Doug Zeghibe, CEO and executive director of the Skating Club of Boston, told MSNBC today his next step after losing two of his coaches, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, is to determine how to replace coaches he said he can’t “imagine replacing.”
“They’re what we would call developmental coaches. They took kids from their very first steps on the ice, and they turned them into champions, including their son, Max,” he said.
“They had very high standards, but they were just the kindest, most professional and then gentle folks,” Zeghibe said. “Their skaters just adored them.”
In a news briefing today, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said all the bodies from the collision are expected to be recovered.
Donnelly said 41 sets of remains have been recovered of the 67 people aboard both the American Airlines plane and Black Hawk helicopter. But he added that the plane’s fuselage will need to be removed from the Potomac River in order to access the rest of the remains.
The weather in the D.C. area, which includes fog, has not impacted the recovery efforts so far, he said.
Two of the three soldiers involved in the fatal midair collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet near Reagan National Airport have been identified by the U.S. Army.
Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, is presumed deceased pending a positive identification.
The remains of 39-year-old Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves of Great Mills, Maryland, have not yet been recovered. He remains classified as duty status-whereabouts unknown (DUSTWUN) as officials continue recovery efforts, according to the U.S. Army.
At the family’s request, the third soldier’s name has not been released and is also listed as DUSTWUN, the U.S. Army said.
The Black Hawk, assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion at Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, was conducting a training mission when the crash occurred at approximately 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, the U.S. Army said.
“Our top priority is to assist in the recovery efforts, while fully cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other investigative agencies to determine the cause of this tragic incident,” said Major General Trevor J. Bredenkamp, commander Joint Task Force — National Capital Region/U.S. Army Military District of Washington.
On top of rainy and near-freezing weather conditions, a thick fog has settled above the surface of the Potomac River today.
The first responders’ boats that have been out all morning conducting recovery operations at the crash site are either invisible through the fog, or have left the river as the conditions have changed.
The water in the Potomac is still hovering just above freezing, while the air temperature has climbed above 50 degrees, with a lot of humidity lingering in the air between bursts of rain.
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., is calling for a comprehensive federal investigation of the Potomac crash and support for the victims’ families.
Davids, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told MSNBC today that the tragedy required an independent inquiry by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense.
“We need to make sure we give (these agencies) all the support and resources they need so they can do an independent, thorough investigation,” said Davids.
The congresswoman also pushed back on speculation about the crash, referencing President Donald Trump’s insinuations and accusations, and cautioned that not all facts are available.
“Right now we don’t have all of those facts, contrary to what some folks out there — including the president — might be saying,” Davids said.
Davids stressed the need for immediate support for those affected.
“There are going to be 67 people’s families, loved ones, friends, colleagues, communities that are going to feel the impacts of this for the rest of our lives,” she said.
Though Roberto Marquez doesn’t know any of the 67 victims personally, he now stands in the cold, rainy Washington, D.C., weather where he’s promised to stay until all those killed have a proper memorial.
Marquez, an artist known for traveling cross-country to memorialize victims of tragedy, drove from Dallas, Texas, to DCA when he heard about the crash.
Today, he hopes to finish 20 memorials — handmade, painted crosses adorned with flowers — and return in the following days until he finishes all 67. He hopes to give families, friends and communities a proper place to honor the victims.
“A memorial is very important because it is a place where people come to gather, where people can come to cry and share their prayers, a place that becomes a temple where we highlight the names of those deceased and perhaps compliment them with photos,” Marquez said in Spanish. “And it’s also a place where we can bring all our flowers, our candles, and gather.”
Marquez emphasized his desire to bring communities together and offer support where possible.
“The weather doesn’t stop me,” he said. “I feel that when you want to do something, you do it regardless. I think the people that died, they suffered the biggest sacrifice. And for me to come and build crosses and do this small gesture of support, it is something that I’ll do it with all my heart.”
Reporting from Mirna Alsharif
Poor weather conditions and the closure of Runway 33, which flight 5342 was meant to land on Wednesday, has led to over 120 flights being canceled at Reagan National Airport (DCA) today, officials at the the airport said.
Runway 33 is closed because of its proximity to the crash area, and there is no timeline to reopen it due to recovery work taking place nearby. Poor weather conditions in the D.C. area have resulted in low ceilings, which impact visibility for pilots.
Reagan National Airport manager Terrence Liercke said during a briefing today that the runway will remain closed until Monday, when the situation will be reassessed.
In the wake of the crash, officials at DCA say the airport was designed to handle about 15 million passengers annually, but are now handling around 25 million people. There has been a discussion for years between airport officials and elected leaders about whether air traffic safety is impacted by this dramatic increase.
There are roughly 100 helicopter flights in and around DCA every day, according to airport officials.
The mayor of Wichita, Kansas, where the American Airlines plane departed from before its fatal collision, spoke with MSNBC’s José Díaz-Balart today to share how the city is coping with the aftermath of the Washington, D.C., area crash.
“Here in Wichita right now, our hearts are broken,” Mayor Lily Wu said.
Wu said that she is grateful to have lines of communication with local, state and federal officials. She identified Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy among the leaders in communication with her office.
“The investigation needs to be had, but right now the focus in the city of Wichita is on the families who have been impacted, the individuals who have friends who were on that flight,” Wu said. “And my complete focus will be on that first and foremost, especially as the names of those individuals are coming out.”
The flight number of the American Eagle jet that collided with a military helicopter near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday will be retired, American Airlines announced today.
American Eagle is a network of regional carriers owned and operated by American Airlines.
The flight traveling from Wichita to Reagan International Airport tonight will operate as American Airlines flight 5677, according to the airline.
“Flight AA5342 will not be used for any future American Airlines flights,” the airline said.
Retiring flight numbers is a common practice following major aviation accidents.
Sasha Kirsanov, a figure skating coach at the University of Delaware, was killed in Wednesday’s crash, the college said in a release this morning.
“With a heavy heart, we struggle to express the impact of this tragedy on our Blue Hen community,” said Chrissi Rawak, UD’s athletic director.
“Coach Sasha Kirsanov’s presence was felt deeply in our ice arenas, where he devoted countless hours to the UD Figure Skating Club,” Rawak said, adding that his “passion and commitment touched many lives, leaving a permanent mark on our campus.”
A statement from the university also confirmed the loss of two skaters from the UD Figure Skating Club. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., identified the two skaters in a statement last night as Sean Kay and Angela Yang.
“At this time, we are aware that Sasha Kirsanov, a former UD Figure Skating Club coach, was on the airplane. We believe two young skaters who were members of the UD Figure Skating Club also were on board,” according to a statement from UD President Dennis Assanis.
Assanis said it is still unknown if the two skaters, who were not UD students, were accompanied by their parents or other chaperones.
“Kirsanov and the skaters trained at the University’s High Performance Training Center, which uses UD ice rink facilities and has been the training home for many years of multiple world-class skating champions and competitors,” Assanis added.
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued new flight restrictions for helicopters in the Washington, D.C., area and the Reagan National Airport (DCA), the agency tells NBC News.
Zone 1, which covers the airspace between certain bridges, is currently not active. In Zone 4, helicopters are now only permitted to fly south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
The FAA said that exceptions will be made for medical evacuation and law enforcement operations.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced that a member of his state’s National Guard was killed in Wednesday’s collision near Reagan National Airport.
Reeves identified the officer as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, adding that Mississippi is mourning his loss.
“Elee and I are praying for the victims’ families and first responders who are assisting,” Reeves said, referring to his wife.
A source involved with the search tells NBC News that investigators are confident they will be able to locate the flight data recorder, or black box, from the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with the American Eagle plane.
Since it’s a military helicopter, they are working closely with the Army and the manufacturer Sikorski on the best way to safely extract the black box from the Potomac.
Investigators last night recovered two black boxes from the American Eagle jet and recovery teams returned to the river this morning.
Cedarville University student Grace Maxwell was on the American Eagle flight after attending her grandfather’s funeral, the university said in a press conference this morning.
Thomas White, president of the Ohio college, told reporters that he spoke to Maxwell’s father yesterday after the news broke of the crash.
“You know, I talked to her dad. I said, ‘What can we do?'” White said. “There’s no words that make this OK. There’s nothing that makes this easier. I can’t say anything that takes away your hurt or your pain.”
White said Maxwell’s father revealed that she was on the plane because she was returning back to campus in Ohio after attending funeral services for her grandfather in her hometown of Wichita.
“Can you imagine losing a parent and seven days later losing a child?” White said.
The university president said that Maxwell had been a junior majoring in mechanical engineering and that the college “grieves the loss of a great student.”
The Philippines National Police has confirmed the death of Police Col. Pergentino N. Malabed, who was on board the American Eagle plane that collided midair with the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.
Malabed, chief of the supply management division, was on official travel at the time of the crash, according to the PNP. The PNP described his death as a significant loss to the force, highlighting his years of dedicated service.
“His untimely passing is a profound loss to the PNP, where he served with honor, integrity, and dedication throughout his career,” the PNP said on Facebook today. “His contributions to the PNP and the nation will never be forgotten.”
The Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is “operating normally today,” following Wednesday’s aircraft collision that killed more than 60 people.
“Passengers are encouraged to check with their airlines for delays or cancellations,” the post read.
The Pentagon has launched its own investigation into how an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines passenger plane over the Potomac River near Reagan Washington Regional Airport.
NBC News breaks down what is known about the helicopter’s three-person crew and what the Pentagon could focus on in its investigation.
The DC Fire and EMS Department said today that 41 bodies have so far been recovered from the wreckage of the plane crash in the Potomac River.
Operations were to resume after sunrise this morning, with divers continuing victim recovery efforts, the department said. There were 64 people on the American Eagle plane and three on the Blackhawk helicopter. All were killed.
The National Transportation Safety Board has also joined the recovery operation as the investigation into the crash continues, DC Fire and EMS said.
New footage retrieved from surveillance cameras at Reagan Airport and then filmed off a screen using a phone captured the moment the American Airlines regional passenger jet collided midair with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter Wednesday.
In the footage, first aired by CNN, two sets of aircraft lights can be seen in the area behind the Lincoln Memorial near Reagan Airport. As one speeds toward the other, the two eventually cross paths and collide, leading to an explosion.
The scene of the crash site on the Potomac River appeared largely quiet this morning as day broke in Arlington.
At least one person could be seen out on the river early this morning as efforts to search for the remaining victims of the deadly crash were expected to resume today.
Dozens of bodies of those killed in the devastating crash have been pulled from the river, but some of the victims still have yet to be found as investigators continue to seek answers.
Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University said it was “deeply saddened” to learn about the passing of Captain Jonathan Campos, who was one of the pilots killed on the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter on Wednesday.
“Our thoughts are with his family and the families and loved ones of all impacted by this tragic accident,” the university said in a statement issued yesterday.
Campos graduated from Emery-Riddle with a degree in aeronautical science in 2015.
Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton grieved members of the figure skating community, including promising young athletes and coaches, who were killed in Wednesday night’s plane crash near Washington.
“I can’t wrap my head around the last 36 hours… the loss is just beyond description. My heart is shattered,” the former figure skater told NBC’s “TODAY” show this morning.
The figure skater recalled spending time with many of the crash victims at the figure skating championships, held days ago in Wichita, whom he said formed a “very tight-knit, very close-knit, very wonderful, caring, supportive community.”
That included his friends, Russian coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won a world championship title together in 1994. “They were amazing champion skaters that wanted to build their professional lives in America,” Hamilton said, adding, “When you’re in skating, there are no national boundaries.”
Hamilton mourned the loss of “so much talent in this country” alongside the passing of two-time Olympic champion Dick Button, widely credited with revolutionizing the sport, who died Thursday at the age of 95.
“What’s happened [in Washington] and the other loss that happened yesterday, the passing of the greatest skater of all time, Dick Button, it’s just been beyond anything I can handle, honestly,” he said.
An air traffic control supervisor in the tower at Reagan Airport let a controller leave their shift early, a source familiar with the investigation confirmed to NBC News.
This detail, which was first reported by The New York Times, means that a single controller was atypically handling both plane and helicopter traffic in the area. Ideally, one controller is dedicated to helicopters while another controller handles planes, NBC News reported yesterday.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was investigating whether the Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high at the time of crash. To do so, it will need to retrieve the precise data from the Blackhawk’s black box data recorder.
The NTSB said it has also brought in an in-house expert and veteran Blackhawk helicopter pilot from Alaska to assist in the investigation.
Reporting from WASHINGTON
As recovery operations continue after the midair collision between an American Eagle flight and an Army helicopter, NTSB investigators say they have recovered the two black boxes from the plane and have searched “all accessible areas” of the Potomac River.
A white rose is left on a rock close to the water’s edge near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Arlington yesterday.
Aashish Kiphayet / NurPhoto via Reuters
Concerns around staffing at the Reagan Washington National Airport air traffic control tower the night of the crash could just be a “small piece” of the puzzle in understanding what went wrong, a National Transportation Safety Board member investigating the disaster told NBC’s “TODAY” show this morning.
J. Todd Inman said the investigation into what exactly happened that night is underway.
Asked to address concerns raised by a preliminary FAA report on the crash that said staffing at the control tower was “not normal,” he said it was still unclear what role that might have played in the incident, if any.
“That is one small aspect of the overall investigation,” he said, adding that having low staffing levels at an airport would not necessarily be an indication of a problem. “At times, you’ll have fluctuations of not only flights but also air traffic control,” said Inman, the 48th member of the NTSB who was sworn in March 13 of last year, according to the safety board’s website.
The investigation, he said, would “take as long as it takes” to help ensure that “no one has to suffer what those families are going through now.”
The scene of the deadly midair crash appeared to be largely quiet in the early hours of today in sharp contrast to this time yesterday.
A rescue boat operates outside Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport late last night.Jeenah Moon / Reuters
Flashing lights on the Potomac River were the only visible sign marking the devastating scene in a livestream published online by The Associated Press.
Rescue crews are expected to return to the river this morning as they continue to search for the victims of the collision between the AA flight and the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.
The bodies of dozens of victims have so far been pulled from the water, with the crash killing 67 people in total.
Standing at Reagan Airport’s Terminal 2 last night, Raza Hussain was texting his wife, Azra Hussain, minutes before her American Airlines flight collided with an Army helicopter.
“She said, ‘We’re landing in 20 minutes,’” Raza Hussain told NBC Washington.
That was the last thing he heard from her before he saw hundreds of first responders race across the airport. “I was waiting and I started seeing a bunch of EMS vehicles speeding past me, like way too many than normal, and two, my texts weren’t going through,” he said.
Azra Hussain, 26, was a consultant from Washington, D.C. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she graduated with honors in 2020 from Indiana University and married her college sweetheart in August 2023, her husband said.
“My wife was such a giver,” Raza Hussain told NBC News Nightly. “She made me feel so loved.”
Azra Hussain was making a routine work trip to Wichita and her husband would always pick her up, he said. “I always help her load the bag into the car and give her a big hug and a kiss and then off we go.”
“I had dinner waiting at home,” he added.
Raza Hussain said he has been surrounded by loved ones who are all devastated by the tragic and unexpected loss. He also thanked all the first responders involved in the recovery operations, saying he was grateful for their work.
“Life is short,” he said. “Hug your loved ones.”
A GE Aerospace employee was on board the flight that collided with a military helicopter, CEO Larry Culp said in a statement.
The employee was identified as Vikesh Patel. Culp did not clarify what Patel’s position at the company was.
“This is a tragedy not only for our industry, but also for the GE Aerospace team as one of our cherished colleagues, Vikesh Patel, was onboard the flight,” Culp said in the statement. “Our hearts are with his family and all those impacted by this horrific accident.”
Footage shot from a plane taking off from Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 23 shows two Black Hawk helicopters flying alongside a passenger plane. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both aircraft involved in the deadly collision were on a “standard flight pattern.”
Mikey Stovall, a steamfitter in Maryland who was on American Eagle Flight 5342 with seven of his friends, was someone who “loves everybody,” his mother, Christina Stovall, told NBC Washington in a tearful interview.
Stovall, 40, and his friends were returning from a duck hunting trip in Kansas. He was on his way back home to spend time with his wife off 11 years and his 11-year-old son, with plans to go on a snowboarding trip the next day.
“When they told him about Daddy, he said, ‘Are we still going snowboarding tomorrow?'” Christina Stovall said, describing her grandson’s difficulty grasping the reality that his father was dead.
Mikey Stovall, she said, was someone who “from when he was little … loves everybody.” She added that he was “very family-oriented” and loved hunting and fishing with his son.
One woman who was killed in the crash, Elizabeth Keys, an attorney, died on her birthday, her partner has said.
Keys had just turned 33 when she was killed in the collision, her life partner, David Seidman, whom she met at Georgetown Law School, told The Washington Post.
Seidman described Keys as someone with a sharp sense of humor who enjoyed playing the saxophone, the oboe and the bassoon in her spare time. “She was someone who always, always, managed to have fun,” Seidman said. “No matter what she was doing.”
Keys had been returning home from a work trip to Wichita, he said, adding that the couple had plans to celebrate both their birthdays, just days apart, over the weekend.
“It’s hard to imagine the hole that Liz left will ever be filled,” Seidman said. “She was such a star.”
Lori Schrock, 56, and her husband, Robert “Bob” Schrock, 58, are among those who died in the midair collision Wednesday.
The Schrocks lived in Kiowa, Kansas, about 90 miles southwest of Wichita near the Oklahoma border, where Bob Schrock was a farmer.
They were traveling from Wichita to Washington en route to see their daughter Ellie Schrock, a junior at Villanova University in Philadelphia.
Speaking to The Washington Post, Ellie Schrock said she was excited about seeing her parents this week and knew their flight number before she saw the tragic news on television.
A day before the deadly crash over the Potomac River, another flight en route to Reagan Washington National Airport had to avoid landing and go around due to helicopter traffic, according to air traffic control audio from LiveATC.net.
Republic Airways Flight 4514 reported having to make a go-around, when an aircrew decide not to continue a landing, on its way to the airport a day before the deadly crash.
Asked what the reason was for the go around, the pilot reported: “We had an RA with the helicopter traffic below us.”
RA refers to a resolution advisory, an emergency code used when an aircraft is told to perform a manoeuvre intended to provide separation from threats, or to maintain existing separation.
The jet landed safely at the airport at 8:11 p.m. local time that night, according to FlightAware.
Former Olympic figure skating medalist Dorothy Hamill spoke about the figure skaters who lost their lives in the midair collision in Washington, D.C.
“It’s tragic. I knew the coaches, I skated with them, and the camp that the youngsters were attending … they’re the future,” Hamill said.
Hamill said that the crash was reminiscent of the 1961 plane crash, where all 18 members of the U.S. Figure Skating Team heading from New York on Sabena Flight 548 to the World Championships in Prague crashed on approach in Brussels.
“These youngsters were our future of figure skating. So it’s going to take a long time to rebuild that,” the former Olympian added.
At least three and possibly a fourth of the victims of the D.C. midair plane collision had Russian passports, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said.
Among them were former world champions in pair skating on the Russian national team — Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — as well as the Soviet figure skater Inna Volyanskaya, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement today.
She added that a fourth person “could have had a Russian passport,” but that officials were still seeking clarity on that. Zakharova said Russia was not yet receiving “detailed answers” from the U.S. on questions regarding the crash.
The Russian Figure Skating Federation said it was “shocked and deeply saddened by the tragedy,” noting that some of the victims “were our compatriots and made a significant contribution to Russian figure skating back in the day.”
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said he was “devastated” to hear the news that at least three Delawareans — Sasha Kirsanov, Sean Kay and Angela Yang — had died in the plane collision.
“Sasha Kirsanov, Sean Kay, and Angela Yang went to Wichita to pursue their passion for figure skating. It is a tragedy that none of them returned home to our state,” he said last evening in X.
“My heart goes out to Sasha’s wife Natalia, the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club, and every other Delawarean touched by the three of them,” he added.
Nancy Kerrigan stepped to the microphone at The Boston Skating Club in Norwood, Massachusetts, visibly shaken.
Just hours earlier, she had heard the news of Wednesday night’s tragedy.
Six of the victims were affiliated with the Boston club: two coaches, two skaters and two mothers, according to CEO Doug Zeghibe. He said the group was returning home from the National Development Camp associated with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.
Kerrigan, a two-time Olympic figure skating medalist and alum of the club, spoke with tears running down her face.Read the full story here.
The skies last night were clear. The pilots were in communication with air traffic control, and, officials said, American Eagle Flight 5342 was on a standard descent to the runway in the busy airspace above the nation’s capital. Yet somehow, the passenger jet and an Army helicopter collided midair, bursting into flames and plunging into the Potomac River in the first major fatal commercial plane crash in the United States in 16 years.
Federal investigators are now searching for answers in what is expected to be a lengthy process. A number of factors, both technological and human-driven, could have played roles in the deadly accident, aviation experts say, including whether multilayered systems designed to stop collisions functioned properly.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation, which will also involve the Federal Aviation Administration and the Army. The painstaking process will include the collection of evidence from the scene, reviews of radio traffic and data on aircraft flight paths, communications with air traffic controllers and interviews with those controllers. Such investigations can take a year or longer to reach their conclusions, and the NTSB is the only agency authorized to provide an official cause for the crash.
They were minutes away from landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., when their plane collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac River.
In a horrible flash captured on video and seen around the world, the fates of all 60 passengers and four crew members aboard American Eagle Flight 5342 and the three soldiers on the Black Hawk helicopter were sealed.
The plane’s passengers included more than a dozen people returning from a training camp following the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, where the flight originated.
Two Chinese nationals were also on board, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said, citing preliminary information. The embassy did not identify the victims.
Read more about the victims here.
The military helicopter that collided with the regional jet was a UH-60 Black Hawk, considered the “workhorse” of Army aviation.
The helicopter is a “utility tactical transport” aircraft — used for everything from air assault to relief operations — that the Army says it has relied on for every major operation around the world for more than four decades.
First introduced in the Army in 1979, the aircraft is generally considered safe and has a strong track record for reliability and survivability in combat and transport missions, said Timothy A. Loranger, an aviation attorney and former aircraft mechanic.
Divers have searched all the areas that are accessible in the Potomac River, the Washington Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department said this evening.
“The investigation and recovery efforts remain active and our divers have searched all areas that are accessible,” the fire and EMS department said on X.
“Tomorrow, divers will work with NTSB to conduct additional searches to locate aircraft components, to support the investigation, and begin operations to salvage the aircraft.
“Overnight, boats will remain on scene for security and surface searches from local, state, and federal regional partners.”
Reporting from Washington, D.C.
The deadly crash of a regional jet and a Black Hawk helicopter brought memories of an air tragedy in Washington decades ago and the heroic actions of first responders and bystanders alike.
The union that represents the country’s air traffic controllers said today it joins all Americans in grief and prayer after last night’s crash.
“NATCA continues to work with all federal agencies regarding last night’s accident,” the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a statement.
“As we await more information from the ongoing investigations, our thoughts are with the passengers, crew, and military members and their families, as well as the first responders who were on scene,” it said.
“NATCA stands with the highly trained, highly skilled air traffic controller workforce and those who perform safety-critical work 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week, 365 days-a-year and keeps the United States as the gold standard for aviation safety,” the union said.
Though no cause of the crash has been determined yet and it is early in the investigation, Trump attacked DEI policies while discussing the tragedy today and claimed they affected the FAA and air traffic controllers.
Two Chinese nationals were among the 67 victims of the crash, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said, citing preliminary information.
“The Chinese Embassy extends deepest condolences to all the victims and sympathies to the bereaved families,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
The embassy did not identify the victims.
The embassy and China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched an “emergency response mechanism” following the collision.
“China has asked the U.S. to provide timely updates on the search and rescue efforts, identify the cause of the accident as soon as possible and handle the ensuing matters properly,” the ministry said in a statement. “We will provide necessary assistance to the families of the Chinese victims as they deal with the incident.”
Skate Quest coach Ross Lansel said his ex-wife is among those killed in the crash over the Potomac River. He said that while he grieves his own loss, his heart is breaking for all those who lost someone.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg today called Trump’s comments about the air disaster despicable and said the Biden administration grew the workforce of air traffic controllers.
“Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch,” Buttigieg wrote on X.
“President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again,” he wrote.
For 10-year-old Alexis Winch, the four friends and the ice skating coach she lost in last night’s air crash were not just teammates and a mentor at the Ashburn Ice House skate club.
“I looked after those people, and they were my inspiration,” Alexis told NBC Washington today.
The collision of a regional jet and military helicopter near Reagan National Airport killed 67 people in all, everyone aboard the two aircraft. The plane was coming from Wichita, Kansas, where a figure skating training camp had been held.
“I don’t know, it’s a roller coaster today,” Alexis’ father told NBC Washington outside the Ashburn Ice House.
“She said to my wife on the way to school this morning, ‘I don’t know how to feel,’” he said. “And we said, ‘Whatever you do, just try and feel.’ This is going to come out of her over the next couple of days. It’s not over yet.”Authorities have not released the identities of those killed in the disaster.
The American Association of People with Disabilities were among those who responded to Trump’s claims that workers with medical conditions may have been responsible for last night’s air disaster.
“FAA employees with disabilities did not cause last night’s tragic plane crash,” the group said.
“The investigation into the crash is still ongoing. It is extremely inappropriate for the President to use this tragedy to push an anti-diversity hiring agenda. Doing so makes all Americans less safe,” it said in a statement on X.
Earlier today, Trump appeared to blame past administrations in discussing the midair collision that killed 67 people, and he attacked DEI policies and mentioned the FAA and the air traffic controller workforce.
Trump said there had been “various articles that appeared prior to my entering office.”
He said one read: “The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative, spelled out on the agency’s website.”
Timothy Shriver, chair of the Special Olympics, posted that quote from Trump on Instagram in disputing his claim.
“Regarding President Trump’s comments that the FAA includes a focus on hiring people with severe intellectual disabilities and that the FAA wants individuals with severe disabilities to be air traffic controllers, to our knowledge, no persons with profound intellectual disabilities are employed as air traffic controllers in the U.S. or elsewhere,” Shriver wrote.
Two black boxes from the jet have been recovered, a source with knowledge of the investigation said.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said the NTSB told her that it expects to provide her office with the flight manifest tomorrow afternoon, once all of the passenger’s families have been notified.
At a news conference, Kelly also assured future airline passengers that “there’s probably no safer mode of transportation” than flying.
“When all is said and done, this one was probably an avoidable accident,” she said. “So people should carry on with their plans. It’s safe.”
Reporting from Reagan National Airport
Reagan National Airport resumed flight operations this morning, and last night’s deadly crash was top of minds — and hearts — of passengers at the airport today.
They are very aware of what happened and became emotional thinking about the tragedy.
“There’s no words to describe how sad it is to see something like,” said Rachel Hillock, who traveled to Washington today on a Southwest flight from Chicago with her two daughters.
They flew over the wreckage site on the Potomac River as they arrived.
Hundreds of flights into and out of the airport were canceled today.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the helicopter crew involved in the deadly crash at Reagan National was on an “annual proficiency training flight” when it collided with the American Eagle flight last night.
Daniel Driscoll, the military veteran and businessman whom Trump has nominated to lead the Army, said today at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee that conducting such training near an airport like Reagan might not be appropriate.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said at the hearing that last year had the most Class A flight mishap rates per 100,000 hours since 2007, according to the Army’s fiscal 2024 accident or mishap assessment released last month. She asked Driscoll what his strategy would be to try to keep training flights out of harm’s way.
Driscoll said the crash “is an absolute tragedy” and one that “seems to be preventable.”
“There are appropriate times to take risk, and there are inappropriate times to take risk,” he said. “I don’t know the details around this one, but after doing it, if confirmed, and working with this committee to figure out the facts, I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk, and it may not be near, at an airport like Reagan.”
The deaths of two young figure skaters, their mothers and a pair of coaches were tantamount to losing blood relatives, their Boston-based teammates said.
“We lost family members today,” Misha Mitrofanov, who teamed with Alisa Efimova to win the U.S. pairs championship, told reporters in Norwood, Massachusetts. “This is something that will take a lot of time for us to process, and it will never be the same. But they will always be remembered.”
Their Skating Club of Boston teammates Spencer Lane, 16, and Jinna Han, 13, were in Wichita for a special training camp targeting promising young skaters before they boarded an ill-fate flight home via Reagan National.
“Absolutely phenomenal,” Jimmy Ma, 29, who finished fifth at the nationals in Wichita last weekend, said of his clubmates. “Back when I was their age, they would blow me out of the water. Even Jinna at 13 years old, I couldn’t do anything, and she was already 10 times better than me.”
With no direct flights from Wichita to Boston, everyone took long multileg journeys home. Mitrofanov and Efimova had to go through Dallas, while Ma said he “flew all over the U.S. before I got back.”
The Army tracks its aviation branch mishaps, and according to its data there were more serious mishaps — involving deaths, disability or multimillion dollars of damage — last year than there were in any year of the previous decade.
Reporting from Washington, D.C.
Typically at Reagan Washington National Airport, the air traffic control tower has one controller for planes and one controller for helicopters.
Last night, however, there were not two controllers in the tower, sources said. Instead, one controller was handling both planes and choppers, which is allowed under FAA standards but is not the ideal scenario.
Questions are surfacing about the level of staffing, given the volume of traffic last night at the airport.
The NTSB is methodical in the way it handles investigations, and typically a definitive cause in an incident is not determined for 12 months.
Reporting from Wichita, Kansas
Many in the Wichita community are in complete and utter shock since last night’s deadly crash of a jet that originated in the Kansas city. Many here say they haven’t been able to sleep.
The city of about 500,000 people had recently hosted the Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championship, which had been a point of pride for the city. More than a dozen athletes and members of the figure skating community were on the doomed flight.
As Wichita learns the identities of those who were killed, a standing-room-only group gathered for a vigil today to offer support, condolences and prayers for those affected by the deadly crash.
Many say the pain will linger for some time.
Speaking to reporters in the White House Briefing Room, Trump today implied that diversity, equity and inclusion policies within the FAA — policies he ordered an end to last week — contributed to the deadly plane collision.
“A group within the FAA determined that the workforce was too white, then they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately,” Trump said.
When reporters asked how he could determine that diversity had something to do with the crash while the investigation is in the early stages, he replied, “Because I have common sense.”
Trump’s comments quickly drew condemnation from the NAACP, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and a former investigator for the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
NTSB leaders said they will take a “careful approach” in their investigation and “look at all the humans that were involved in this accident.”
Meanwhile, some Democrats in Congress said the crash illustrates their concerns that the air traffic in Washington’s sky is too congested, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said, “Clearly, this was a confluence of errors.”
Investigators gather pieces of wreckage along the Potomac River today. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP – Getty Images
- American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided midair with an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three people last night as the commercial airliner was attempting to land at Reagan Washington National Airport.
- All 67 people on both aircraft are presumed dead, Washington Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said today.
- Emergency personnel are trying to recover remains from the Potomac River.
- A cause has not been determined. National Transportation Safety Board leaders said the agency will issue a preliminary report within 30 days.
- Victims on the American Airlines flight included Russian Olympic figure skaters, youth skaters and their parents, and Skating Club of Boston coaches, who were returning from a national development camp in Wichita.
- Members of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Steamfitters Local 602, which is based in the Washington area, were on board, as well. Suburban school districts in Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia also said members of their communities were among the victims.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the helicopter crew was “fairly experienced,” that it belonged to a battalion at a nearby Army base in Virginia and that it was on an “annual proficiency training flight.”
- A full list of the victims’ names has not been released.
