US authorities said yesterday it was not yet clear why a regional jet crashed into a US Army helicopter at a Washington airport, killing 67 people in the deadliest US air disaster in more than 20 years.
President Donald Trump said, without providing evidence, that federal diversity efforts could have been a factor, reiterating a theme that has become a focus of his presidency. Rights groups and Democrats accused him of politicising the disaster. The investigation into the crash in the nation’s capital has just begun. The American Airlines Bombardier carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with the Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River as it prepared to land at Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night. The names of all the victims have not yet been released, but they included a number of promising young figure skaters and people from Kansas, where the flight originated.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both aircraft had been flying standard flight patterns and there had been no breakdown in communication.
“Everything was routine up to the point of the accident,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin told Reuters. Washington’s primary airport is located just across the river in Virginia.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said they were just beginning their work and would have a preliminary report within 30 days. They said they had not yet recovered the “black boxes” on the aircraft that record flight data.
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“This is an all hands on deck event,” chair Jennifer Homendy told a Press conference.
At the White House, Trump criticised the helicopter pilots and suggested air traffic controllers were to blame.
“We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas,” he said.
Radio communications show that air traffic controllers alerted the helicopter about the approach jet and ordered it to change course.
However, a shortage of air traffic controllers in the US in recent years has spurred safety concerns. At several facilities, controllers work mandatory overtime and six-day work weeks to cover shortages. The Federal Aviation Administration has about 3,000 fewer controllers than it says it needs.
The New York Times reported that a preliminary FAA review found that a controller at the airport was handling both helicopter and plane traffic at the time of the crash, though those jobs typically are split up.
Airspace is frequently crowded in the US capital region, home to three commercial airports and several major military facilities, and officials have raised concerns about busy runways at Reagan National Airport. There have been several near-miss incidents at the airport that have sparked alarm, including a near-collision in May 2024.
Trump accused his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden of lowering hiring standards and suggested the Federal Aviation Administration’s diversity push could have weakened its capabilities.
Asked if the crash was caused by diversity hiring, he said: “It just could have been.” The Trump administration has not provided any proof to back these assertions, and there is no evidence that efforts to make the federal workforce more diverse have compromised air safety.
“I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river,” an air traffic controller says.
Webcam video of the crash showed the collision and an explosion lighting up the night sky.
Passengers on the flight included ice skaters, family and coaches returning from events in Wichita, Kansas, including Russian-born former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
“We have been told that there are no survivors. We mourn with all those who have been impacted,” Wichita mayor Lily Wu said at a news conference.
The skaters on board were returning from a training camp in Wichita, governing body US Figure Skating said. “Skating is a very close-knit and tight community,” said a tearful Doug Zeghibe of the Skating Club of Boston, where Shishkova and Naumov coached. Two teenage skaters affiliated with the club and their mothers were also aboard the plane, he told reporters. “We have lost family,” he said.
Russia’s Mash news outlet published a list of 13 skaters, many of them the children of Russian emigres to the US, who it said were believed to have been on the plane.
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