Washington DC plane crash: Investigators recover flight data, cockpit voice recorders

The US National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday confirmed that they have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the American Airlines’ CRJ700 plane, which collided with a military aircraft in Washington DC. The incident took place at the Reagan National Airport and led to the death of 67 people with no survivors.

While speaking to the local reporters, the agency maintained that the recorders are the key component of determining the final moments and the circumstances that led to the tragic incident, The USA Today reported. The authorities noted that the recordings have been sent for “further evaluation”. While confirming the news, NTSB spokesperson Peter Knudson made it clear that there were no additional records on the aeroplane. They are now searching for one recorder from the helicopter.

Earlier in the day, Federal aviation investigators vowed that they would find the main cause behind the horrific collision. Meanwhile, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said at the press briefing that the agency wants to assure Americans that it will “leave no stone unturned in this investigation . . . This is a whole-of-government effort.” The authorities noted that it was too soon to know whether human errors or other factors were responsible for the mid-air collision which occurred on Wednesday night.

A deadly and unusual incident

Todd Inman of the NTSB told reporters that incidents of this scale are not a common occurrence in the world of US aviation. “A loss of life in an aviation accident is very unusual in the United States, and our heartfelt sorrow goes out to everyone who’s affected,” Inman said. “It affects us, it affects everyone around us. There are a lot of people hurting today. We will help find out what happened, we will do it factually and we will do it accurately,” he added.

It is pertinent to note that the United States has not had a major commercial plane crash since 2009, when a Colgan Air wreck outside Buffalo, New York, killed 50 people, including one on the ground. One of the country’s deadliest plane crashes claimed the lives of at least 206 people in 2001. On September 11, an American Airlines flight went down in Queens, New York, almost exactly two months after the terrorist attack.

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The Wednesday crash occurred just before 9 pm (local time) when American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, attempted to land and collided in midair with the Black Hawk helicopter. The passenger plane was carrying 64 people onboard. Meanwhile, the helicopter had three soldiers who died in the crash. The two aircraft plunged into the icy Potomac River and triggered a massive recovery effort.

With inputs from agencies.