Salvage crews remove large portion of commercial jet from river after deadly air collision near DC
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Updated: 3:23 PM CST Feb 3, 2025
All right. Hey, good afternoon, um, Colonel Frank Pera from the US Army Corps of Engineering Bos District. I'm uh. Following up on yesterday's update as far as our progress on the wreckage recovery for this plane crash here at Reagan National, we continue to be mindful of those impacted by this tragic incident, the families and the loved ones who lost their lives, but also the first responders in our local, state, and federal partners who are working diligently on scene. The scenes to support the rescue and recovery efforts. Yesterday I provided some insight into our salvage operations as well as the iterative cycle that we've used to make sure that we're doing that in close coordination with unified command. Again, our process is committed to the dignified process for recovery of the remains for personnel and passengers of the flight. As part of today's operations, we did conduct some work stoppages associated with human remains. Assistant Fire Chief Steen can discuss those details further, but I do want to emphasize that should any remains be located, we have done and we will continue to do an automatic work stoppage until the proper coordination with the appropriate authorities can be conducted. And today was *** very successful day for the most part. Uh, we began the effort to clear the wreckage in the Potomac right at sunrise. We left the gravelly Point and then began this larger interagency effort. Throughout the day we've had some success. The first of the two engines was removed at about 10 o'clock this morning. Shortly after that, about noon noon, we had the fuselage out of the water. And then about 2:30 this afternoon we began our salvage operations to begin to bring the wing out of the water. Those are our goals for today. The fuselage, the engine, and the wing. We are on our way right now. We anticipate that most of those items will end up on the barge like we talked about last night, stay overnight in *** secured and covered condition. Until we can make our way to *** transport point tomorrow morning. *** lot of our operations tomorrow will be dictated by tidal conditions, the barges that we're using as *** shallow draft. We're going to wait till high tide, probably close to around 10 o'clock before we can start actually begin transferring those items from the barge over to the transport that will eventually bring them over to hangar 7. And then returning back out to complete our operation. Over the next 24 hours, our goal is really to complete our commitment to finishing the civilian plane recovery. Um, tomorrow our goal is going to be the cockpit. That goal may be impacted tomorrow by *** couple of environmental conditions. Notably the wind where we're going to stay conscious of kind of where those gusts and sustained winds are, and we'll make sure that we're communicating that effectively. We're still committed to our dedicated plan of making sure that we plan, prep, assess before we execute. We're really thankful for all the cooperation we've had so far from the unified command. Thank you very much, and I'll be standing by for additional questions, and I'll be followed by assistant chief Steve. Good afternoon. I'm Assistant Fire Chief Gary Steen. I would like to thank the US Army Corps of Engineers, Colonel Perra, and all of our other partners that have been out through this process. We'd like to now provide an update on the recovery of operations. Throughout the day, our police and fire crews along with regional partners, have been working closely with the US Army Corps of Engineers on recovery and salvage operations. As of this update, we have positively identified 55 sets of remains during recovery and salvage operations today. Additional human remains were located. These remains, as well as remains that have been recovered previously, are in the process of being positively identified by the office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia. All those involved with these efforts continue to work diligently at several sites. At this point, we will now take questions. Yeah, yes, sir, you said, uh, more remains of folks who died, uh, were found today, um, sorry, you said more remains of folks who passed away were found today. Do you have an updated number on how many of the 67 have now been found? No, we're, we're uh still at 55 positively identified with. Yes sir. *** question for Colonel Ott, if I may, sir. Um, we talked yesterday, you said these were experienced pilots. They knew this airspace. Is there any reason why Army helicopters would be flying above that 200 ft line as it appears in this case? Yeah, so I, I think it's important for us to not speculate. Because there are, there are all kinds of reasons that you could deviate from an altitude, you know, something as simple as *** flock of birds is in front of you, or you may deviate if you, you see something that's ***. Um An obstacle or other threat to your flight. And so I, I would wait and caution everybody, let's just wait until the NTSB investigation. I know we all want answers. We want to know also, but all that should come out and we should have *** better picture once the cockpit data recorders and that are are analyzed. Yeah. Skyler of CBS News, I know you were talking about the timeline for the salvage operation. Are you still on track with that given the success today? I know you said that there could potentially be some challenges tomorrow. Could that delay things, or? Yeah, so the question is about whether or not we're concerned about the timeline being delayed for salvage operations. We do believe that we're on track. I think we were very successful today. Every day we set *** goal for what we're trying to accomplish. Um, our goal for today was to get to the engine, the fuselage, and the wing, and we're going to be successful by the end of the day. Our goal for tomorrow based on the reduced timeline and the environmental conditions, is the cockpit, and we think we're going to be successful. OK, it's so hi Chief Tom Costello with NBC News, um. Could you talk about the emotional toll that this must take on these divers who are in the water and trying to recover the remains of these victims and do it as you've said over and over again in *** dignified manner, but presumably you're dealing with children and parents and families. I'm just wondering what this does to the divers who are in the water. So the question was about the emotional toll that this takes on the divers and first responders and even on all of our other partners, right? So, uh, this is tragic, right? And we've had peer support in place since the first hours of the incident to help provide that additional help that they need and we will continue with that uh throughout the rest of their careers if necessary to provide them that support, but I mean it it. It's tragic and everything imaginable that you can think of, right, that is what they're dealing with day in and day out, and we're we're going to continue to provide support to them. Yes, sir. Can you describe how you came up with this plan to strategically take out each of those elements that you just described? Yeah, so, um, you know, the process that we do, and this is, you know, uh typical for most salvage operations, is to ensure that you understand the environment. Um, so there is *** series of iterative events that kind of inform the dive and salvage process. First, like you said, there is *** wide area scan that gets us down to *** localized area. Once we get to that localized area and we're at the wreckage, there's *** dive survey that really kind of informs the conditions at that point, and we have to understand the structure to inform the. Next part, which is the salvage plan. The salvage plan is really the execution of kind of how we're going to lift that day. Now the only change to any of that is the process that we're doing that addresses the human remains that we talked about before, and we've worked that in painstaking detail with the entire interagency and as well as all of our partners within the unified command, and we think we've got *** great solid plan that we've executed on *** number of occasions now successfully as far as *** dignified recovery of those remains. Yes ma'am. Yes, in previous briefings, it was said that in order to recover the rest of the victims, it would require the removal of the wreckage. Is it still believed that the remaining remains, the remaining bodies are within the wreckage at this point? I believe that that is accurate, yes. Yes, ma'am, right here. Similar question.
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Salvage crews remove large portion of commercial jet from river after deadly air collision near DC
Salvage crews have removed a large portion of a commercial jet from the Potomac River near Washington鈥檚 Reagan National Airport on Monday, five days after a midair collision last week that killed 67 people.The latest 锘縊ne of the plane's two jet engines and the plane's fuselage were removed from the Potomac River on Monday, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official.锘匡豢As of Monday afternoon, 55 sets of remains have been positively identified, officials said.Authorities have said the operation to remove the plane will take several days and they will then work to remove the military helicopter involved in the crash.The crash between the American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter over Washington D.C. on Wednesday was the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001.Authorities have recovered and identified 55 of the 67 people killed in the crash and Washington, D.C., Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly has said they are confident all will be found. Crews early Monday could be seen aboard a vessel with a crane.More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at any given time, officials said. Two Navy barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreckage.Divers and salvage workers are adhering to strict protocols and will stop moving debris if a body is found, Col. Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers said Sunday. The 鈥渄ignified recovery鈥� of remains takes precedence over all else, he said.Portions of the two aircraft that collided over the river Wednesday night near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport 鈥� an American Airlines jet with 64 people aboard and an Army Black Hawk helicopter with 3 aboard 鈥� are being loaded onto flatbed trucks and will be taken to a hangar for investigation.The crash occurred when the jet, en route from Wichita, Kansas, was about to land. The Black Hawk was on a training mission. There were no survivors.On Sunday, family members were taken in buses with a police escort to the Potomac River bank near where the two aircraft came to rest after colliding.The plane鈥檚 passengers included figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O鈥橦ara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were in the helicopter.Federal investigators were working to piece together the events that led to the collision. Full investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.Wednesday鈥檚 crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.Experts stress that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded airspace around Reagan Airport can challenge even experienced pilots.The NTSB said Saturday that preliminary data showed conflicting readings about the altitudes of the airliner and the helicopter.Investigators also said that about a second before impact, the jet鈥檚 flight recorder showed a change in its pitch. But they did not say whether that change in angle meant that pilots were trying to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid the crash.Data from the jet鈥檚 flight recorder showed its altitude as 325 feet, plus or minus 25 feet, when the crash happened, NTSB officials told reporters. Data in the control tower, though, showed the Black Hawk at 200 feet, the maximum allowed altitude for helicopters in the area.The discrepancy has yet to be explained.Investigators said they hoped to reconcile the difference with data from the helicopter鈥檚 black box and planned to refine the tower data, which can be less reliable.
ARLINGTON, Va. —
Salvage crews have removed a large portion of a commercial jet from the Potomac River near Washington鈥檚 Reagan National Airport on Monday, five days after a midair collision last week that killed 67 people.
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The latest
One of the plane's two jet engines and the plane's fuselage were removed from the Potomac River on Monday, according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official.
锘緼s of Monday afternoon, 55 sets of remains have been positively identified, officials said.
Authorities have said the operation to remove the plane will take several days and they will then work to remove the military helicopter involved in the crash.
The crash between the American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter over Washington D.C. on Wednesday was the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001.
Authorities have recovered and identified 55 of the 67 people killed in the crash and Washington, D.C., Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly has said they are confident all will be found. Crews early Monday could be seen aboard a vessel with a crane.
More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at any given time, officials said. Two Navy barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreckage.
Divers and salvage workers are adhering to strict protocols and will stop moving debris if a body is found, Col. Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers said Sunday. The 鈥渄ignified recovery鈥� of remains takes precedence over all else, he said.
Portions of the two aircraft that collided over the river Wednesday night near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport 鈥� an American Airlines jet with 64 people aboard and an Army Black Hawk helicopter with 3 aboard 鈥� are being loaded onto flatbed trucks and will be taken to a hangar for investigation.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
A large portion of the damaged plane fuselage is lifted from the Potomac River during recovery efforts after the American Airlines crash on February 03, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
Chip Somodevilla
The crash occurred when the jet, en route from Wichita, Kansas, was about to land. The Black Hawk was on a training mission. There were no survivors.
On Sunday, family members were taken in buses with a police escort to the Potomac River bank near where the two aircraft came to rest after colliding.
The plane鈥檚 passengers included figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O鈥橦ara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were in the helicopter.
Federal investigators were working to piece together the events that led to the collision. Full investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.
Wednesday鈥檚 crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.
Experts stress that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded airspace around Reagan Airport can challenge even experienced pilots.
The NTSB said Saturday that preliminary data showed conflicting readings about the altitudes of the airliner and the helicopter.
Investigators also said that about a second before impact, the jet鈥檚 flight recorder showed a change in its pitch. But they did not say whether that change in angle meant that pilots were trying to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid the crash.
Data from the jet鈥檚 flight recorder showed its altitude as 325 feet, plus or minus 25 feet, when the crash happened, NTSB officials told reporters. Data in the control tower, though, showed the Black Hawk at 200 feet, the maximum allowed altitude for helicopters in the area.
The discrepancy has yet to be explained.
Investigators said they hoped to reconcile the difference with data from the helicopter鈥檚 black box and planned to refine the tower data, which can be less reliable.
