screen in arlington, virginia,, there has been an airline crash, just short of reagan national airport, dca, as it's letters are and this happened at right before or right at 9:00 eastern time this evening, it was a see rj passenger jet, 700 and twin jet, 60 passengers on board. we do not know this, we are assuming with the 60 passengers you have two crewmembers and possibly, likely a flight attendant, possibly two flight attendants. the plane flight 5342 was from wichita kansas and landing at reagan national airport, when we were told that it was hit, struck by a black hawk helicopter. three soldiers were on board the black hawk helicopter and we should note, we have been told that four people were pulled out of the water, the water is 37 degrees, we do not know, the condition of the four people who were pulled out, that is all we have heard from any potential survivors and we do not know if they were on the helicopter or if they were on the plane. we have this situation right now where we don't know what is happening inside reagan national airport meaning we don't know how many families,

we have family assistance centers set up here in dca. we do in wichita as well. i'm not at liberty to give the number of families at have been -- that have used those services. but we are making that use. we have over 100 team members that are either here or on their way that are specially trained to work with family members, handle travel arrangements, hotel arrangements, incidentals, to make sure that we're taking care of people in any way that they can. as our teams are hurting and suffering, as our passengers and their families need assistance, we're doing everything we can. i don't ha any other more information on that right now. >> chief donnelly, can i ask you to describe the next phase of the investigation? how confident are you you'll be able to recover all 67 of the bodies, and can you speak to some of the debris that's also being pulled out of the river? we understand there are some suitcases, you know, some other things that have been pulled out from the river. and i would like to ask anyone here, perhaps the transportation secretary or mr. isom, if w

they're used to aircraft landing at dca. and there's a procedure in place because this happens every day. something went wrong here. i look forward to the time and point when we can give you that information. um, but i don't want to comment on that right now senator. >> senator warner, you all have been very vocal about your concerns about busy runways here. air traffic. i know it's still early in the investigation. i'm just curious if the steps that you all plan to take to address that we have raised this issue continuously. >> we've got very

the incoming side of the airport at reagan national also known as dca. the faa is reporting it appears to be a commuter plane. it's american airlines flight 5342 that as it was preparing to land, close to landing that it struck a military helicopter. a sikorsky 860. the plane was not yet iden identified. but it usually flies what is known as a crj-700 a twin jet airline and listed when it took off from wichita to land at reagan national airport. the plane was also listed as a crj-700. these planes and we don't know how many passengers were on board. but we know they can carry up to around 78 passengers. as you can see, and we will show you video of this, there is other video that shows launching boats into the potomac river to find if there are any survivors. if there are any people in the water at all. that is one of the shots we are looking at, loading people to go in. you see rescue crews and dive teams as well fascinating to look at. on the other side we can actually point out that just a week ago for the inauguration that part of the river was prima

we have family assistant centers set up here in dca. we do in wichita as well.'m not at liberty to give the number of families that have used those services. but we have over team members either here or on their way. they are especially trained to work with family members, handle travel arrangements, hotel arrangements, inci incidentals o make sure we are taking care of people any way we can our teams are hurting and suffering as are our passengers and families who need assistance. we are doing everything we can i don't have any more information than that right now. >> chief donnelly, can i ask you to describe the next phase of the investigation? how confident are you that you will be able to recover all 67 of these bodies and can you speak to some of the debris that's also being pulled out of the river? we understand there are some suitcases, you know, some other things that have been pulled out from the river? and i would like to ask anyone here, perhaps, to transportation secretary or mr. isom if we know anything about these victims, age ranges, nationalities

quote, learning that a plane inbound from kansas was involved in a crash at dca. that's reagan national. i am in contact with authorities. again, an apparent collision in the air at reagan national airport. this is just a couple o miles from the white house, one of the primary airports into the washington, dc area. let's bring in retired american airlines pilot and aviation expert doug rice. doug, nice to have your expertise here with us tonight. let's just start with the location of reagan national. i know it's near the white house, but this is one of the airports in that area, correct? that's correct. reagan national is located along the banks of the potomac, on the west side of the river, opposite from the lincoln memorial and the kennedy center. okay. i know you're tracking this as we are here in the newsroom and across the country. what do you know what stands out to you right now about the limited information that we do have at this moment? right now, we have three helicopters circling over the potomac just to the east of the approach end of runway one. one

let's come to dca, reagan national here. point out a few things on the map right here. this is fort belvoir where the helicopter was based. it hasn't been told yet but we believe that's where it was headed from the north. the white house is located roughly three miles north of the airport. all this waterway is the potomac. clear this off and advance it one time here. so this is the runway that was the intended flight pattern for american airlines flight out of wichita. as we piece this together i will just show you this is where the blackhawk at the moment of the crash was headed. sort of a southerly pattern here. here is the american airlines making that left-hand turn that folks like lucas tomlinson and john roberts are describing to us from the south heading for the north and making the bank toward the northwest to go ahead and land. this is runway 33. there will be a lot of talk about that in the days and weeks to come. this body of water really is -- if we can let's pan up here to the screen. this is what we believe is what remains of the fuselage of that plane whe

dca exists to be close drive for lawmakers to capitol hill. if you don't have traffic and hit the lights, you can be to dca in 10 minutes flat and stand on capitol hill and watch the flight path. you can see the planes from the sensitive d.c. sites when clear like it was last night. there were questions if it would be appropriate to continue. trump team thinks it is too important to cancel. tulsi gabbard for director of national intelligence, kash patel for fbi and then there is another round of questions for r.f.k. jr., he will be before the help committee. we would expect more of the same, very hard questions from democrats about decades of past statements he's made and vigorous responses from kennedy. >> lawrence: get to the bottom of it, we know the man, gop chuck grassley joins us live from capitol hill. we want to know about the crash, but nominations, there is an amount of urgency for national security purposes. >> it is very important that we move forward. it is a tragedy what happened and pray ers is what most of us can do. what i kno

so yes, as a matter of fact, dca actually has a slot limitation on. so it's already acknowledged as a congested airport with limited space. and so there's always commercial pressure and of course, service to our passengers to try and get as much in as possible. so there there comes a point where it's just too much. i don't know if we're there at this time, but what we do know is there's got to be a better way to get this done. and tonight just reminds us of that. you've got to we've got to be on more than our a game. we've got to be morally committed to making sure that this is done safely. >> can i ask you when you you fly mostly 737 is that correct? >> that is correct. i'm captain on a 737, and i've flown for 32 years for american airlines and in the military prior. >> and the 737 is the most commonly used commercial airplane in america, and i think the world. so it's a little different from the craft we're talking about here. this is a smaller aircraft. it's a crj 700, about a 70 seater, very common. all of the airlines use these airlines on their

dca, as it's commonly known, right along the potomac river. it is clearly pitch black here at this hour if we can. this is going to be a challenge. stephanie, bear with us for a moment though. we see one helicopter in the distance in the sky right now, just above what is known as joint base anacostia-bolling. it's a place where a lot of helicopters do take off from military helicopters, though we can't say declarative where with declarative where this blackhawk was traveling from. but this helicopter we're watching right now has multiple spotlights on that have been sort of searching across the water here. as we come back lower, you can see just a stream of lights throughout this area. literally. it's probably two miles wide. it is separated different parts of washington, d.c, by what is known as the frederick douglass bridge. to give folks a sense of where we believe some of the boats have been putting into the water to try to find any survivors that may be here that is near the nats park, the nationals park home of the washington nationals b

. >> reporter: was the air traffic controller in the dca tower hired or not. point because of his or her race? >> press secretary leavitt: that investigation is ongoing. so when we have updates on the exact individuals who were involved in the collision, including air traffic controller, also the pilot don't make pilots at the helicopters, we will confirm those but i don't want to confirm from the m the podium today because we are not in a position to do that. but the president has rightly pointed out there is problems with the aviation industry over the past several years. this started under barack obama in 2014. >> reporter: when the president says on truth social, the black hawk helicopter was flying too high above the 200 20 women and that is not too complicated to understand, is a qu?is he suggesting that helicor malfunctioned or a crew error or at the crew doing this intentionally question expatriate no, the present is simply stating what he said in the truth social postcode to the helicopter was flying higher than it should have been which is one of the

the banner of american and american eagle flight 53-42 from wichita, kansas, to ronald reagan airport dca crashed and apparently we were told it did as we saw the video it did collide with the black hawk helicopter and that the plane that american air was flying was a see rj 720 with 60 passengers and four crew members and the helicopter was carrying which was a training flight carrying three soldiers and you can see they collided and if you take a closer look at it that helicopter which was taking off if the plane is a cayman from the back and the experts we've talked to so far as saying things as if that is what happened because the plane the last warning that came from the tower was directed towards the helicopter and saying approach from the rear end can you see this see rj in front of you. of course there was no response because the collision happened moments thereafter. minutes ago we talked to jonathan who was on scene first on scene the former navy seal first on scene for a couple of crashes with the hudson and another helicopter crash in around new york city and you see the respo

and you like me and so many people who are joining us right now have flown into dca, i'm sure. and as you come in, you obviously have to come from the south or from the north. you can't come in from the east or from the west. the way that the airport is laid out, you can't come in from the east because you'd be flying over that restricted airspace. so from our understanding, it appears that the plane that was coming in was coming in from the south, as it appears, it appeared to have been flying over or near joint base anacostia-bolling. that's where a lot of those lights we've been showing you are right now. and it appears from our understanding that that's where the collision likely took place. now, recognizing the speeds of an aircraft in its final descent, they'd still be moving very quickly. so it's potential the potential exists that there is a wide debris field in this water right now. they are the toughest of circumstances because it is literally pitch black without the giant spotlights there. without our camera lights right now, you could barely see in front of you. it

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at dca, and there's a procedure in place -- because this happens every day. something went wrong here. i look forward to the time and point when we can give you that information, but i don't want to >> senator kaine, senator warner, you have been vocal about your concerns about busy runways here, air traffic. i know it's still early in the investigation. i'm just curious -- >> e have raise this had issue continuously. we have a very busy airspace. i think we will ask think we wi but at the appropriate time. we are in this period right now where families are still l bein notified about our concerns, but it is a good time to speculate right now. we have faith that the ntsb will provide the answers about this. okay. you work here and i'm going to take three in the middle. and then we're going to have to wrap one, two, three after this young man. thank you. appreciate you chief. i know again i can imagine it must be traumatic for your first responders to have to deal with this. how are they doing right now? and are you all going to be offering any services to hel

dca is so convenient and so close. the investigation going forward. >> so many questions. garrett haake, live at the white house on the north lawn for us. thank you very much. >> again, we do expect to hear from president trump momentarily. and of course, when that happens we will bring you live coverage of the president's remarks. but again, a grim day here in the united states. 67 souls lost on that military helicopter and that american airlines flight. we will, of course, continue to follow the story throughout the day. we are back with much more on (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. that gritty feeling can't be brushed away. even a little blurry vision can distort things. and something serious may be behind those itchy eyes. up to 50% of people with graves' could develop a different condition called thyroid eye disease, which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com (♪♪) you just made the winning choice. folgers bl

just as this commercial aircraft was landing at dca. a law enforcement source tells cnn that no survivors have been found yet, and we are, of course, expecting to hear more from officials coming up in less than an hour. now here. the american airlines ceo, he says he's going to travel here to dc to try and support his employees. >> i'd like. >> to express our deep sorrow. >> about these events. >> this is a difficult day for all of us at american airlines, and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, partners, first responders along with their families and loved ones. we're cooperating fully with the national transportation safety board in its investigation, and will continue to provide all the information we can. our cooperation is without pause, and we want to learn everything we can about today's events. that work will take time, but anything we can do now, we're doing. and right now, that means focusing on taking care of all passengers and crew involved, as well as their families. >> and of

stood out to me during this press briefing, there were a lot of questions about the airspace around dca and just how busy it is, how much activity there is going on, and how that presents potentially a challenge to keep track of all the moving parts around that area. and the vice president of the airport was trying to clarify that the purview of the airport is essentially what is on the ground that the faa regulates the actual airspace itself. when you think about how this effort to figure out what happened moves forward, what do you think it would look like for the faa and officials at dca to reconsider how, uh, a number of things move about that airspace, whether it's commercial flights, private flights, uh, army or military aircraft, and then obviously drones and other things. how do they go about negotiating that question well, there really is no negotiation. >> the faa controls the airspace, period around the globe, around the entire united states. so anything above above your head belongs to the faa? uh, there's no question about that. so what that tells me then is, i think one of

they're used to aircraft landing at dca. and there's a procedure in place because this happens every day. something went wrong here. i look forward to the time and point when we can give you that information. um, but i don't want to comment on that right now senator. >> senator warner, you all have been very vocal about your concerns about busy runways here. air traffic. i know it's still early in the investigation. i'm just curious if the steps that you all plan to take to address that we have raised this issue continuously. >> we've got very busy airspace. i think we will ask questions, but at the appropriate time. we are in this period right now where families are still being notified. we're trying to figure out what happened. there'll be time for those discussions, i think. >> yeah, i'd just say the same thing. we've been pretty plain about our concerns, but it is a good time to speculate. right now. we have faith that the ntsb will provide the answers about this. >> okay, you walk. >> here and i'm going to say. >> three

does dca still make sense? i don't see anyone realistically closing it, but there certainly may be calls to limit the flights. um, to limit the the numbers of aircraft that can operate there. but really, we don't know enough yet to know was the helicopter properly controlled? was it on the flight path? was the airline for any reason not on its flight path? now, when i landed at about 730 there, it was windy. there was a bit of chop in the air, but it wasn't really anything that would cause difficulty in operations. but this will renew the debate again. about what? about reagan national? is it too close, too congested, too many aircraft, too many operations? and how much, you know, how many aircraft can we put in this very small space? but again, dca is very, very popular for obvious reasons. it's convenient. >> it is it is extremely convenient. and and there are a lot of people who need to get in and out of d.c. very quickly, which is why they use that airport. mary, i have one more question for you. look, it's

that is that we're allowing a lot of short flights from various places into dca. so it's i guarantee you, out of 100 members of the united states senate, they all have an opinion. they're just not the same opinion. so i think what what you have to do in any instance, you need a continuous safety improvement regime. we're fighting for that. that bill gave us more air traffic controllers. it funded the ntsb when people didn't want to reauthorize and fund it. they're the north star, whatever they say, that's what we should do. unfortunately, the faa needs to be a more aggressive oversight agency. and in this case, what did the faa think of this inner flight pattern between dod and the air traffic controllers? management at the airport, and what else were they dealing with? what else was the air traffic controllers dealing with? so after the challenger explosion, we put a bigger safety office at nasa. and it may be that there's a need for a bigger safety office at the faa to monitor these airport issues and give us an understanding of whether they think that they have

what ultimately caused a passenger jet landing at dca? something that happens hundreds of times every day, day and night to crash with a military helicopter that also, for those of you who are in washington dc, you know, there's helicopters. >> all the. time here. >> all. >> the. >> time flying across the potomac in and out of the city. >> that crash in 2009, the colgan that was in buffalo, it was in bad weather. it wasn't a jet. it was a it was one of those dehavilland prop planes. and it was a fatigued, inexperienced pilot. and a lot of rules changed as a result of, of that crash. so in fact, that crash probably wouldn't emulate itself. so now we have to think about a whole bunch of other reasons why this would have happened. and you mentioned a couple of things that is super congested airspace, which is typical of urban airspace in america. it is also restricted airspace. it's not open to fliers without special training. generally speaking, that means commercial or military pilots. and there's military activity there as well. so there'

what ultimately caused a passenger jet landing at dca? something that happens hundreds of times every day, day and night to crash with a military helicopter. but also, for those of you who are in washington dc, you know, there's helicopters. >> all the. >> time here, all the time flying across the potomac in and out of the city. >> that crash in 2009, the colgan that was in buffalo, it was in bad weather. it wasn't a jet. it was a it was one of those dehavilland prop planes. and it was a fatigued, inexperienced pilot. and a lot of rules changed as a result of, of that crash. so in fact, that crash probably wouldn't emulate itself. so now we have to think about a whole bunch of other reasons why this would have happened. and you mentioned a couple of things that is super congested airspace, which is typical of urban airspace in america. it is also restricted airspace. it's not open to fliers without special training. generally speaking, that means commercial or military pilots. and there's military activity there as well. so there's a lot

its passengers were in shock, especially after seeing video of that mid-air collision at dca last night. now, this morning, we've spoken to passengers who have some mixed reactions about flying. i think a lot of people are on edge today flying all over the place. if this could happen in 2025 and in america, it could happen anywhere. there's been a few incidences lately in the air with different airlines all over the world. loss of life is horrible, but statistically speaking, still the safest way to travel. and we all get in cars every day. we all cross the street every day and there's no difference in that. we take risks in everything we do in life. getting on a plane here. same thing. an industry insider tells us that situation at reagan national is very unique. it's quite different from flight paths here at sfo because of those many flight restrictions flying into and out of dca. authorities at reagan national, as as they've been saying all morning, are reassuring passengers it is safe to fly into and out of the airport. now, that industry insider also tells us that there is a cultur

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

. >> i lobbied american airlines to begin having a direct nonstop flight service to dca.ht has been in existence about a year. we're going to know people who are on this flight, know their family members, know somebody. so this is a very personal circumstance. >> this is the first major. >> commercial crash in the u.s. since the colgan air buffalo crash in 2009. there have been other incidents, like the asiana runway crash in 2013 where two people died. the last fatality on a plane was the woman who was partially sucked out of a southwest window in 2018. this has been the safest period for aviation in history. this crash will undoubtedly shake the industry. it's reminiscent of another tragic airline crash. january 1982 an air florida flight crashed into the potomac river. 74 people on board were killed, five survived, rescued from the icy waters. the scope of tonight's collision is still unfolding. >> you know, when one person dies, it's a tragedy. but when many, many, many people die, it's an unbearable sorrow. it's a heartbreak beyond measure. >> joining me now is abc c

it happened near the reagan washington national airport, also called the dca.round 645 last night, american eagle flight 5342 from wichita, kansas, was just minutes away from landing. 60 passengers and four crew members on board the plane collided mid-air with an army blackhawk helicopter carrying three people. the two aircraft crashed into the potomac river, wherees

um, to dca, none of which have been implemented yet. um, and so i think it's an open, open case still about whether we're going to revisit that, that law also had several other important aviation safety provisions, including hiring the maximum number of air traffic controllers, including having the faa invest in their facilities and equipment to have better detection. >> of taxiway. >> and runway incursions, as well as um, as well as a stand up that the last dot did with airports and air traffic control to kind of review those taxiway incursions. there's broader safety things that need to get done. hopefully those are reflected in the president's budget as it comes before congress. but you're right to you're implying certainly at dca is a unique airport and may need some unique solutions. >> air travel, we should note, is still overwhelmingly safe. but critics do point to repeated complaints from pilots who said that the air traffic was risky. there are also concerns about staffing control towers. this is all at reagan i'm talking about

. >> steve: well, to your point, when it was dca before it was renamed reagan national.t was built to handle 5 million travelers a year. it is now holding and handling 25 million. the air volume is way up one of the things local officials are concerned about. to your point that, is one of the most complicated airspaces in the world. because you have got for the most part, you know, you have got the traffic going to the white house. you talked a little bit about marine one. it looks like this black hawk was following the correct route when suddenly, inexpick cab gli turned into the airplane i were on a clear approach. the chopper it looks like just runs into it. >> runway 33 that corpsdz with the compass, steve. that would be heading of 330. so, just to the northwest, just, you know, 360 is due north. just to the northwest. those pilots aboard the airliner were focused on landing their aircraft short final seconds from landing. this coalition took place somewhere between 200 and 400 feet above the poo tom mac. helicopter flying south from the nation's capitol. turned behi

he says i am following the response to a reported aviation incident at dca and m in touch with airport as we try to learn what happened and why. this is very worrying and i urge the community to please let the first responders do their jobs and save lives. that is the statement from the democratic representative who lives not far from here. this is just a hop, skip, and a jump across the river. nothing in the water from this vantage point. i wonder if there's a craft in the water that we can't see because you can see a wave coming. >> we have the official statement. american airlines flight 5342 collided with eight sikorsky a60 helicopter while on approach to the runway at reagan. that is consistent with the video that i saw online that has been making its rounds online. it is heartbreaking. that would be a regional jet and a military helicopter. >> that's consistent with what senator marshall had put out. >> sean: we appreciate it. our thoughts and prayers are with any of the victims in all of this. stay with the fox news channel for continuing coverage of what looks to be like a terr

we have a staffing issue at the reagan airport, dca. dca very busy airport.have # hundred flights inbound and outbound each and every day at reagan airport. and overall, i believe our record, our safety record is the gold standard. but, when we have an issue like this. it needs to be addressed. it needs to be some oversight from congress. we need to make sure that if these airports are struggling with air traffic controllers, they bring it to our attention. and we can try to encourage more younger people to get into that field. >> lawrence: i struggle with this dei stuff. i covered dei when i ran campus reform. maybe it had the original intent was good. but it's gone way too far. i understand organic diversity. i understand that some people at one point in time in history or maybe today were denied jobs because of their race, sexual orientation or whatever. i understand that. but why are we trying to get people with mental disabilities to work air traffic control? i mean there is a place for them in society. but a lot of the diversity push just doesn't make s

dca very busy airport.utbound each and every day at reagan airport and overall i believe our record, our safety record is the gold standard. but, when we have an issue like this, it needs to be addressed. and i believe the ntsb will conduct a very thorough investigation and they will come up with some recommendations to make sure that we can mitigate risk and something like this never takes place again. >> ainsley: maybe donald trump getting rid of dei and these agencies will also help because there is a lawsuit from last year where 1,000 people were turned away because of race who were applying for those positions as control tower agents. and they were turned away because of race. so hopefully we will clean up the system and the government. thank you so much, congressman. thanks for working hard and hopefully we can fix this asap. >> thank you, ainsley, god bless. >> ainsley: you are welcome. god bless you. a shelter for single men is set to open in new york next month. people aren't happy about this. we a

we're seeing one of the flights leaving for dca at 835 is now showing on time.s after confirmation from authorities that the airport is back up. open for travel 8 a.m. our time. but those images, what we've been seeing from that is creating shock and confusion. a lot of questions from here in the country and really around the world. i want to show you that video again of the mid-air collision that was caught on camera. that's when that black hawk helicopter and american airlines flight collided. now, passengers that arrived here at sfo last night, they flew out of reagan not long before that crash took place. i want to have you listen to some of that reaction when they came in. i think an hour or two in, i remember getting the news alerts. i saw people in, like sitting next to me, like looking it up as well and trying to figure out what was going on. it's honestly terrifying. like, i like, i'm still in shock that this happened, like how close it was. you. now, as chris has also mentioned, the ntsb is now the lead agency in the recovery efforts around this crash.

not to mention it is a shorter runway at dca, just a little over 5000ft.o i think the big question here is why was that helicopter. was it wind? was it. it doesn't appear that there was weather in that area. they were flying under visual flight rules. the aircraft was flying under ifr. and so it really comes down to why was the helicopter flying at above 200ft? and why did the atc controller managing both aircraft and helicopter not give the black hawk direct communication to say, turn, not just giving him the visual separation? so there's a lot of questions that are going to unfold over the next couple of days. right. so we know that there was contact with that air traffic controller making communications. but like you, li you said, he was just do you see it? how often and how quickly can that communication happen? i mean, as you mentioned, that plane was coming in for a landing. well, laura, you don't have a lot of time as a pilot, and that's what they train you to be. they train you to be very proficient on reaction time. the faa has done thorough train

yes, dca is slot control, amount of aircraft, this is not news, not related to this tragedy today. we've seen air traffic controllers testify just how overworked they are, shifts they go on, i couldn't fly an airplane with that type of schedule, let alone they are controlling aircraft. it is symphony, we have to have everybody on their a game at all times and dca, and other air space, it is evermore important. we'll eventually find out what happened, again, we've got to not rush to find out what the mystery is of how this occurred and give it the respect it deserves and that is to take a moment and more than a moment and rededicate ourselves to people who need us most and it is those impacted by this terrible event. >> ashley: 64 people on the plane and three military personnel on that helicopter and all their families and friends, this impacts a lot of people. thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you. >> ashley: we'll bring in initial association of firefighters president edward kelly. thank you for getting up with us this morning. todd and i were talking with lucas toml

what ultimately caused a passenger jet landing at dca?ething that happens hundreds of times every day, day and night to crash with a military helicopter that also, for those of you who are in washington dc, you know there's helicopters. all the time here, all the time flying across the potomac in and out of the city. >> that crash in 2009, the colgan that was in buffalo, it was in bad weather. it wasn't a jet. it was a it was one of those de havilland prop planes. and it was a fatigued, inexperienced pilot. and a lot of rules changed as a result of, of that crash. so in fact, that crash probably wouldn't emulate itself. so now we have to think about a whole bunch of other reasons why this would have happened. and you mentioned a couple of things that is super congested airspace, which is typical of urban airspace in america. it is also restricted airspace. it's not open to fliers without special training. generally speaking, that means commercial or military pilots. and there's military activity there as well. so there's a lot of layers.

landing at dca.two aircrafts, the fuselage of the american airline plane was inverted. it's been located in three different sections. it's in about waist deep water. >> 64 people on board the plane, three on that military helicopter. we're learning the flight was carrying figure skaters who had been training at a u.s. figure skating event in wichita, kansas, and moments ago, a figure skating club said six members of associates were killed in that crash. in a statement, u.s. figure skating says it can, quote, confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard american airlines flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in washington, dc. these athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from the national development camp held in conjunction with the u.s. figure skating championships in wichita, kansas. end quote. one man at the airport in dc says he knows people who were on the plane. >> tell me again. so who was on the flight that you know of. my

well, you know, dca reagan national is a tremendously busy airspace. the runway, one of the runways, is the most active runway in the u.s. there is a lot of aviation here. and on top of the commercial airport, of course, you've got military aviation, vip aviation, et cetera.. so we have put an awful lot of aviation in a very small airspace. and that's the problem. when reagan, when dulles first opened decades ago, this was supposed to actually close because of the proximity to dc, the crowding, the airspace issues. et cetera. so the fact that, you know, fortunately, dc has been very lucky that they haven't had major tragedies and there's just a lot of aviation, a small airspace now bringing it down to to this particular one. we now have a lot of clues that have come out. air traffic control had been speaking with the helicopter, asked the helicopter if they had this plane inside, and that gives us a lot of clues. obviously, the aircraft has collision avoidance. the helicopter may not have had the same systems and sometimes it doesn't work at very low a

you cannot fly into the dca airspace unless you are totally under air traffic control. it's instrument flight rules, whether it's severe, clear or bad weather. um, anybody operating in that vicinity had to coordinate with air traffic control. and we know that happened here because air traffic control talked to the helicopter and said, do you have this aircraft in flight? now, what's interesting is there were other aircraft and you can see it on the video. there were other aircraft in the vicinity. so i wonder i certainly don't know. but i wonder if perhaps when the helicopter reported that they did have the flight in in sight, that they were actually seeing another helicopter. and, you know, i've been working in aviation a very long time, and i remember an accident. the senator hines accident, which was a plane and a helicopter, and the helicopter got too close to an aircraft, the aircraft, and actually sucked the aircraft towards the helicopter. i'm not saying that happened here, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong when you have too many aircraft in a very

it was, you know, not in it was right as that american airlines flight was about to land at dca. >> it is so hard to comprehend that this happened, jose, because of things like that, the conditions were favorable for flight. this was an area that we understand both aircraft had been in before. these were standard movements that they were making in this area. the plane that came in from wichita carrying those 60 passengers and four crew members, was doing what planes have to do when they fly into reagan national airport. they have to they can't fly over the district of columbia. that's restricted airspace, usually. and so they fly along the potomac river, and they often have to make a turn to get to the runways at reagan national airport. this airplane would have been seconds from making that touchdown from landing at the airport here, when it seems this helicopter came up. if you look at the video, it looks like it came up from behind and hit the airplane. it broke into three pieces. and so there still is effort to sort of figure out how that all came to be, given that this were these

i lobbied american airlines to begin having a direct nonstop flight service to dca. that flight has been in existence about a year. and it is certainly true that in kansas and in wichita in particular, we're going to know people who are on this flight, know their family members, know somebody. so this is a very personal circumstance as well as an official response. and again, we're we will do everything we can to make certain that we're supportive of the rescue efforts, and we'll do everything we can to make certain that our subcommittee and congress is engaged in what needs to take place. following the outcome of this evening and this this month's kind of investigation. i've talked to ntsb, i've talked to the white house, i've talked to the department of defense, and i've talked to the ceo of american airlines. and there is all of us pulling together for the best outcome possible. i'm honored to be here with my colleague, senator marshall, as we try to try to make certain that we care for those, certainly back in kansas that were on that flight. but it's a reminder

at dca.the area, you'll see that frequently with those two aircraft. >> working together. >> as many of you have reported. >> we have. >> located the. >> two aircrafts. >> the fuselage of the american airlines plane. >> was inverted. >> it's been located in three different sections. it's in about waist deep water. so that recovery is going to go. >> on today. >> as that recovery takes place of the of the fuselage of the aircraft. the ntsb is going to start to analyze that aircraft, partner with the. >> faa with all. >> the information we. have to get the best results possible. for the american people. i would just say that safety is our expectation. everyone who flies in. american skies expects that we fly safely. >> that when you. >> depart an airport, you get to your destination. that didn't. >> happen last. >> night. and i know. >> that president. >> trump, his administration, the faa, the dot. >> we will not rest. >> until we have. answers for the families and for the flying public. you s

what are the things that occurs in this unique situation at dca there is a helicopter corridor or roadthe air that runs from the north of the pandemic all the way down and you could go either way on it this helicopter do special missions and travel and they can bring folks from the cia, dia the naval observatory and they come down the river and continue south and turn right in one of the things ntsb will look at is the root, are there things if their training and if it's not an emergency movement is there a better time in the day to do the training missions one thing they will look at we talked about a.i. there may be an opportunity all made to senator moran who is the most capable senator on capitol hill to handle this from can get kansas can we put stop signs up north and south of the dca the a.i. works in the air traffic controller doesn't have to worry about so the helicopter movement upper john, north or south they come to a stop point and the computers notify the crew when they can move safely. maria: young air control on the one hand but in terms of actual pilots on board yet th

routes will be flown out of dca. >> two questions really quickly.hat do you know about the experience and the history of the pilots of the american airlines plane and the helicopter? last night, the president said this could have been prevented. a question why air traffic control didn't tell the helicopter what to do, is that something that should have happened in this situation? >> just quickly, i don't have a lot of information to release but these are experienced pilots. i know the captain had six years with psa and the first officer almost two years. again, standard approach. that's about all i can say. >> in regard to the military, i don't have information regard to the experience of the military pilots. i would know this -- note this was classified as a training mission. sometimes people could consider that as someone inexperienced in the cockpit. don't read into that. we had how many hours of pilots the military aircraft had. >> [indiscernible] >> we are going to wait for all of information to come in from this vantage point. to back up what

the question was regarding the additional slots to dca. as you know, the slots are federally controlled, federally mandated. >> again, we have to follow the federal regulations on the slot control. >> one more question for you. talking about the faa, congress, federally mandated. where does the buck stop with this accident in ensuring the next flight to take off from the runway is safe? >> the question is really directed to the faa and congress, i believe. >> last questions right here. >> you have 41 victims recovered. are you confident in the location of the others? are you confident you know where they are? >>. i think we think we know where they are. we will not know until we are done. then we are going to continue the search operation. so we searched a large portion of the river, and we are right there. let me answer -- let me restate the question. the question was are we confident we know where the other remains are? it couples with the question about removing the aircraft. i believe when we remove the aircraft, that will help us reso

this is the runway itself at dca, reagan national. we believe the pilots you will see in a moment were requesting a landing on runway one here which pretty much is -- if this is north and south that's south to north direction here and toward the final minutes of the flight, the air traffic controller moved them to runway 33 that takes you on a northwest angle and what we picked up from the correspondence in the plane that you can see on the left side of the screen and the air traffic controller on the right. tower blue streak 5342 the flight from american airlines, right, requesting runway one. the tower then says gusts 17 to 25. can you take runway 33? to which the pilots on board say we can do 33 for blue streak 5342 and here we go runway 33 cleared to land. reminder here, this is south to north, this is southeast to northwest roughly speaking. scott brenner is here, former faa spokesperson. good morning to you. i don't know if any of that was a factor in what happened the other night. could it have been? >> you can argue that they

you have controllers controlling the tower dca controlling helicopter traffic.for essentially the same way for decades. this is kind of a confluence of events i think whereby potentially small mistakes were made. the details will come out later. but looking at it it is things that i think we'll all be within the realm of things that usually pilots would get away with it. i can't say anybody would make those same mistakes but most of the time it is just other factors that will keep you at a higher safety margin and this is one of those times were all the stuff happens at the same time. >> it sounds what you were saying is this was an accident waiting to happen. >> that airspace is extremely easy it has been operated for a long time. close calls that happen all the time but especially in that unit. i would say there are a lot of factors that go into into. potentially a little bit of cockpit confusion. then think in two different directions. so confusion on kind of everybody's part. it was kind of too many things happening at one time. >> from the cockpit is it a s

so this was not unusual with a military aircraft flying the river and aircraft landing at dca.n the area, you'll see t that frequently wih those two aircraft working together. as many of you have reported, we have located the two aircraft. the fuselage of the american airline plane was inverted. it's been located in between different sections. it's in about waist deep water so that recovery is going to go on today, as that recovery takes place of the fuselage of the aircraft, ntsb is going to start to analyze that aircraft, partner with the faa, with all of the information we have to get the best results possible for the american people. i would just say that safety is our expectation. everyone who flies in american skies expects that we fly safely. that when you depart an airport, you get to your destination. that didn't happen last night. and i know that president trump, his administration, the faa, the dot, we will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public. you should be assured that when you fly, you're safe. thank you. >> thank you, secretar

and the vicinity at dca go to at least, indefinitely closed. know if that is during the recovery operations or rethinking the whole thing whether those aircraft should be flying down those pathways when so much commercial air traffic in the air as well. charlie, thank you so much. we appreciate your expertise. >> thank you, you're welcome. >> john: that seems to be the big question why did the helicopter suddenly gain altitude and maybe a mile or a mile and a half between games point and where the accident tok place. so actually, no, it was not a mile and a half but as short distance between haynes point where the crash took place. may be a few hundred yards so why did the helicopter go up? it took a weird turn to the right over the river and turned back to the left if that data is correct. >> sandra: the new camera angles and the new angles at the crash are bringing more questions than answers which is why we anticipate this briefing, john. the local briefing and not ntsb but the local briefing to see and hear from mayor bowser mayor balser of