Family members visit the crash site on the banks of the Potomac River, where American Airlines flight 5342 collided with a US Army military helicopter, at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on February 2, 2025.
Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The remains of all 67 people killed in Wednesday’s collision of an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River have been recovered, officials said Tuesday. Sixty-six of them have been identified, the D.C. Fire and EMS department said.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation, said Tuesday that the air traffic control tower display showed the helicopter at about 300 feet at the time of the collision. That is above the maximum altitude of 200 feet helicopters in the area are authorized to fly at under Federal Aviation Administration rules, but the NTSB cautioned it needs more information that will come from the Black Hawk once it’s recovered from the water.
Rescue responders had been working over the past several days to remove wreckage from the airplane, a Bombardier CRJ-700. Crews have so far lifted out the right wing, center fuselage, parts of the front of the cabin, tail cone and other parts.
American Airlines Flight 5342, operated by its regional subsidiary PSA Airlines, was seconds away from landing at Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport when it collided with the helicopter, killing all 64 people on board the plane and three military crew on the Black Hawk. The helicopter was on a training mission, officials said.
It was the deadliest U.S. air crash since 2001 and the first deadly major passenger airline crash in the U.S. in nearly 16 years.
Investigators are still probing the cause of the collision. The NTSB said it has interviewed air traffic controllers on duty that night, including the person who was working at the time of the collision.
The NTSB has recovered the two data recorders from the American plane as well as the recorder from the Black Hawk.
“NTSB investigators continue to transcribe the cockpit voice recorders for both aircraft,” the NTSB said Tuesday. “Synchronization work for the Black Hawk flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder is ongoing.”
The FAA on Friday restricted helicopters from flying in the area near the airport indefinitely.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom told employees in a note Tuesday that the company would hold a moment of silence Wednesday to mark a week since the crash.
“Caring for and supporting everyone affected by this tragedy remains our top priority,” said Isom, who traveled to Wichita, Kansas, where the flight originated, to visit with local employees and officials.
While air crashes are extremely rare, American said it operates a so-called CARE Team for such rare disasters.
The team is made up of about 2,000 employees who volunteer from across the company, according to the airline. They are trained by the carrier’s emergency planning and response teams to help victims’ family members and provide information from the company. They also coordinate travel arrangements; arrange child, elder or pet care; assist with logistics, such as getting changes of clothing, toiletries and transportation; and listen to affected family members, the airline said.
American’s COO David Seymour and other operations staff members were in Washington, D.C., this week to support that team, Isom said.
“Our CARE Team has stepped up in a significant way in the wake of this unimaginable tragedy, and I’m so proud of everything they are doing,” he wrote.
