Transport Secretary Sean Duffy claims a horror mid-air plane crash over Washington DC was ‘preventable’, while American Airlines appeared to blame the pilot of a military helicopter that strayed into its path.
Sixty passengers, four crew, and three US Army personnel are believed to be dead after the collision 400ft over the Potomac River.
The American Airlines plane smashed into a US Army Black Hawk helicopter as it came into land at Reagan National Airport just before 9pm on Wednesday.
Passengers aboard Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, included members of the US figure skating team who were returning from the US Figure Skating Championships.
The aircraft collided in a huge fireball that was visible on dashcams of cars driving on highways that snake past the airport, and crashed into the Potomac River.
The helicopter was flying a training sortie and cut through the airspace from the opposite direction under cover of darkness, with both aircraft seemingly unaware of the other’s presence.
More than 300 first responders and rescue workers were deployed to the Potomac on inflatable boats while others erected searchlights to illuminate the murky waters in a desperate hunt for survivors.
At least 28 bodies have been pulled from the water as rescuers worked through the night in the vain hope of finding survivors.
Officials now believe no one survived, and the focus of the search is recovering the bodies and notifying families.
Transport Secretary claims crash was ‘preventable’ as AA boss blames helicopter
By Nic White
American Airlines chief executive Robert Isom appeared to blame the US Army Black Hawk pilot for being in the wrong place.
‘At this time, we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path of the PSA aircraft,’ he said.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy agreed with President Donald Trump that the crash was preventable.
‘It was, I would say, standard communication, so there was not a breakdown, if that’s your question, in communication between the military helicopter and the American airline flight. There was communication between the aircraft and the tower,’ he said.
‘I would say that the helicopter was aware that the plane was in the area.
‘We are going to wait for all the information to come in from this vantage point, but… what I’ve seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely.’
Duffy said both the military helicopter and the airliner were flying a ‘standard fight pattern’ like hundreds of flights before.
‘This was a clear night last night; the helicopter was in the standard pattern. If you live in the DC area, you will see helicopters up and down the river,’ he said.
‘The American Airline flight coming in to land was in a standard flight pattern as it was coming into DCA, so this was not unusual with a military aircraft flying the river and aircraft landing at DCA.’
Transportation Secretary says DC plane crash ‘was preventable’