All of the “major” pieces of wreckage from the collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines Flight 5342 have been cleared from the Potomac River, officials said.
The recovered pieces were moved to “a secure airport facility for further examination and documentation,” the National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday. The federal agency previously announced that what remains of the military helicopter had been pulled out of the river late last week.
It has been more than a week since the Black Hawk and commercial flight crashed midair, killing 64 people on the American Airlines flight and three people aboard the helicopter.
On the night of Jan. 29, the American Airlines flight was traveling to Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, from Wichita, Kansas.
At least 28 of the 60 passengers were coming back from a figure skating training camp that followed the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, according to U.S. Figure Skating. Many of those included young Olympic hopefuls, their family members and coaches.
The Black Hawk was conducting a training mission from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, officials said.
It’s still unclear what caused the collision.
A cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder were recovered from the plane and taken for evaluation. All of the data from the plane’s devices is expected to be recovered, officials said.
According to the NTSB, the air traffic control display showed that the helicopter appeared to be flying at 300 feet at the time of the collision. That’s 100 feet above the 200-foot ceiling generally required under federal aviation rules for helicopters.
The board said it needed additional information from the Black Hawk wreckage to verify its flight track data.
