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Crews continue recovering debris from DC plane crash
Fox News correspondent Madeleine Rivera explains the process of recovering debris from the D.C. plane crash wreckage and the NOTAM safety alert system suffering a temporary outage on ‘Fox & Friends’.
Officials in Washington, D.C., confirmed on Tuesday that all 67 victims have been recovered from the Potomac River during a multi-day unified recovery operation following the midair collision between a commercial plane and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter last week, and that 66 bodies have been positively identified.
The identification, officials added, marks a significant step in bringing closure to the families and the community.
Of the 67 victims recovered, 60 were passengers on American Airlines flight 5342, four were crew members on the flight, and three were on the Black Hawk helicopter.
Officials have been at the debris site in the river since shortly after the collision between a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and a Bombardier CRJ700 airliner operating under PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines.
HARROWING VIDEO FROM MILITARY BASE SHOWS NEW ANGLE OF MIDAIR CRASH CATASTROPHE
Emergency workers recover debris from the Potomac River in the aftermath of the collision between American Eagle flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter last week. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)
The plane’s flight data recorder indicated that it was struck at 325 feet by the helicopter on Wednesday night, and that prior to impact, there was a change in the aircraft’s pitch, according to preliminary information released on Saturday.
“Currently, the CRJ (plane) based on the data recorder at the time of impact was 325 feet, plus or minus 25 feet,” National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Todd Inman said at a Saturday news conference. “And for those who follow this closely, that is a corrected altitude.”
“I can tell you at one point, very close to the impact, there was a slight change in pitch, an increase in pitch,” he added later, when asked whether the plane pulled up.
VICTIMS IDENTIFIED IN DC PLANE CRASH INVOLVING AMERICAN AIRLINES JET AND MILITARY HELICOPTER
Emergency response teams including DC Fire and EMS, DC Police and others, assess airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport, Jan. 30, in Arlington, Va. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
While air traffic control data had the plane’s altitude at 200 feet at impact, Inman said they “have not finalized that and need to get more granularity to it,” and that data from the Black Hawk’s recorder is also needed to answer for the apparent 100-foot difference in altitude.
Although the data is available, it could take time to fully understand what caused the crash that night.
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Military and other government helicopters fly this route almost daily, according to a senior Army pilot and warrant officer.
Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.
Greg Wehner is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter @GregWehner.