Monday, Feb 3, 2025 6:27 AMUpdated Monday, Feb. 3, 2025 8:42 AM
The sun rises above a wreckage site in the Potomac River across from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Crews began removing wreckage from the Potomac River from last week’s deadly plane collision between an airliner and an Army helicopter. The midair crash was the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001.
Authorities have recovered and identified 55 of the 67 people killed in the crash and Washington, D.C., Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly has said they are confident all will be found. Crews early Monday could be seen aboard a vessel with a crane.
More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at any given time, officials said. Two Navy barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreckage.
Divers and salvage workers are adhering to strict protocols and will stop moving debris if a body is found, Col. Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers said Sunday. The “dignified recovery” of remains takes precedence over all else, he said.
Portions of the two aircraft that collided over the river Wednesday night near Reagan Washington National Airport — an American Airlines jet with 64 people aboard and an Army Black Hawk helicopter with 3 aboard — will be loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to a hangar for investigation.
The crash occurred when the jet, en route from Wichita, Kansas, was about to land. The Black Hawk was on a training mission. There were no survivors.
On Sunday, family members were taken in buses with a police escort to the Potomac River bank near where the two aircraft came to rest after colliding.
The plane’s passengers included figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were in the helicopter.
Federal investigators were working to piece together the events that led to the collision. Full investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.
Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.
Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed reporting.
The sun rises and a jet lifts off above a wreckage site in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rescue and salvage crews with cranes work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. . (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rescue and salvage crews with cranes work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
In this undated image provided by the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB investigators and members of the salvage crew recover wreckage from the Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines jet Wednesday night, Jan. 29, 2025, near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va. (NTSB via AP)
In this undated image provided by the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB investigators and members of the salvage crew recover wreckage from the Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines jet Wednesday night, Jan. 29, 2025, near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va. (NTSB via AP)
In this undated image provided by the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB investigators examine a flight data recorder recovered from the wreckage of a mid-air collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet Wednesday night, Jan. 29, 2025, near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va. (NTSB via AP)
Family members of the victims of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter gather at the end of runway 33 near the wreckage site in the Potomac River at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Family members of the victims of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter gather at the end of runway 33 near the wreckage site in the Potomac River at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
An American Airlines jet passes as police officers escort buses carrying family members of the victims of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter to runway 33 near the wreckage site in the Potomac River at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Young skates visit a memorial along the boards at MedStar Capitals Iceplex Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va., for the figure skaters who were among the 67 victims of a mid-air collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Kansas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Families of the victims of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter stand near the wreckage site in the Potomac River at the end of the runway 33 from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Police officers escort buses carrying family members of the victims of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter to runway 33 near the wreckage site in the Potomac River at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Family members of the victims of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter walk to the end of runway 33 near the wreckage site in the Potomac River at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
An American Eagle jet passes as rescue and salvage crews work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Buses carrying family members of the victims of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter arrive to runway 33 near the wreckage site in the Potomac River at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Families of the victims of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter stand near the wreckage site in the Potomac River at the end of the runway 33 from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Rescue and salvage crews with cranes work near the wreckage of an American Airlines jet in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A memorial is seen along the boards at MedStar Capitals Iceplex Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va., for the figure skaters who were among the 67 victims of a mid-air collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Kansas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
A memorial is seen along the boards at MedStar Capitals Iceplex Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025, in Arlington, Va., for the figure skaters who were among the 67 victims of a mid-air collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight from Kansas. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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