Deadly aircraft collision investigation continues
Officials on Tuesday confirmed that the remains of all 67 victims from a midair collision near Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport have been recovered. The removal of wreckage from the Potomac River is ongoing.
WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board is examining new data that may indicate the Black Hawk helicopter involved in a fatal midair collision with American Airlines Flight 5342 near Washington, D.C. was above its 200-foot flight ceiling at the time of the crash.
READ MORE: Deadly aircraft collision investigation continues amid wreckage removal
NTSB investigates altitude data
What we know:
In an update on Tuesday, NTSB officials stated that they had been provided with information from Potomac TRACON, the air traffic control facility overseeing the airspace around Ronald Reagan National Airport. “The TRACON fuses information from multiple radar sensors and ADS-B data, providing the best quality flight track data to air traffic control,” NTSB officials explained online. “This data showed the Black Hawk was at 300 feet on the air traffic control display at the time of the collision. This data is rounded to the nearest 100 feet.”
Remains of all 67 victims of DC plane crash recovered
Every person who died in the aircraft collision last week at Reagan National airport has been recovered as of Tuesday. According to Unified Command, which is overseeing the recovery efforts, 66 of the remains have been positively identified. Unified Command includes DC Fire and EMS, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police and Fire Departments, fire and police departments across the National Capital Region, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Data verification and recovery
Officials emphasized the need for additional information to verify data points from the helicopter. Efforts to recover the helicopter’s wreckage from the Potomac River are ongoing.
Cockpit voice recorders
What’s next:
In the meantime, maintenance paperwork for both the plane and helicopter remains under review, the NTSB said, while investigators continue to transcribe cockpit voice recorders for both aircraft. According to the Associated Press, the flight recorder from the jet showed its altitude as 325 feet, with a margin of error of plus or minus 25 feet.
The midair collision occurred on January 29 around 845 p.m. as the plane was about to land at Reagan National, killing everyone on board both aircraft.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Associated Press, and FOX 5 reporting.
