As the nation reeled from the deadliest American aviation disaster in more than two decades, President Donald Trump on Thursday baselessly blamed diversity initiatives for undermining air safety. (AP Video: Mike Pesoli)
Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association said the union’s accident investigation team was on the scene working with the National Transportation Safety Board, and its Critical Incident Response Program was working to support union members and the families involved in the collision.
“We mourn the loss of our friends, colleagues, and members of our ALPA and Association of Flight Attendants union family,” he said.
Ambrosi reiterated in a statement what the NTSB has said — the investigation must have the time to do its work.
“A lot of details and speculation will come out in response to this tragedy, but we must remember to let the investigation run its course,” he said.
One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration obtained by The Associated Press.
The configuration was “not normal,” the report said, but a person familiar with the matter said the staffing at the air traffic control tower on Wednesday night was at a normal level. The positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, are in the process of a shift change, or air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.
Former skaters, including Olympian Nancy Kerrigan, mourning plane crash victims
The leadership of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus has also criticized President Trump for his attempts to blame DEI policies for the collision, calling it “despicable.”
“President Trump has made baseless claims that seek to blame people of color for this horrific tragedy. It is despicable,” read the statement from the congressional caucus. “We don’t need racist lies, we need answers, and a leader who will put aside partisan politics to unite our country. President Trump has failed to meet this moment. The American people deserve better.”
The Federal Aviation Administration has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers and identified fatigue as a factor that might lead to mistakes.
After a number of highly publicized close calls between planes that were following orders from control towers, the FAA said last summer that it would increase the minimum time controllers get between shifts starting this year.
An agreement between the agency and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association called for 10 hours off between shifts, 12 hours off before and after a midnight shift, and a limit on consecutive overtime assignments.
Although then-FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in September that the agency had met its 2024 goal of hiring 1,800 controllers, airline executives said they expected the problem to persist.
The cause of Wednesday night’s crash is under investigation. A preliminary FAA report obtained by The Associated Press said one air traffic controller was working two positions at the time.
A traveler whose airplane was rerouted to a different airport shortly after the fatal aircraft collision near Washington D.C. is reflecting on the life-and-death situation he and other passengers almost faced. (AP Video: Nathan Ellgren)
A traveler whose airplane was rerouted to a different airport shortly after the fatal aircraft collision near Washington, D.C., is digesting the life-and-death situation he and other passengers almost faced.
Charlie Nash spoke to the Associated Press at Reagan National Airport after getting a free taxi from a small airport in Charlottesville, Virginia, where his flight was diverted, saying, “That could have been us if it had been a matter of seconds, minutes at most. That could have been us.”
“Your drive to the airport is riskier than your flight from the airport,” said Michael McCormick, an assistant professor and program coordinator for air traffic management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. “Aviation remains, in spite of what happened yesterday night, the safest mode of transportation in the United States.”
Hassan Shahidi, president and CEO of Flight Safety Foundation, also stressed how rare this kind of deadly accident is.
“This should have never happened. It is absolutely preventable,” Shahidi said, adding that he and others will continue to follow the NTSB’s investigation into the exact cause of the collision to help ensure that it never happens again.
Part of that might come down to modernization and additional resources, he said.
“We have highly trained air traffic controllers all over the country. We have highly trained pilots all over the country. They’re doing their jobs well,” he said. “But we also need to understand what else is needed — in terms of technology, in terms of modernization of the air traffic control system, in terms of additional personnel and training support.”
A group of Black lawmakers issued a statement mourning the lives of those killed in the D.C. plane collision and blasting Trump’s comments that diversity, equity and inclusion efforts were at fault.
“It is our hope that the outpour of condolences and support from people across our nation will bring solace during this season of bereavement,” said Rep. Yvette Clark, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. “However, the opportunity to fully focus our sympathies on those who are in mourning and who may not have even retrieved their dearly departed was marred by a truly disgusting and disgraceful display of racist political prognostication.”
President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The group added that diversity efforts “are American values” that “work to benefit all Americans who have been traditionally kept out of opportunities.
▶ Read more about Trump’s DEI comments
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asks the helicopter if it has the arriving plane in sight: “PAT-25, do you have the CRJ in sight?” The controller makes another radio call to PAT25 moments later: “PAT-25 pass behind the CRJ.”
The Army saw 15 flight and two ground Class A incidents in fiscal year 2024, according to safety data obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act and a January 2025 Army aviation safety report.
Class A incidents are any aviation accident that results in the destruction of the aircraft, deaths of service members or more than $2.5 million in damage to the airframe.
In a briefing with Pentagon reporters Thursday, Army aviation Chief of Staff Jonathan Koziol said the spike in incidents last year had prompted the Army to do a safety stand-down, in which units pause flight operations to evaluate safety procedures “to not allow these types of incidents to happen,” Koziol said.
President Donald Trump signs a document in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
He says the presidential memorandum on aviation safety will undo “damage” done to related federal agencies by the Biden administration.
The president singled out policies meant to promote diversity and inclusion by the Biden White House and of the administrations of other Democrats, saying, “What they’ve done is disgraceful.”
Signing the memorandum in the Oval Office, Trump repeated — without evidence — his past assertions that federal diversity programs contributed to a helicopter and a regional jet colliding near Washington, D.C.
He said the memorandum can help ensure that “we have very strong people running” key aviation agencies.
Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, wrote in a statement that “it would be premature to speculate on the root cause of this accident.”
“We will wait for the National Transportation Safety Board to complete its work and use that information to help guide decisions and changes to enhance and improve aviation safety,” he continued.
Daniels also offered condolences for those affected by “the tragic loss of life.”
The city has major manufactures, like Spirit AeroSystems, along with a network of more than 350 suppliers in the region and 450 statewide, according to an economic development agency in the city called the Greater Wichita Partnership.
That’s according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration that was obtained by The Associated Press.
The report says one air traffic controller was working two positions at the time of the crash.
“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report says.
Moran said he’s appreciated the “thoroughness” of the National Transportation Safety Board in the past and is looking to the agency for answers about what caused the deadliest American aviation disaster in more than two decades.
“The facts matter,” Moran said. “NTSB will be the original provider of facts.”
FILE – U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., speaks during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing May 3, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
He pledged further investigation by Senate panels on transportation and aviation once more is known about the crash as a flight from Wichita, Kansas, was landing at Washington Reagan National Airport.
“We need to make certain, as I said earlier, that every American is safe to fly (and) they know they’re safe to fly,” Moran said.
“That’s what you’d expect from President Trump,” Marshall, who represents Kansas, said. “On the other hand, we just had a phone call with the National Transportation Safety Board and FAA, and all they would say is we’ll get back to you. And I’m telling Kansans, this is unacceptable.”
Officials haven’t yet established the causes of the Washington, D.C., collision, and Trump himself has acknowledged it’s too soon to draw conclusions.
Asked whether he agrees with Trump’s speculation that diversity contributed to the crash, Marshall said he has “no idea.”
“Certainly, I want air traffic controllers, just like my pilots, to be there because of their merit, not because of anything else,” Marshall said. “And so I certainly agree with President Trump.”
“It was a very quick, rapid impact,” he said.
That isn’t unusual for crashes underwater, National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said.
“We know they’re there. They are underwater,” she said. “We have many times recovered flight data recorders in water.”
“We do have a lot of information but we need some time to verify it,” she said.
Some are still arriving in Washington, he said.
“Now, we will not be determining the probable cause of the accident while we are here on scene. Nor will we speculate about what may have caused this accident,” Inman said.
“Our mission is to understand not just what happened but why it happened, and to recommend changes to prevent it from happening again,” Inman said at a Thursday afternoon news conference.
“We’re here to assure the American people that we are going to leave no stone unturned in this investigation,” she said at a news conference Thursday afternoon at Reagan National Airport.
She also said there were nearly 50 people on scene from the NTSB.
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy, center, speaks during a press conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Cruz, a Texas Republican, said he was briefed by the NTSB chairman and senior FAA leaders and said there are still questions about why the helicopter was traveling at a certain altitude and if if the helicopter pilot was looking at the wrong plane.
“We have a very serious investigation that proceeds and that is driven by the facts and evidence,” he said. “I think it is a mistake to speculate until we see what the evidence demonstrates.”
When asked by reporters what he thought about President Trump blaming the collision on diversity measures, Marshall deflected, saying his focus was on the families of the victims, who he planned to meet with Thursday night.
He said officials briefed him and other lawmakers that the military helicopter did not have a transponder that was working to communicate with air traffic control or the commercial jet.
“Why would we be letting military helicopters or police helicopters in this very busy airspace without that transponder working properly?” Marshall said.
The Thursday vigil held in the Wichita City Council chambers saw leaders from many faiths offer prayers and messages of hope for those killed in the crash and their survivors.
“We will get through this, but the only way we will get through this is together,” said the Rev. Dr. Pamela, who leads the St. Paul AME Church in Wichita.
In Barrington, Rhode Island, Ken Block is serving as a spokesperson for the family of Christine Lane and her 16-year-old son, Spencer.
“Christine and Spencer were doing something that they both truly loved, which was the skating, which Spencer had pretty much devoted his life to,” he said.
This recent handout photograph provided by The Skating Club of Boston shows club skater Spencer Lane, who died in an airplane collision with a helicopter on Jan. 29, 2025 in Washington. (The Skating Club of Boston photograph via AP)
“Mr. Lane is very interested in communicating a lot more about the lives of Christine and Spencer but right now he’s consumed with getting himself to DC, so we’re asking for just a little bit of space so that he can put his head around the last 16 hours.”
Earlier Thursday, Douglas Lane told WPRI-TV he and his wife adopted their two sons from South Korea. He described Spencer, the elder son, as a “force of nature” who was loved by everyone.
She was joined by another Olympic skater Tenley Albright and others.
“We just wanted to be here and be part of our community,” Kerrigan said, her voice breaking several times as she talked to reporters.
“It’s just such a tragic event and we’ve been through tragedies before as Americans, as people, and we are strong, and I guess it’s how we respond to it,” she said. “So, my response was to be with the people I care about and love. I needed support so that’s why I’m here. I don’t know. A little bit at a time.”
Search and rescue efforts are seen around a wreckage site in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, early Thursday morning, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Robert Clifford is an aviation attorney involved in numerous airline disaster cases, including the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes. He said the Department of Transportation, the Defense Department and the FAA should call for an immediate, temporary halt to all military helicopters in the airspace used by commercial airlines going into Reagan.
“I can’t get over how stunningly clear it is that this was a preventable crash and this should never, ever have occurred,” Clifford said.
“There have been discussions for some time about the congestion associated with that and the potential for disaster. And we saw it come home last night,” Clifford said.
The Democratic senator, who’s flown Army helicopters, criticized President Trump, who she said was “clueless” for already assigning blame.
“It is pretty sad that the commander-in-chief, at a time when family members of those military aircrew members just lost their loves one … to immediately start blaming and questioning the competence of the crew members in that aircraft.”
Duckworth, also ranking member of a Senate subcommittee on aviation safety, said she had calls with the FAA and NTSB.
That’s according to Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation. The instructor pilot was evaluating the second pilot — who was also qualified as a pilot in command — for that night training flight and the pilot who was being evaluated had about 500 flight hours, Koziol said.
And they were not new to the unit or the congested flying that occurs daily around Washington, D.C., said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation.
“Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them,” Koziol said. “Even the crew chief in the back has been in the unit for a very long time, very familiar with the area, very familiar with the routing structure.”
The maximum altitude where the Black Hawk was at the time of the crash — along a published corridor called Route 4 — was 200 feet above ground, Koziol said. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the White House on Thursday that elevation seemed to be a factor in the crash.
Koziol said investigators need to analyze the flight data before making any conclusions as to altitude.
The crash of an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter was the latest to strike the sports world in the U.S. and globally.
Among the passengers were several members of the Skating Club of Boston who were returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. They included teenage figure skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, their mothers and two highly regarded Russian-born figure skating coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. All 64 people on board were feared dead.
Air travel accidents in sports are rare, but they have had devastating impacts on national programs, amateur teams and professional clubs.
▶ Read more about plane crashes and sports teams
Officials said the remains will be at Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. That office coordinates the dignified transfer of fallen service members.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet announced. No identities of the crew have been released.
President Donald Trump is suggesting that the Federal Aviation Administration’s diversity efforts has made air travel less safe. The president asserted his opinion in a news conference, even though the crash has yet to be fully investigated.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Sean Duffy, the new transportation secretary, is facing his first major crisis just hours after his swearing-in.
Duffy, who was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, quickly emerged as a public face of the federal government’s response to the deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, the closest airport to Washington, D.C. An Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members Wednesday night while the plane was landing, sending it careening into the frigid Potomac River. All onboard are feared dead in what’s shaping up to be the deadliest U.S. air crash in decades.
“Our new Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy — his second day on the job when that happened. That’s a rough one,” Trump said as they appeared together during a White House briefing Thursday.
▶ Read more about Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy
It was announced by the school district’s superintendent.
Mental health professionals will be available at schools, Superintendent Aaron Spence said in a letter to families and staff.
“This unimaginable loss has deeply affected our community, and with great sorrow, we have learned that multiple victims were former LCPS students,” Spence said.
Usually, papal telegrams of condolence are signed by the Vatican secretary of state. But Thursday’s note was signed by the pope himself and said Francis expressed his spiritual closeness to all those affected.
“I offer my deepest sympathies to the families who are now mourning the loss of a loved one. I likewise pray for those involved in the recovery efforts,” read the telegram.
And the American Airlines jet also appeared to be too high initially for where they were on their final approach to the runway, based on an analysis of published route maps and radar data.
The published maximum FAA altitude for Route 4 at that point in the route — near Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the Potomac River — is 200 feet above ground level.
A radar track posted online late Wednesday showed the helicopter at 300 feet above ground level at the time of the collision. However, the radar data posted online hasn’t been independently verified. In his remarks at the White House, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also said an “elevation issue” seemed to play a role in the crash.
The two Russian figure skating coaches killed in the American Airlines crash were two-time Olympians and former world champions in the pairs event.
They were also a married couple with a son who finished fourth last week at the U.S. national championships in Wichita, Kansas. Their son was not on the same flight.
Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov won a world championship title together in pairs skating in 1994 and narrowly missed out on Olympic medals that year at the Lillehammer Games before moving to the U.S. and coaching generations of young skaters in New England.
After their son Maxim Naumov skated at the national championships, the 52-year-old Shishkova and her 55-year-old husband stayed in Wichita for a development camp for some of the most promising young skaters in the country.
▶ Read more about the skating coaches
“It was just grotesque the way he immediately politicized this terrible tragedy,” said the senator, who’s a Democrat.
Van Hollen noted the way Trump started “pointing fingers” without knowing the facts of the situation.
“He owes the American people an apology,” he said.
“As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying,” Buttigieg posted on X shortly after the president’s White House news conference.
He noted that when he led the agency, it “had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.”
That followed Trump sharply criticizing Buttigieg and even resorting to profanity to denounce what he called Democratic-led efforts to promote diversity at federal agencies.
Trump said Buttigieg at the transportation department, had “run it right into the ground with his diversity.”
Employees and officials gather around the new Bombardier CRJ700 during roll out ceremonies Friday, May 28, 1999 in Montreal. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bombardier is now headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, and the plane was certified in the city, said Jim Howell, a commissioner for Sedgwick County, which includes Wichita.
He spent two decades working in flight testing, including a stint with Bombardier in the early 1990s.
“There’s a lot of connections to this plane. There’s a lot of connections to Bombardier as a company. We have a lot of employees who work for Bombardier who are still involved in testing and maintaining those types of planes here in Wichita,” Howell said.
▶ Read more about the aircraft involved in the collision
The president opened his news conference with a moment of silence honoring the crash victims. But then he used most of his time at the podium to cast political blame rather than call for healing after the tragedy.
Without evidence, Trump blamed air traffic controllers, the helicopter pilots and Democratic policies at federal agencies.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said when asked if he was getting ahead of himself.
The news conference went nearly 40 minutes and Trump said officials would be releasing a full list of victims.
But he also said that who was killed wouldn’t affect the investigation into what occurred. “The names of the people who were on the plane, you think that’s going to make a difference?,” Trump asked.
“It’s one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracy theories, it’s another for the president of the United States,” Schumer said at the Capitol.
Schumer of New York said he’s been briefed on the crash and is monitoring the situation.
The Wichita airport showed no signs of the crash other than a few journalists waiting for information and taking photos and video.
Passengers checked in and went through security screenings quietly and no families of potential crash victims were present Thursday morning.
Sean Duffy, Trump’s new transportation secretary who also spoke at the White House press briefing, was sworn in just hours before the crash.
“For sure, we want fast confirmations,” Trump said. “The Democrats, as you know, are doing everything they can to delay. They’ve taken too long. We’re struggling to get very good people that everybody knows are going to be confirmed. We’re struggling to get them out faster.”
He said Duffy’s confirmation took longer than it should have.
Asked if Americans should be worried about flying after the crash, Trump said they should not and that he himself was not.
“I would not hesitate to fly,” the president said. He added, “Flying is very safe.”
According to the FAA, Trump is scheduled to fly to Palm Beach, Florida, where his Mar-a-Lago club is located, for the weekend on Friday.
President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
“For some jobs,” Trump said, singling out air traffic controllers. “They have to be at the highest level of genius.”
Trump blamed previous administrations’ efforts to promote diversity at federal agencies for contributing to the crash even though the crash has yet to be fully investigated and there has been no determination as to whether the FAA did anything wrong.
