 to 400 feet when it crashed into the plane. >> you have to be 200 feet and below. >> reporter: he says the blackhawk was clearly flying out of its zone. he says air traffic controllers should have been much more direct in the commands to the chopper pilot. >> yo

the blackhawk helicopter, now also making its way up the potomac river. later, air traffic control alerting the helicopter to that jet's approach at roughly 847, asking the blackhawk pilots to again confirm they see the jet. >> at eight 4758, the crew had a verbal reaction, and fdr data showed the airplane beginning to increase its pitch. sounds of impact were audible about one second later, followed by the end of the recording. >> in all, 67 lives were lost in the accident. the 64 passengers and crew aboard that american airlines flight, and three soldiers in the blackhawk here in dc. we know the black boxes have been recovered. investigators hope this will give them a better glimpse into the final moments leading up to that crash. nicole d'antonio, abc news, reagan national airport. >> well, the democratic national committee has elected a new chairman. minnesota farmer-labor party chairman ken martin is now the dnc's new leader. he secured 200 and 46.5 votes out of a total of 428 members. dnc members cheered after he was announced as the winner. chantin

the blackhawks voice recorder has been found, and there is no damage to that. one of the plane's black boxes has water intrusion, though, which we are told is a common issue. meantime, the faa has indefinitely suspended helicopter routes near reagan national airport. and president trump tonight is doubling down on his baseless claims that dui caused this crash. we'll have more on that in a moment. but first, cnn's danny freeman joins us live from reagan airport with more on this investigation. danny, there are some new details that we're learning about the flight path of the helicopter and what was going on there. >> abby, the flight path of the helicopter has been one of the biggest questions for the past 24 hours, certainly, but also since this crash happened. and we may be closer to getting some answers about that flight path after these developments. today, i was in that ntsb press conference earlier this afternoon. you said that news was right up top, that three black boxes have now been found. we knew that the passenger jet black boxes had been found. tha

new details tonight on the deadly mid-air crash between an american airlines flight and an army blackhawk helicopter. ntsb investigators say they have now recovered all of the black boxes. also, we have new video coming in of that crash. we want to warn you, this video may be disturbing. the crash happened wednesday night. this is new video obtained by cnn. the american airlines flight from wichita, kansas, was preparing to land at reagan national when it collided with a helicopter above the potomac river. all 67 passengers, crew and militar personnel have died. the ntsb is leading this investigation. and in a news conference just a couple of hours ago, investigators say they have recovered the so-called black boxes from both the plane and the helicopter, and believe they will be able to extract all the data from those recorders. this will be crucial for the investigation, as some outside analysts have already started speculating that the helicopter was flying above its limit. investigators say they have also interviewed the air traffic controllers in the tower at the time of the crash. w

> this tragedy, coming just two days after that american airlines plane collided with a military blackhawkicopter in washington, dc, wednesday night. the ntsb says some of the most trusted location data shows the crash happening at just over 300ft higher than the 200ft the blackhawk was supposed to be flying at. but the ntsb saying the tower radar that air traffic control was looking at may have showed the chopper at 200ft. >> initial data indicates that he may have seen 200ft. that needs to be verified. our our atc group is working it. >> 67 lives lost in the accident. 64 passengers and crew on the american airlines flight and three service members on the blackhawk. families of some of the victims visiting the scene today brought in on busses with the police escort. a crane barge seen moving in the potomac to the crash site. today, the army corps of engineers says salvage operations are set to begin on monday. ike ejiochi, abc news, new york. >> tonight, a critical aviation warning system that went down yesterday is now back up and running. the notice to air missions system enables pilots

the elevation of the blackhawk hawk.ere the pilots wearing night vision goggles, and if so why would they fly a mission at 9:00 a at night as opposed to flying it at 1:00 in the morning around dca. i want our military to be trained and ready to go. i also want air travelers to be safe as well. there is a time and place to do it. not at 9:00 at night when there is heavy traffic. >> bret: your investigation is looking at a lot of things. will one of the things be a recommendation about how military missions fly around that area specifically? >> it could be. fortunately, the secretary took action, immediate action, which is a part of all of our investigations, we included the d.o.t. and f.a.a. he closed off the airspace for traffic to now and for an extended period of time while we conduct our investigation. it could be a recommendation that we do issue. we don't wait until the end of our investigations to issue those urgent recommendations. we can issue an urgent safety recommendation at any time and could include military

the blackhawk was transmitting out with a uhf ban, while the cr j jet was transmitting out with a vhf. to put that in context, both the airplane and the helicopter would hear any air traffic control, but they would not hear the other aircraft or helicopter. conversely, if they were transmitting out. i bring that up because we are now working through the transcript of the air traffic control, and many people have heard online different recordings. those do not those do not contain the uhf radio transmissions. what they're hearing is the vhf recorded on certain software programs as we synchronize the timing on that. we hope to be able to release it tomorrow. we do have it. we are working through the synchronization because the specific time will be very critical. a few updates in regard to the black hawk helicopter. we can verify it was on a training flight that would utilize night vision goggles. we do not know at this time if the night vision goggles were actively being worn, nor what the setting may be. further investigation should be able to let us know if that occurred and what it

officials announced all major parts of the wreckage between an american airlines jet and an army blackhawk helicopter have been recovered. madeleine rivera is here. >> it's been a tough week in aviation, there were no survivors in the recent plane crash in alaska. coast guard released this photo of the wreckage found 34 miles southeast of nome. remaining seven are thought to be inside. it took off at 2 p.m. local time thursday. 12 miles off shore when officials lost contact with the plane. there were no signs of distress from the plane before it went missing. >> at around 3:18 p.m. yesterday afternoon this aircraft experienced some kind of event which caused them to experience a rapid loss in elevation and a rapid loss in speed. what that event is, i can't speculate to. >> the crash in alaska comes in the wake of two fatal plane crashes. last week 67 people were killed in a mid air collision between an american eagle flight and an army blackhawk in d.c. and seven people were killed after a medical transport plane crashed in philadelphia. all major parts of the regional jet and the military

publicly available data reviewed by nbc news suggests that the army helicopter, a blackhawk, may havee crash, but investigators cautioned against drawing conclusions before they're actually able to analyze official flight data. investigators have recovered a flight data recorder or a black box from the american eagle jet and a device from the helicopter, which should provide the exact altitude at the point of impact and other important details. all right. still to come, lawmakers press rfk jr on where he really stands on vaccines as he attempts to distance himself from a very long history of pushing an anti-vaccine agenda. we'll talk about the record he's running from and how likely seems to from and how likely seems to catch up with him. that's next. ♪♪ herbal essences is a force of nature. our shampoos and conditioners are made with supercharged botanicals. ♪♪ these sulfate-free formulas deeply penetrate and replenish nutrients. ♪♪ to boost hair health in just one wash. ♪♪ all without the salon naturals price tag. ♪♪ ♪♪ it's supercharged herbal essences. ♪♪ is my hoes. the new. >> p

why did a blackhawk helicopter fly directly into a passenger jet on approach to reagan national? here behind me. well, now that the ntsb has recovered the so-called black box of that blackhawk, they may finally begin to unlock the mystery to the people who happened to be looking up near reagan national wednesday night. >> what happened? oh my god. >> it's impossible to understand how two modern aircraft piloted by professionals on a clear night just collided, killing dozens in an instant. >> in this incident, it should not have happened. we have an aviation what's called a swiss cheese approach, wherein if something fails, a backup should catch it. multiple layers of redundancy. it's been a very long time since we've had a major aviation incident in the united states. >> the ntsb vows it will figure it out. its technicians already mining the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from the american eagle regional jet, and it's already given them a treasure trove of information. >> it is not one point that tells us everything. it's layered into a lot of other information t

it does not mean that dod is not working and helping us, but we have our own blackhawk certified pilot in the working group for helicopters. regarding salvage, the navy supervisor of salvage is conducting salvage operations at the current time. barges are in route from virginia beach and we anticipate them to be on scene tomorrow morning. after their arrival, they will be located in then significant salvage operations will continue. they are ongoing now but this will be the main thing. it's being done in conjunction with the d.c. medical examiner's office to make sure simultaneously that any additional victims are recovered and immediately turned over to them for identification and returned to their families. the supervisor of salvage is also conducting debris mapping right now that will help in our post accident analysis of how the machine reacted to the incident and help us with understanding some of the airworthiness and the human factors. factors. we have two distinct debris fields. one that houses the sikorsky, in comparison to the crj, it is a little smaller, the crj is in anothe

. >> just in the last couple of days we are joined now by our retired blackhawk helicopter pilot.thank you for taking time. you just heard grady's report there. talking obviously about a number of things, of course the faa system back up now. certainly concerning on the heels of these two tragic crashes. as you look at the investigation they are in washington, grady was talking about this sort of discrepancy between this see jr plane being at 300, 325 feet and the black hawk lower. what does that tell you? >> thank you for having me on. one of the things that sticks out to me in that particular conversation is the fact that they are looking into the why. there was a potential discrepancy in altitude readouts between the commercial airliner and the helicopter. that is critical for people to understand. when you are doing these investigations, i've been involved in far too many of them on the army aviation side. you are putting together a 500 piece puzzle trying to create a picture from as many inputs as you possibly can to make sure that what you are concluding is the best conclusi

the pilots on american airlines flight 5342 might have taken seconds before and collided with a blackhawkter over washington. foxbusiness grady trimble is here with the latest. >> crews have recovered 55 of the victims from the potomac. that means there are still 12 families waiting for their loved ones to be recovered. we also got an update this evening from u.s. army corps of engineers which is heading up the salvage operations or tried to remove the plane and the blackhawk from the potomac river. this afternoon a crane barge moved into place to help remove the plane. that is expected to start tomorrow and take three days before crews then start work on a ribbon the helicopter. today families who loft loved ones in the crash came to the airport for what we believe the first time since a horrific midair collision on wednesday nights for those family members attended a private memorial along the potomac. tsb has been meeting with them trying to answer as many questions as they can about the crash for the agency says only one air traffic controller was communicating with planes and helicop

than it is today. >> dana: the crash killed 64 people on the jet and three-person crew aboard the blackhawk. 55 victims have been removed from the river so far. >> john: president trump and china's xi could speak response today amid the trade stand-off. beijing hitting back at the u.s. with retaliatory tar ifs overnight after canada and mexico caved to trump's tariff threat yesterday. we have the details. >> given the rather limited scope of the retall yeah tore tariffs coming from china there is interest in a dialogue. the conversation between president trump and president xi jinping will happen as early as this week. it could mean today. according to the white house president trump's additional 10% tariff on all chinese goods kicked in after midnight. china is promising a 15% tariff on coal and liquid gas and crude oil and agricultural machinery and large displacement cars coming from the u.s. set to take effect on the 10th. china said it would launch an investigation into google to see if it violated antitrust laws if a deal can't be reached. president trump is two for three. trudeau ann

the pavehawk, the blackhawk, different variants of it, what a tank of an aircraft. i had the opportunity-- i flew the longest helicopter rescue in history, pavehawk, and flew it into a winter hurricane that took out a 450 foot freighter. that aircraft is about as close to being indestructible in terms of reliability and dependable for the operation. i think systematically though there's issues with having this route that the crew was flying, the training that they were conducting, aircraft on dissimilar frequencies, so, you don't have everybody communicating with each other where they could be made aware of each other. i think ostensibly everybody was doing what they were supposed to do, but the system itself has a lot of faults in it that can lead you down this path. griff: well, we shall see where the investigation goes and of course, transportation secretary duffy has restricted helicopter flights within the commercial air space around reagan international airport. he did that yesterday afternoon in consultation with the president, but we'll see where this all ta

we have had the black boxes from the blackhawk helicopter the two black boxes from the american planethe black box from the plane which is the most accurate measure of altitude shows a plane was around 325 feet in the air at that moment of impact. but, preliminary data indicates the control tower saw the helicopter around the same time was at about 200 feet. ntsb has yet to explain that discrepancy. they say they are also looking into it. we also know the american plane pulled up in the moments before impact despite these questions about whether the helicopter was flying too high and staffing levels at the air traffic control tower or too low, transportation secretary sean duffy reiterates today it is still safe to fly. looks of the safest skies in the whole world. traveling by air is the safest mode of transportation. if it was it not safe if there's an issue with air traffic controllers or staffing that could not keep the system and the people safe in it, the faa would shut it down. >> recovery efforts continue in the potomac river. so far d.c. fire city has pulled 42 victims from t

. >> the blackhawk was too high, it was above the 200 limit by double, it shouldn't have been ther >>wk was too high, it was above the 200 limit by double, it shouldn't have been there and there were some other mistakes and i was right on that, also, but they'll still do an investigation to check it out. >> the n.t.s.b. has started removing debris from the river and bringing in barges to help with the process and the agency will use the debris to reconstruct the two aircraft that will also inform their investigation. we know that the n.t.s.b. has started interviewing the air traffic controllers who were working at the time of the crash, too. >> we'll go back and look at their past 72 hours and two, three weeks, look at their training, their hiring, everything. what they probably ate that day, but it is not one point that tells us everything. it's layered into a lot of other information that's very critical. >> and while the n.t.s.b. is conducting its investigation, d.c. fire is still work on its recovery efforts to keep removing bodies from the potomac. 26 remain as of yesterday after

the investigation continues into how that american airlines flight and that army blackhawk helicopterd. we learned this morning that the ntsb will hold an update on the crash. that's at 3 p.m. our time, and we will follow that this afternoon. meanwhile, all 67 people in both aircraft were killed. investigators say the information found on the black boxes will be key in their investigation. yesterday, divers recovered the chopper's recorder that records both data and voice from the cockpit. and the two black boxes were already pulled from the wreckage of the american airlines plane on thursday. so that surely will help the investigation. the faa, meanwhile, has announced new restrictions for helicopters in that airspace around reagan national. multiple zones, including the area where the crash occurred, are closed to chopper traffic indefinitely. and we are learning more about the victims in the crash. they came from all walks of life, lives cut far too short. nbc's tom llamas has more of their stories. 67 lives moms and dads, girl scouts, pipefitters soldiers and so many young promisi

. >> the blackhawk was transmitting out with a uhf ban, while the c, r, j jet was transmitting out withto put that in context, both the airplane and the helicopter would hear any air traffic control, but they would not hear the other aircraft or helicopter. conversely, if they were transmitting out. >> meanwhile, the u.s. army identified the third soldier in the helicopter who died in the crash as captain rebecca lobach. she had received awards such as an army commendation of commendation medal and an achievement medal. >> the demand for gluten free foods has been growing, with their popularity exploding in recent years. but more than 20 years ago, a barrie woman started a bakery that is entirely gluten free. >> now, oakland based mariposa baking company ships its made in the bay treats all around the country. as ktvu pam cook reports, the bakery's founder calls herself an accidental entrepreneur. >> joanne, how are you doing on croissants today? >> patty crane grew up in a family that loves to bake together. she drew from that experience when she was diagnosed with an autoimmune illnes

potomac on wednesday. 39 year old chief warrant officer andrew eaves was one of the pilots in that blackhawk helicopter. 28 year old staff sergeant ryan o'hara was the crew chief. the name of the three, the third crew member, is not being released at the request of her family, and federal investigators say a preliminary report on this crash over the potomac river will be ready within the next 30 days. the ntsb says it will evaluate all the cockpit communication and flight data, all tied to the collision of that army helicopter and that american airlines flight. the agency will also fully investigate air traffic control at reagan international airport. at the time of the crash. that's after an faa report showed one operator was handling the job. people at the time of that deadly crash. >> people are talking about it as a rough draft of something, but it is a small piece of a very big puzzle. thousands of data points. >> meantime, the faa has announced it has indefinitely closed routes near reagan national airport to most helicopter traffic, all in response to wednesday's midday collision. >>

and survived helicopter crash and the potomac river 28 years ago godfrey, former blackhawk crew chief... and retired air force brigadier general christopher walker. we also have i think donte mills who is a private pilot who lives in the area. dante, if you hadn't -- and hear me, i'm curious because i'm wondering if you have flown out of the north philly airport if you live in this area what can you tell us about the crash? what are you curious about and there's a? >> this is a congested area i think that is what everybody should know. you can't tell from these pictures but philadelphia is a city of row homes where all of these homes are connected they are right on top of each other. when you talk about six of those homes being on fire the threat of that entire block being on fire was a real. we talk about 6:00 at night there is activity there a lot of activity in that area. the content and bustle area which has the strip mall and a lot of restaurants. people all about that area also to be going about your life and to have a plane crash in an active neighborhood, not talking about a f

former blackhawk helicopter pilot elizabeth mccormick is joining me right now with more perspective on all of this. so great to see you. you know, you, um, you know, you can give us kind of a better view of what it's like for those pilots. um, we're hearing reports of it was flying too high. i've also heard you say that, you know, it's a disadvantage to not have a crew of at least four. can you help us? you know, get in the cockpit with you. help us understand the. perspective. >> so i like to call. >> flying a. >> helicopter is like multitasking on steroids because you're scanning in in your inside instrumentation. you're scanning outside the windows. you've got the navigation. you're constantly aware of your your surroundings and doing everything at the same time. so there's a reason flight school is a year long and longer, with all the other trainings we have to do before and after. so it is intense. it is high pressure adding in the night vision goggles where you're looking through like toilet paper tubes, right? and scanning out. you can only see here and then you have to physical

. >> brad bowman was a company commander in the very same blackhawk unit and flew this flight path often. >> the helicopter pilot at this point should be scanning aggressively. >> the exclusive videos show no sign of evasive maneuvers and new flight tracking data suggest the blackhawk may have been above the area's maximum altitude for helicopters. >> if it's higher than 200ft, that's that's a decisive error that should not have happened. >> the chopper was flying on a special helicopter path, skirting the airport, regularly used by the military to train for missions like evacuating leaders in an emergency. >> you have the washington monument left and the jefferson on your right. and then. and then you're flying right here by reagan national airport. it's one of the busiest aviation spots in the country, if not the world. >> less than 48 hours after the crash, the federal aviation administration has now shut down the routes for the foreseeable future. a source familiar with the investigation tells me more permanent changes are being discussed. investigators have recovered the so-called b

canada has bolstered its border with the u.s., deployed blackhawks, drones and additional staff.have said they are seeing a real drop in irregular crossings from canada to the u.s.. the question in both canada and mexico is, is that enough to change mr. trump's mind? it is not clear it will be. >> these are some of the most ambitious trade moves president trump has made in either of his administrations. this coming so soon in the beginning of his second term in the white house. how are canadian and mexican officials receiving it in terms of how to deal with president trump going forward for the rest of his term? >> we have seen a different attitude from canada and mexico. canada has been quite steely, aggressive in its rhetoric, but working behind the scenes. the canadian government is trying to be conciliatory while also threatening to retaliate with tariffs. canada's foreign minister was in washington, dc until last night trying to change the course of this policy through diplomacy. that did not work. one of the concerns going forward, what does mr. trump really want from us? h

army has released the names of a second soldier killed in that collision between that blackhawk helicopter and that american airlines jet in washington, dc. >> 39 year old chief warrant officer andrew lloyd eaves was one of the pilots of the blackhawk. 28 year old staff sergeant ryan austin o'hara was the crew chief. the name of the third crew member is not being released at the request of the family. the three are among the 67 people killed in the mid-air crash. these are some of the faces of the other victims on the commercial jet. some of the youngest were just 11 and 12 years old. fox's caroline elliott brings us the latest on the investigation. >> a preliminary report on the deadly aircraft collision will be ready within the next 30 days. but there are also new questions about air traffic control, staffing, as well as the altitude of the helicopter. after recovering the regional jets black boxes from the potomac. the ntsb says it will evaluate cockpit communications, landing gear, flight data and debris as it tries to determine how a regional jet and military helicopter collided, but

remaining remaining victims, who were killed when a commercial airliner collided with a mid-air with a blackhawkelicopter. 55 of the 67 passengers have been identified so far. >>>>over the next 24 hours, our goal is really to complete our commitment to finishing the civilian plane recovery. >>>>well, yesterday, salvage crews recovered an engine and a large pieces of the fuselage from the american airlines jet. they hope to recover the cockpit today, although high winds and gusty rough tides may delay those efforts. okay, back to our first alert weather day. we want to give you a check on the conditions in the sierra. the situation is going from bad to worse. not bad right now though. here's a look at the scene along i-80 and highway 50. traffic is getting through, but travel is not advised right now. the roads for the most part look clear because this is what the drive was like earlier this morning. probably what it's going to look like later on today. snow covered roads, tricky driving conditions on i-80. that slow going here. another perspective of how fast the snow is piling up. look at those

believe recovering the jet wreckage will take most of the week after that, pulling out the army's blackhawk helicopter wreckage is scheduled to take another four days. the cause of that collision is still unclear. an extreme dry january has brought a wet change for february. we are finally getting some moisture back into the ground, but that much needed rain is creating another potential issue landslides. some communities are being impacted more than others, especially those already dealing with coastal erosion. amanda hari spoke with people in daly city whose neighbors were forced to move out of their homes because of the risk of landslides. >>>>it just falls into the sea, sometimes taking homes with it. west line. drive has been the center of controversy for years. a sign memorializing 30 west line drive, where members of the bands the mummies and the phantom surfers lived in the 90s. it was one of the more than 20 homes that were red tagged and eventually demolished because of the risk of a landslide. ross stein, co-founder of temblor, a seismic risk company, says it's because the street

. >>> tonight, the army released the identity of the third crew member aboard that blackhawk helicoptert collided with an american airlines flight over the potomac river this week. captain rebecca loback, a native of durham, north carolina, was 28 years old. 67 people were killed in the crash. >>> tonight president trump as threatened hit top trading partners with taish refs up to 25%. billions of dollars' worth of goods are affected. the nonpart tan tax foundation says tariffs could cost the average american family $830 a year. cbs' willie james inman is in west palm beach near where president trump is spending the weekend. willie james? >> reporter: nancy, good evening to you. president trump delivering on a key campaign threat, imposing punishing tariffs on canada, china, and mexico. a move that economists warn will raise prices for americans. president trump throwing the first punch in a fight with america's largest trading partners. imports from canada and mexico will be hit with a tariff of 25%. imports from china 10%. the president says the tariffs are a reaction to illegal migra