Feb. 4 (UPI) — Recovery crews completed the removal of all 67 bodies from the remnants of the Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Eagle Flight 5342 Bombardier CRJ700 jet on Tuesday.
With all bodies recovered, crews are focused on recovering the rest of the wreckage created when the helicopter and airliner collided Wednesday evening, National Transportation Safety Board officials told media.
There were no survivors in the air collision that occurred over the Potomac River as the airliner’s pilots were attempting to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
The airliner carried 64 people while the helicopter carried a crew of three. None survived the collision that caused both aircraft to land in the Potomac River.
The NTSB and the Naval Sea Systems Command Supervisor of Salvage and Diving have been working to recover the airliner and its passengers and will recover the helicopter sometime this week, the NTSB said in a crash investigation update on Tuesday.
Recovery crews on Tuesday removed the plane’s right wing, center fuselage, part of the left wing and left fuselage, significant portions of the forward cabin and cockpit, vertical and horizontal stabilizers, tail cone, rudder, elevators, TCAS computer and quick-access recorder, the NTSB announced.
The NTSB is moving the recovered wreckage to a secure location where investigators will lay out the various pieces for further examination.
With all bodies and most of the airliner recovered from the river, the NTSB is verifying data and will not comment further on the matter until more information is available, CNN reported.
“NTSB is not planning any additional on-scene media briefings on the Jan. 29 midair collision near DCA. NTSB needs additional information to verify data points from the Black Hawk,” NTSB officials said Tuesday in a post on X.
“In order to obtain this information, the Black Hawk needs to be recovered from the water, which is expected to take place later this week,” NTSB officials said.
Current data shows the helicopter was at an elevation of 300 feet when it collided with the airliner whose pilots were attempting to land it on Runway 33 at the airport.
“NTSB needs additional information to verify data points from the Black Hawk,” NTSB officials said. “In order to obtain this information, the Black Hawk needs to be recovered from the water, which is expected to take place later this week.”
NTSB investigators are continuing to transcribe the cockpit voice recorders from both aircraft and are continuing to synchronize data from the Black Hawk’s flight data recorder and its cockpit voice recorder.
The helicopter’s flight data recorder did not include timestamps, so crash investigators are manually recreating them, which NTSB officials said will take time to accomplish.
