‘It’s very personal’: Officials provide update to plane crash near Reagan National Airport
I’m Muriel Bowser. I’m the mayor of Washington DC. Uh, I’m at Reagan National Airport. I am joined by United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, uh, United States Senator Jim Moran, Senator Roger Marshall, um, Jack Potter, the CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Uh, we are here to brief you on the very tragic events of, um, this evening, uh, where we know *** passenger plane, uh, coming to the airport here collided with *** military helicopter. Our fire department DC Fire and EMS, um, supported by fire departments and police departments from across the Washington metropolitan region are executing *** rescue operation in the Potomac River. They are working diligently and very dark and cold conditions, cold water, uh, to. Execute this rescue operation. Uh, we have had the opportunity to be briefed by American Airlines officials. Um, I’m told, uh, that American Airlines leadership is on the way, uh, to Washington, uh, as well, and officials are in the airport talking to families now. We do have *** 1-800 number where families should contact us, uh, excuse me, should contact American Airlines for more information, and we will be, um, providing that information shortly. uh I am going to, uh, turn to *** number of officials to provide as much information as we can, um, this evening, uh, and we expect to have more frequent, uh. Briefings uh at daylight so with that I’m gonna turn to Secretary Duffy. Thank you Mayor Bowser. um, uh, I think for all of us we want to extend, uh, our thoughts and prayers to, uh, those individuals who are impacted by, uh, the events tonight, uh, their families, uh, we know this is *** very difficult time for all of them. uh, I wanna join the mayor and everyone here to uh, extending our thank you uh. To the first responders who again in very difficult uh uh uh situations and environments uh are out there uh searching uh and and attempting to rescue uh tonight uh I spoke with President Trump and his team in the Situation Room. I had *** conversation with Secretary Pete Hegseth, uh, as well, and then with the Kansas delegation and the mayor, uh, and, uh, others in, uh, leadership as well as Governor Junin from Virginia. And Governor Kelly from Kansas, uh, from the Department of Transportation and FAA’s perspective, we are going to offer, uh, full support, uh, to, uh, those on the ground to the mayor, uh, but also to, uh, the NTSB, uh, who is going to be conducting the investigation, uh, in this matter. Uh, we are gonna provide all the support that’s necessary, Mayor. Thank you. So with that I wanna ask Chief John Johnly from DCRNS uh fire and EMS to provide, um, an update. Uh, good evening everyone. I’m John Donnelly, chief of DC Fire and EMS. Uh, this evening at 8:48, um, an alert was sounded initiating *** uh *** large regional response to *** report of an aircraft, uh, crash on approach to the airport. Uh, this response includes first the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s fire department, the District of Columbia Fire Department, the Metropolitan Police Department, um, and the US Park Police, uh, to respond in into the area and to sort that out at 8:58, the first units arrived on the scene and found an aircraft in the water and began rescue operations. This incident has grown. There’s currently about 300 responders working. Uh, we have. Boats from all throughout the region, police and fire boats, um, we have *** mutual aid agreement in Washington DC, the National Capital Region mutual aid agreement administered by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, and we’re all operating under that. We’re operating under *** unified command all everybody’s together, so we also have requested state police helicopters from Maryland and the Coast Guard helicopter is working, so this is. *** state and federal response as well. um, US Coast Guard’s got some boats in the water as well, so it’s *** highly complex operation. The conditions out there are extremely rough for the, uh, responders. It’s cold, um, they’re dealing with, uh, relatively, uh, windy conditions. The wind is hard, uh, out on the river, so they’re out there working, um, we’re keeping doing everything we can to keep them safe and. With that, uh, I’m gonna turn it back to the mayor. Um, and. Cheap bonnet from Emo. I’m Rick Bonnet, fire chief of EMA Fire and Rescue. Our units, as Chief Daliella alluded to at 2048, we received an alert from the FAA tower of an aircraft incident involving *** commercial aircraft and *** helicopter. Our units immediately responded and deployed three boats and immediately called for mutual aid resources. Again, as Chief Donnelly said, it’s an active operation that’s gonna last many hours as we continue to work through recovery efforts and rescue operations. Um, this will be ongoing for quite *** while. Um, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and, um, our communities, and we, uh, appreciate all DC’s support to our agency and our federal partners. So with that I wanted to um turn to the uh the senators who are from Kansas who wanted to say *** few words for Senator Moran and then Senator Marshall. Mayor, thank you and Mr. Secretary, thank you and to our first responders, thank you very much for all that’s taking place here. I’m Jerry Moran. I’m *** United States senator from Kansas. Um, and I chair the subcommittee and and commerce committee on aviation. Uh, so we have. Really *** serious and sad circumstance that we want to be here to be helpful and we’re praying that uh our responders are safe and the folks who are on that flight uh are recovered. The circumstance I would describe is that um. I know that flight. I’ve flown it many times myself. Uh, I lobbied American Airlines to begin having *** direct nonstop flight service to DCA. That flight has been in existence about *** year. Um, and it is certainly true that, uh, in, in Kansas and in Wichita in particular we’re going to know people who are on this flight, know their family members, know somebody, so this is *** very personal circumstance, uh, as well as an official response. And uh again we’re, we will do everything we can to make certain that we’re supportive of the rescue efforts and we’ll do everything we can to make certain that uh our subcommittee and uh Congress is engaged in what needs to take place following uh the the outcome of this evening and this this month’s uh kind of investigation. I’ve talked to NTSB I’ve talked to the White House, uh, I’ve talked to the Department of Defense, and I’ve talked to the CEO of American Airlines. Uh, and there is all of us pulling together for the best outcome possible. Uh, I’m honored to be here with my colleague Senator Marshall, uh, as we did try to try to make certain that we care for those certainly back in Kansas that were on that flight, but it’s *** reminder that there are people here in Washington DC in this region in in Virginia and Maryland, uh, and many places else that fly uh to and from Kansas. And so we’re, we’re rooting and, and supporting all those regardless of where you’re from and Mayor, I appreciate the, the gathering here for us to try to provide information to those in Kansas and across your city. Thank you, thank you. Well thank you Senator Moran and Mayor secretary. You know when one person dies it’s *** tragedy but when many, many, many people die. It’s an unbearable sorrow. It’s *** heartbreak beyond measure. And I know Senator Moran and I are here just to um. To, to say we care, we wish that there was more we could do, but uh unfortunately there doesn’t seem much at this time. I want the folks to back home to just know that we care that we love them and that this is *** time when when we’ll have to join arms together. And, and help each other out. We’ve been through things like this before through tornadoes and floods and and things, but it’s, it’s really hard when you lose, you know, probably over 60 cans and simultaneously and I don’t want to forget the pilots and the and the flight attendants, you know, we’re doing, you know, do their job and the military personnel we lost, you know, all those lives are, are so valuable. And it is such *** tragedy that we lost him. You know, I think often in times like this I try to find *** scripture. That you know is is apropos and this is from the book of Psalms it says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Certainly we’re crushed in spirit tonight we mourn with the families who lost loved ones and and we truly are, uh, joining them in prayer and wrapping our arms around them in love and compassion. Thanks for everybody for coming out tonight and thank you for your thoughts and your prayers. So certainly I speak for the people of Washington, 700,000 of us uh who are extremely sorry, um, for the families who are experiencing loss, uh, tonight, uh, and so we want you to know that we will continue to work with American Airlines to share information as frequently as possible and make sure that we’re getting accurate information. Uh, out to the public, but, uh, my sorrow for all of the people and crew, uh, on the plane, uh, and our military personnel on, um, the helicopter is very deep. Uh, I do want to turn to Jack Potter who is the CEO of our airports authority, uh, responsible for, uh, Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport, uh, to talk to you about, um, uh, how the airport, um, responded and, uh, what we’re looking what what’s gonna happen next. Good evening, as was said, I’m Jack Potter, the president CEO of the, uh, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Uh, thank you all for being here tonight and, uh, under these, uh, very, very, uh, grim circumstances. Uh, first of all, I wanna let you know that we’re providing support to all the families. Uh, who were involved, American Airlines has established ***, *** phone number for them to reach out. It’s been published, but let me repeat it, it’s 1-800-679-8215. Uh, so families of folks that were on the plane are asked to contact them. We did have folks who were at the airport to pick up loved ones, uh, and so, uh, American has set up, uh, *** center in their American, uh, in their lounge, uh, at the north end of the airport, and we’ve directed the families there, and there are folks there to uh councils there to work with the families. Uh, we did have aircraft that were in the air. They were diverted to Dulles Airport, some 19 aircraft. We had personnel, United and others had personnel. We wanna thank Wamata for extending their hours on the metro to make sure that those folks were accommodated, uh, right now. As was said earlier by the chief, uh we’re in *** rescue mode, uh, we will continue in that rescue mode. Uh, I wanna thank all of the mutual aid responders, uh, all the counties, uh, the district, uh, folks from Maryland and Virginia, everybody’s on site doing the best they can. Uh, and numerous boats out in the water right now. Uh, NTSB is on site. I wanna thank all of the folks behind me, the secretary, the mayor, uh, two senators for all of their support, and we’re gonna continue to work through the night. Uh, I do want to make an announcement. People are, you know, concerned about what’s gonna happen in the morning. Reagan National Airport will be closed until 11 o’clock. That’s when the first flights will. Take off, uh, but, uh, we’re gonna continue to do our best and work through this situation, uh, over the course of the night, and we hope to have more news as it develops, but for right now, uh, it’s, it’s *** very difficult situation out there with the cold it’s very dark, but there are numerous boats out there. There are dive teams out there, so, uh, again we’ll continue to work the situation and I’ll turn it back to the mayor. Thank you very much. Thanks for that update and uh I do you’ve heard uh that in the national capital region the district of course is Washington DC is at the center, uh but we are *** close region uh we have heard from the governors of Maryland and Virginia. Uh, the, the mayor of the city of Baltimore, all, uh, who have sent, uh, as personnel, uh, to help in the rescue operations. Last thing I’ll not just to our, uh, our local viewership and, uh, just please let our first responders do their work, um, try to let our vehicles, um, get to scenes and through scenes uh we don’t want anybody else to get hurt, um. Because of moving vehicles, OK, so, uh, we will be able to take uh *** few questions. There’s not *** lot that we can say we won’t be able to say anything about an investigation, as you know, uh, once uh fire and EMS completes uh. The rescue operation then the investigation goes over to the National Transportation Safety Board uh and I’m sure the safety board NTSB will provide information about when they will be briefing about uh an investigation so we’ll take *** few, yes. Can you um confirm that both aircraft are in the water and perhaps Chief Donnelly can explain what’s involved in conducting an operation like this in this country. Uh, yes, both aircraft are in the water. Uh, the focus now is, uh, rescuing people, uh, and that’s what all of our personnel are focused on, and Chief, I think he’s given ***, *** pretty good description, but if there’s anything else you wanna add, Chief. I would just say that the boats are out doing searches. We have divers on both aircraft and uh they’re, they’re searching those those the airport, the the aircraft at this point. All we can um confirm tonight is the number of people on each aircraft, 64 people on the American. Um, airlines, um, plane and 3 people on the military helicopter, um, when we can’t provide any more information about recovery efforts have talked about lost loved ones. So how do you know that there might be people. I didn’t say I didn’t know people have lost loved ones. I said we can’t talk about any of the recovery efforts in specific tonight. Yes, so, so I’ll, I’ll call on who’s next. Yes, thank you, Mayor Bowser. Um, will this affect operations at Dawson BWI? Will the Potomac River traffic be closed to boats? Yes, um, and so Jack has talked about Jack, do you, can you talk about Dallas? I’m not sure we can talk about BWI, but we can talk about Dallas. There is no impact at BWI or at Dulles, as I said earlier, our airport here, Ronald Reagan National Airport will be closed until 11 o’clock. Obviously that will be fluid. Uh, we’ll learn more, but we wanted to advise passengers who might be coming to the airport in the morning that we will be closed until at least 11 o’clock. Yeah, one second, you’re next. Uh. So other than the current situations like you, we know the water is extremely cold and it’s very dark outside, although you know senators saying that there are numerous boats in the water, but what’s the still, you know, the biggest challenges for the rescue team what best scenario we can expect in the coming few hours. So, uh, the challenges are access, um. The water that we’re operating in is about 8 ft deep. Um, there is wind. There are pieces of ice out there, so it, it’s just dangerous and hard to work in. And because there’s not *** lot of lights, you’re out there searching every square inch of space to see if you can find anybody. The divers are doing the same thing in the water. The water is dark. It is murky. Um, and that is *** very tough condition for them to dive in. Uh, the question about the river we’ll make that decision later. The Coast Guard’s on scene and I would expect that it’s not *** high use time in the river and we should not expect to have, uh, commercial uh recreational traffic on the river tomorrow. OK, 123. Get in touch with the aircraft controllers who were in the tower at the time. I have not. And the second question, this is your first several hours in this position. What are your thoughts? I My focus is on um those who are impacted on this flight and um. Again, I’ve, I’ve been *** secretary for uh *** little over *** day and um the tragedy um that we’re gonna deal with with this recovery, um, I think is touching everyone’s hearts whether it’s here in uh in the greater DC area uh or in Kansas, um, and again I think everyone here is uh thinking and praying for those who, uh, potentially have lost *** loved one and uh thank you your question. Did any of you of you have any sense about how an accident like this could have happened so close to the airport right in the. Reports the contacted the helicopter moments before the crash to ask if they had sight of the aircraft. Helicopter reported that it did have sight of an aircraft. Is it possible that it had the wrong aircraft in sight? Do you have any sense of what I know that the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation will be able to to search on all of those questions. We wouldn’t be able to talk about that tonight. Yes, parts for the first thing you were talking about how you were in the situation. With the president and Pete Hudson, uh, both being there, can you tell us more about the president’s initial reaction to that. So I, I was not in the Situation Room. I did have *** conversation, uh, with the Situation Room, um, where the president, uh, was located as well as with Secretary Heeth, um, we’re exchanging information. uh I would just note that. Uh, not just the local team, but the federal team has, uh, performed very well in, uh, this crisis. Um, I know the president is incredibly concerned about, uh, what’s happened here today. Uh, I’m sure we’ll continue to hear more from him, uh, and I’ll continue to consult with him and Secretary Hegseth. Like Uh, uh, absolutely, we, uh, the president has, uh, committed to, uh, to this team, um, and to, uh, the NTSB through the DOT that we will provide all resources necessary as we go through this recovery, but also, uh, the support from FAA and DOT, uh, as the NTSB investigates the condition of these aircraft, or are they, are they, are they splits? Again, I don’t think we can comment on that. Our focus is on getting um the passengers and crew out of the water. And just one more clarification because earlier we gotten guidance that DCA was going to be shut down at least until Friday at 5 a.m. I, I just heard 11 a.m. 11 a.m. tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, OK. Yes, OK, we can take um we can take *** few more questions, *** question here, *** question here and here. Yes. Mayor Bow, can you just confirm? And transported to the Um, I, I again, I can’t say anything about the rescue operation right now. Uh, who was next? Yes. Yeah, Chief Donnelly, can you speak *** little bit more about the unified command who leads this phase of the rescue and recovery? At what point do you then change phases, and can you describe to us the scene as best you can when first responders first arrive? So, um, I happen to be listening to the radio this evening when the call came out. um, I was to the responders come in and uh the initial response, they, they were, um. Very professional trying to locate this. This is if you can imagine the river is *** large black spot uh at night with no lights on it except for *** few buy lights so they were out there looking, uh, the boats pretty quickly, uh, were able to locate the one of the aircraft and get there. Um, so that’s what’s going on right now. Everybody’s working on that. We will reevaluate where we are with the rescue, uh, operation in the morning when we get *** better sense of it, but we are still out there working and, uh, we’re gonna continue that throughout the night. We, we don’t know yet, but we’re working. Is any part of the search happening overland? No. We’re all in the water. Yes, yes, oh, you got *** question. Somebody didn’t get *** question. Hold on. Yes, um, I just wanted to ask, do you have an estimate, an estimate yet on how long, uh, the recovery efforts will take? So um. Experiences like this go we expect to continue our operations in the fire department for multiple days, and then I would expect the investigation goes longer than that. OK, you didn’t get the question and you, you are next, I think. Thank you. uh, thank you Mayor. Uh, my question is, do we have any plan to uh prevent future uh crash or future accidents? Do we have any, any like to reform the uh authority, the airport control to calm those people who are flying in the next few days and also how long the the rescue is gonna last? Are we gonna stop uh rescue after tomorrow at 11 a.m.? The like the like diversity because they are still in the golden hours now. No, I mean I think you just heard the chief said we’re gonna be um out there as long as it takes and we’re obviously trying to to get to people as soon as possible but we are gonna recover our fellow citizens. Yes. Uh, this is for the Chief and secretary Duffy. Um, how do you balance the search and rescue operation with preserving the sea for the investigation that’s. So, um, From the from the fire department’s point of view we are always gonna put people, uh, first, um, but I don’t think that I think our operations because we have *** unified command, we are all working together and the NTSB is in contact with us and we will work together to make sure that if there’s crucial evidence that it’s not. That it’s preserved and that’s something we do every day with our police department on crime scenes and things so life comes first and everything else after that. OK, question. I know it’s early, but are there any immediate actions that the FAA should take to prevent helicopters and commercial airplanes getting close. So obviously there’ll be *** review of uh what happened here tonight um and uh after the FAA uh studies what happened uh we will take appropriate action if necessary uh to modify uh flight paths and uh and permissions. OK, do you have any more details about the helicopters with the. Um, I spoke with the president’s national security adviser, and I have not talked to the president yet, and, um, I do not know what the mission was, so let me close, um, by saying again. Uh thank you to the members of the press to help us get information out to the families of the American Airlines number is 800-679-8215, 800-679-8215, uh, and I expect the airport will likely provide, um, additional information in the morning. Thank you.
I’m Muriel Bowser. I’m the mayor of Washington DC. Uh, I’m at Reagan National Airport. I am joined by United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, uh, United States Senator Jim Moran, Senator Roger Marshall, um, Jack Potter, the CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Uh, we are here to brief you on the very tragic events of, um, this evening, uh, where we know *** passenger plane, uh, coming to the airport here collided with *** military helicopter. Our fire department DC Fire and EMS, um, supported by fire departments and police departments from across the Washington metropolitan region are executing *** rescue operation in the Potomac River. They are working diligently and very dark and cold conditions, cold water, uh, to. Execute this rescue operation. Uh, we have had the opportunity to be briefed by American Airlines officials. Um, I’m told, uh, that American Airlines leadership is on the way, uh, to Washington, uh, as well, and officials are in the airport talking to families now. We do have *** 1-800 number where families should contact us, uh, excuse me, should contact American Airlines for more information, and we will be, um, providing that information shortly. uh I am going to, uh, turn to *** number of officials to provide as much information as we can, um, this evening, uh, and we expect to have more frequent, uh. Briefings uh at daylight so with that I’m gonna turn to Secretary Duffy. Thank you Mayor Bowser. um, uh, I think for all of us we want to extend, uh, our thoughts and prayers to, uh, those individuals who are impacted by, uh, the events tonight, uh, their families, uh, we know this is *** very difficult time for all of them. uh, I wanna join the mayor and everyone here to uh, extending our thank you uh. To the first responders who again in very difficult uh uh uh situations and environments uh are out there uh searching uh and and attempting to rescue uh tonight uh I spoke with President Trump and his team in the Situation Room. I had *** conversation with Secretary Pete Hegseth, uh, as well, and then with the Kansas delegation and the mayor, uh, and, uh, others in, uh, leadership as well as Governor Junin from Virginia. And Governor Kelly from Kansas, uh, from the Department of Transportation and FAA’s perspective, we are going to offer, uh, full support, uh, to, uh, those on the ground to the mayor, uh, but also to, uh, the NTSB, uh, who is going to be conducting the investigation, uh, in this matter. Uh, we are gonna provide all the support that’s necessary, Mayor. Thank you. So with that I wanna ask Chief John Johnly from DCRNS uh fire and EMS to provide, um, an update. Uh, good evening everyone. I’m John Donnelly, chief of DC Fire and EMS. Uh, this evening at 8:48, um, an alert was sounded initiating *** uh *** large regional response to *** report of an aircraft, uh, crash on approach to the airport. Uh, this response includes first the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s fire department, the District of Columbia Fire Department, the Metropolitan Police Department, um, and the US Park Police, uh, to respond in into the area and to sort that out at 8:58, the first units arrived on the scene and found an aircraft in the water and began rescue operations. This incident has grown. There’s currently about 300 responders working. Uh, we have. Boats from all throughout the region, police and fire boats, um, we have *** mutual aid agreement in Washington DC, the National Capital Region mutual aid agreement administered by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, and we’re all operating under that. We’re operating under *** unified command all everybody’s together, so we also have requested state police helicopters from Maryland and the Coast Guard helicopter is working, so this is. *** state and federal response as well. um, US Coast Guard’s got some boats in the water as well, so it’s *** highly complex operation. The conditions out there are extremely rough for the, uh, responders. It’s cold, um, they’re dealing with, uh, relatively, uh, windy conditions. The wind is hard, uh, out on the river, so they’re out there working, um, we’re keeping doing everything we can to keep them safe and. With that, uh, I’m gonna turn it back to the mayor. Um, and. Cheap bonnet from Emo. I’m Rick Bonnet, fire chief of EMA Fire and Rescue. Our units, as Chief Daliella alluded to at 2048, we received an alert from the FAA tower of an aircraft incident involving *** commercial aircraft and *** helicopter. Our units immediately responded and deployed three boats and immediately called for mutual aid resources. Again, as Chief Donnelly said, it’s an active operation that’s gonna last many hours as we continue to work through recovery efforts and rescue operations. Um, this will be ongoing for quite *** while. Um, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and, um, our communities, and we, uh, appreciate all DC’s support to our agency and our federal partners. So with that I wanted to um turn to the uh the senators who are from Kansas who wanted to say *** few words for Senator Moran and then Senator Marshall. Mayor, thank you and Mr. Secretary, thank you and to our first responders, thank you very much for all that’s taking place here. I’m Jerry Moran. I’m *** United States senator from Kansas. Um, and I chair the subcommittee and and commerce committee on aviation. Uh, so we have. Really *** serious and sad circumstance that we want to be here to be helpful and we’re praying that uh our responders are safe and the folks who are on that flight uh are recovered. The circumstance I would describe is that um. I know that flight. I’ve flown it many times myself. Uh, I lobbied American Airlines to begin having *** direct nonstop flight service to DCA. That flight has been in existence about *** year. Um, and it is certainly true that, uh, in, in Kansas and in Wichita in particular we’re going to know people who are on this flight, know their family members, know somebody, so this is *** very personal circumstance, uh, as well as an official response. And uh again we’re, we will do everything we can to make certain that we’re supportive of the rescue efforts and we’ll do everything we can to make certain that uh our subcommittee and uh Congress is engaged in what needs to take place following uh the the outcome of this evening and this this month’s uh kind of investigation. I’ve talked to NTSB I’ve talked to the White House, uh, I’ve talked to the Department of Defense, and I’ve talked to the CEO of American Airlines. Uh, and there is all of us pulling together for the best outcome possible. Uh, I’m honored to be here with my colleague Senator Marshall, uh, as we did try to try to make certain that we care for those certainly back in Kansas that were on that flight, but it’s *** reminder that there are people here in Washington DC in this region in in Virginia and Maryland, uh, and many places else that fly uh to and from Kansas. And so we’re, we’re rooting and, and supporting all those regardless of where you’re from and Mayor, I appreciate the, the gathering here for us to try to provide information to those in Kansas and across your city. Thank you, thank you. Well thank you Senator Moran and Mayor secretary. You know when one person dies it’s *** tragedy but when many, many, many people die. It’s an unbearable sorrow. It’s *** heartbreak beyond measure. And I know Senator Moran and I are here just to um. To, to say we care, we wish that there was more we could do, but uh unfortunately there doesn’t seem much at this time. I want the folks to back home to just know that we care that we love them and that this is *** time when when we’ll have to join arms together. And, and help each other out. We’ve been through things like this before through tornadoes and floods and and things, but it’s, it’s really hard when you lose, you know, probably over 60 cans and simultaneously and I don’t want to forget the pilots and the and the flight attendants, you know, we’re doing, you know, do their job and the military personnel we lost, you know, all those lives are, are so valuable. And it is such *** tragedy that we lost him. You know, I think often in times like this I try to find *** scripture. That you know is is apropos and this is from the book of Psalms it says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Certainly we’re crushed in spirit tonight we mourn with the families who lost loved ones and and we truly are, uh, joining them in prayer and wrapping our arms around them in love and compassion. Thanks for everybody for coming out tonight and thank you for your thoughts and your prayers. So certainly I speak for the people of Washington, 700,000 of us uh who are extremely sorry, um, for the families who are experiencing loss, uh, tonight, uh, and so we want you to know that we will continue to work with American Airlines to share information as frequently as possible and make sure that we’re getting accurate information. Uh, out to the public, but, uh, my sorrow for all of the people and crew, uh, on the plane, uh, and our military personnel on, um, the helicopter is very deep. Uh, I do want to turn to Jack Potter who is the CEO of our airports authority, uh, responsible for, uh, Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport, uh, to talk to you about, um, uh, how the airport, um, responded and, uh, what we’re looking what what’s gonna happen next. Good evening, as was said, I’m Jack Potter, the president CEO of the, uh, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Uh, thank you all for being here tonight and, uh, under these, uh, very, very, uh, grim circumstances. Uh, first of all, I wanna let you know that we’re providing support to all the families. Uh, who were involved, American Airlines has established ***, *** phone number for them to reach out. It’s been published, but let me repeat it, it’s 1-800-679-8215. Uh, so families of folks that were on the plane are asked to contact them. We did have folks who were at the airport to pick up loved ones, uh, and so, uh, American has set up, uh, *** center in their American, uh, in their lounge, uh, at the north end of the airport, and we’ve directed the families there, and there are folks there to uh councils there to work with the families. Uh, we did have aircraft that were in the air. They were diverted to Dulles Airport, some 19 aircraft. We had personnel, United and others had personnel. We wanna thank Wamata for extending their hours on the metro to make sure that those folks were accommodated, uh, right now. As was said earlier by the chief, uh we’re in *** rescue mode, uh, we will continue in that rescue mode. Uh, I wanna thank all of the mutual aid responders, uh, all the counties, uh, the district, uh, folks from Maryland and Virginia, everybody’s on site doing the best they can. Uh, and numerous boats out in the water right now. Uh, NTSB is on site. I wanna thank all of the folks behind me, the secretary, the mayor, uh, two senators for all of their support, and we’re gonna continue to work through the night. Uh, I do want to make an announcement. People are, you know, concerned about what’s gonna happen in the morning. Reagan National Airport will be closed until 11 o’clock. That’s when the first flights will. Take off, uh, but, uh, we’re gonna continue to do our best and work through this situation, uh, over the course of the night, and we hope to have more news as it develops, but for right now, uh, it’s, it’s *** very difficult situation out there with the cold it’s very dark, but there are numerous boats out there. There are dive teams out there, so, uh, again we’ll continue to work the situation and I’ll turn it back to the mayor. Thank you very much. Thanks for that update and uh I do you’ve heard uh that in the national capital region the district of course is Washington DC is at the center, uh but we are *** close region uh we have heard from the governors of Maryland and Virginia. Uh, the, the mayor of the city of Baltimore, all, uh, who have sent, uh, as personnel, uh, to help in the rescue operations. Last thing I’ll not just to our, uh, our local viewership and, uh, just please let our first responders do their work, um, try to let our vehicles, um, get to scenes and through scenes uh we don’t want anybody else to get hurt, um. Because of moving vehicles, OK, so, uh, we will be able to take uh *** few questions. There’s not *** lot that we can say we won’t be able to say anything about an investigation, as you know, uh, once uh fire and EMS completes uh. The rescue operation then the investigation goes over to the National Transportation Safety Board uh and I’m sure the safety board NTSB will provide information about when they will be briefing about uh an investigation so we’ll take *** few, yes. Can you um confirm that both aircraft are in the water and perhaps Chief Donnelly can explain what’s involved in conducting an operation like this in this country. Uh, yes, both aircraft are in the water. Uh, the focus now is, uh, rescuing people, uh, and that’s what all of our personnel are focused on, and Chief, I think he’s given ***, *** pretty good description, but if there’s anything else you wanna add, Chief. I would just say that the boats are out doing searches. We have divers on both aircraft and uh they’re, they’re searching those those the airport, the the aircraft at this point. All we can um confirm tonight is the number of people on each aircraft, 64 people on the American. Um, airlines, um, plane and 3 people on the military helicopter, um, when we can’t provide any more information about recovery efforts have talked about lost loved ones. So how do you know that there might be people. I didn’t say I didn’t know people have lost loved ones. I said we can’t talk about any of the recovery efforts in specific tonight. Yes, so, so I’ll, I’ll call on who’s next. Yes, thank you, Mayor Bowser. Um, will this affect operations at Dawson BWI? Will the Potomac River traffic be closed to boats? Yes, um, and so Jack has talked about Jack, do you, can you talk about Dallas? I’m not sure we can talk about BWI, but we can talk about Dallas. There is no impact at BWI or at Dulles, as I said earlier, our airport here, Ronald Reagan National Airport will be closed until 11 o’clock. Obviously that will be fluid. Uh, we’ll learn more, but we wanted to advise passengers who might be coming to the airport in the morning that we will be closed until at least 11 o’clock. Yeah, one second, you’re next. Uh. So other than the current situations like you, we know the water is extremely cold and it’s very dark outside, although you know senators saying that there are numerous boats in the water, but what’s the still, you know, the biggest challenges for the rescue team what best scenario we can expect in the coming few hours. So, uh, the challenges are access, um. The water that we’re operating in is about 8 ft deep. Um, there is wind. There are pieces of ice out there, so it, it’s just dangerous and hard to work in. And because there’s not *** lot of lights, you’re out there searching every square inch of space to see if you can find anybody. The divers are doing the same thing in the water. The water is dark. It is murky. Um, and that is *** very tough condition for them to dive in. Uh, the question about the river we’ll make that decision later. The Coast Guard’s on scene and I would expect that it’s not *** high use time in the river and we should not expect to have, uh, commercial uh recreational traffic on the river tomorrow. OK, 123. Get in touch with the aircraft controllers who were in the tower at the time. I have not. And the second question, this is your first several hours in this position. What are your thoughts? I My focus is on um those who are impacted on this flight and um. Again, I’ve, I’ve been *** secretary for uh *** little over *** day and um the tragedy um that we’re gonna deal with with this recovery, um, I think is touching everyone’s hearts whether it’s here in uh in the greater DC area uh or in Kansas, um, and again I think everyone here is uh thinking and praying for those who, uh, potentially have lost *** loved one and uh thank you your question. Did any of you of you have any sense about how an accident like this could have happened so close to the airport right in the. Reports the contacted the helicopter moments before the crash to ask if they had sight of the aircraft. Helicopter reported that it did have sight of an aircraft. Is it possible that it had the wrong aircraft in sight? Do you have any sense of what I know that the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation will be able to to search on all of those questions. We wouldn’t be able to talk about that tonight. Yes, parts for the first thing you were talking about how you were in the situation. With the president and Pete Hudson, uh, both being there, can you tell us more about the president’s initial reaction to that. So I, I was not in the Situation Room. I did have *** conversation, uh, with the Situation Room, um, where the president, uh, was located as well as with Secretary Heeth, um, we’re exchanging information. uh I would just note that. Uh, not just the local team, but the federal team has, uh, performed very well in, uh, this crisis. Um, I know the president is incredibly concerned about, uh, what’s happened here today. Uh, I’m sure we’ll continue to hear more from him, uh, and I’ll continue to consult with him and Secretary Hegseth. Like Uh, uh, absolutely, we, uh, the president has, uh, committed to, uh, to this team, um, and to, uh, the NTSB through the DOT that we will provide all resources necessary as we go through this recovery, but also, uh, the support from FAA and DOT, uh, as the NTSB investigates the condition of these aircraft, or are they, are they, are they splits? Again, I don’t think we can comment on that. Our focus is on getting um the passengers and crew out of the water. And just one more clarification because earlier we gotten guidance that DCA was going to be shut down at least until Friday at 5 a.m. I, I just heard 11 a.m. 11 a.m. tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, OK. Yes, OK, we can take um we can take *** few more questions, *** question here, *** question here and here. Yes. Mayor Bow, can you just confirm? And transported to the Um, I, I again, I can’t say anything about the rescue operation right now. Uh, who was next? Yes. Yeah, Chief Donnelly, can you speak *** little bit more about the unified command who leads this phase of the rescue and recovery? At what point do you then change phases, and can you describe to us the scene as best you can when first responders first arrive? So, um, I happen to be listening to the radio this evening when the call came out. um, I was to the responders come in and uh the initial response, they, they were, um. Very professional trying to locate this. This is if you can imagine the river is *** large black spot uh at night with no lights on it except for *** few buy lights so they were out there looking, uh, the boats pretty quickly, uh, were able to locate the one of the aircraft and get there. Um, so that’s what’s going on right now. Everybody’s working on that. We will reevaluate where we are with the rescue, uh, operation in the morning when we get *** better sense of it, but we are still out there working and, uh, we’re gonna continue that throughout the night. We, we don’t know yet, but we’re working. Is any part of the search happening overland? No. We’re all in the water. Yes, yes, oh, you got *** question. Somebody didn’t get *** question. Hold on. Yes, um, I just wanted to ask, do you have an estimate, an estimate yet on how long, uh, the recovery efforts will take? So um. Experiences like this go we expect to continue our operations in the fire department for multiple days, and then I would expect the investigation goes longer than that. OK, you didn’t get the question and you, you are next, I think. Thank you. uh, thank you Mayor. Uh, my question is, do we have any plan to uh prevent future uh crash or future accidents? Do we have any, any like to reform the uh authority, the airport control to calm those people who are flying in the next few days and also how long the the rescue is gonna last? Are we gonna stop uh rescue after tomorrow at 11 a.m.? The like the like diversity because they are still in the golden hours now. No, I mean I think you just heard the chief said we’re gonna be um out there as long as it takes and we’re obviously trying to to get to people as soon as possible but we are gonna recover our fellow citizens. Yes. Uh, this is for the Chief and secretary Duffy. Um, how do you balance the search and rescue operation with preserving the sea for the investigation that’s. So, um, From the from the fire department’s point of view we are always gonna put people, uh, first, um, but I don’t think that I think our operations because we have *** unified command, we are all working together and the NTSB is in contact with us and we will work together to make sure that if there’s crucial evidence that it’s not. That it’s preserved and that’s something we do every day with our police department on crime scenes and things so life comes first and everything else after that. OK, question. I know it’s early, but are there any immediate actions that the FAA should take to prevent helicopters and commercial airplanes getting close. So obviously there’ll be *** review of uh what happened here tonight um and uh after the FAA uh studies what happened uh we will take appropriate action if necessary uh to modify uh flight paths and uh and permissions. OK, do you have any more details about the helicopters with the. Um, I spoke with the president’s national security adviser, and I have not talked to the president yet, and, um, I do not know what the mission was, so let me close, um, by saying again. Uh thank you to the members of the press to help us get information out to the families of the American Airlines number is 800-679-8215, 800-679-8215, uh, and I expect the airport will likely provide, um, additional information in the morning. Thank you.
I’m Muriel Bowser. I’m the mayor of Washington DC. Uh, I’m at Reagan National Airport. I am joined by United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, uh, United States Senator Jim Moran, Senator Roger Marshall, um, Jack Potter, the CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Uh, we are here to brief you on the very tragic events of, um, this evening, uh, where we know *** passenger plane, uh, coming to the airport here collided with *** military helicopter. Our fire department DC Fire and EMS, um, supported by fire departments and police departments from across the Washington metropolitan region are executing *** rescue operation in the Potomac River. They are working diligently and very dark and cold conditions, cold water, uh, to. Execute this rescue operation. Uh, we have had the opportunity to be briefed by American Airlines officials. Um, I’m told, uh, that American Airlines leadership is on the way, uh, to Washington, uh, as well, and officials are in the airport talking to families now. We do have *** 1-800 number where families should contact us, uh, excuse me, should contact American Airlines for more information, and we will be, um, providing that information shortly. uh I am going to, uh, turn to *** number of officials to provide as much information as we can, um, this evening, uh, and we expect to have more frequent, uh. Briefings uh at daylight so with that I’m gonna turn to Secretary Duffy. Thank you Mayor Bowser. um, uh, I think for all of us we want to extend, uh, our thoughts and prayers to, uh, those individuals who are impacted by, uh, the events tonight, uh, their families, uh, we know this is *** very difficult time for all of them. uh, I wanna join the mayor and everyone here to uh, extending our thank you uh. To the first responders who again in very difficult uh uh uh situations and environments uh are out there uh searching uh and and attempting to rescue uh tonight uh I spoke with President Trump and his team in the Situation Room. I had *** conversation with Secretary Pete Hegseth, uh, as well, and then with the Kansas delegation and the mayor, uh, and, uh, others in, uh, leadership as well as Governor Junin from Virginia. And Governor Kelly from Kansas, uh, from the Department of Transportation and FAA’s perspective, we are going to offer, uh, full support, uh, to, uh, those on the ground to the mayor, uh, but also to, uh, the NTSB, uh, who is going to be conducting the investigation, uh, in this matter. Uh, we are gonna provide all the support that’s necessary, Mayor. Thank you. So with that I wanna ask Chief John Johnly from DCRNS uh fire and EMS to provide, um, an update. Uh, good evening everyone. I’m John Donnelly, chief of DC Fire and EMS. Uh, this evening at 8:48, um, an alert was sounded initiating *** uh *** large regional response to *** report of an aircraft, uh, crash on approach to the airport. Uh, this response includes first the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s fire department, the District of Columbia Fire Department, the Metropolitan Police Department, um, and the US Park Police, uh, to respond in into the area and to sort that out at 8:58, the first units arrived on the scene and found an aircraft in the water and began rescue operations. This incident has grown. There’s currently about 300 responders working. Uh, we have. Boats from all throughout the region, police and fire boats, um, we have *** mutual aid agreement in Washington DC, the National Capital Region mutual aid agreement administered by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, and we’re all operating under that. We’re operating under *** unified command all everybody’s together, so we also have requested state police helicopters from Maryland and the Coast Guard helicopter is working, so this is. *** state and federal response as well. um, US Coast Guard’s got some boats in the water as well, so it’s *** highly complex operation. The conditions out there are extremely rough for the, uh, responders. It’s cold, um, they’re dealing with, uh, relatively, uh, windy conditions. The wind is hard, uh, out on the river, so they’re out there working, um, we’re keeping doing everything we can to keep them safe and. With that, uh, I’m gonna turn it back to the mayor. Um, and. Cheap bonnet from Emo. I’m Rick Bonnet, fire chief of EMA Fire and Rescue. Our units, as Chief Daliella alluded to at 2048, we received an alert from the FAA tower of an aircraft incident involving *** commercial aircraft and *** helicopter. Our units immediately responded and deployed three boats and immediately called for mutual aid resources. Again, as Chief Donnelly said, it’s an active operation that’s gonna last many hours as we continue to work through recovery efforts and rescue operations. Um, this will be ongoing for quite *** while. Um, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and, um, our communities, and we, uh, appreciate all DC’s support to our agency and our federal partners. So with that I wanted to um turn to the uh the senators who are from Kansas who wanted to say *** few words for Senator Moran and then Senator Marshall. Mayor, thank you and Mr. Secretary, thank you and to our first responders, thank you very much for all that’s taking place here. I’m Jerry Moran. I’m *** United States senator from Kansas. Um, and I chair the subcommittee and and commerce committee on aviation. Uh, so we have. Really *** serious and sad circumstance that we want to be here to be helpful and we’re praying that uh our responders are safe and the folks who are on that flight uh are recovered. The circumstance I would describe is that um. I know that flight. I’ve flown it many times myself. Uh, I lobbied American Airlines to begin having *** direct nonstop flight service to DCA. That flight has been in existence about *** year. Um, and it is certainly true that, uh, in, in Kansas and in Wichita in particular we’re going to know people who are on this flight, know their family members, know somebody, so this is *** very personal circumstance, uh, as well as an official response. And uh again we’re, we will do everything we can to make certain that we’re supportive of the rescue efforts and we’ll do everything we can to make certain that uh our subcommittee and uh Congress is engaged in what needs to take place following uh the the outcome of this evening and this this month’s uh kind of investigation. I’ve talked to NTSB I’ve talked to the White House, uh, I’ve talked to the Department of Defense, and I’ve talked to the CEO of American Airlines. Uh, and there is all of us pulling together for the best outcome possible. Uh, I’m honored to be here with my colleague Senator Marshall, uh, as we did try to try to make certain that we care for those certainly back in Kansas that were on that flight, but it’s *** reminder that there are people here in Washington DC in this region in in Virginia and Maryland, uh, and many places else that fly uh to and from Kansas. And so we’re, we’re rooting and, and supporting all those regardless of where you’re from and Mayor, I appreciate the, the gathering here for us to try to provide information to those in Kansas and across your city. Thank you, thank you. Well thank you Senator Moran and Mayor secretary. You know when one person dies it’s *** tragedy but when many, many, many people die. It’s an unbearable sorrow. It’s *** heartbreak beyond measure. And I know Senator Moran and I are here just to um. To, to say we care, we wish that there was more we could do, but uh unfortunately there doesn’t seem much at this time. I want the folks to back home to just know that we care that we love them and that this is *** time when when we’ll have to join arms together. And, and help each other out. We’ve been through things like this before through tornadoes and floods and and things, but it’s, it’s really hard when you lose, you know, probably over 60 cans and simultaneously and I don’t want to forget the pilots and the and the flight attendants, you know, we’re doing, you know, do their job and the military personnel we lost, you know, all those lives are, are so valuable. And it is such *** tragedy that we lost him. You know, I think often in times like this I try to find *** scripture. That you know is is apropos and this is from the book of Psalms it says the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Certainly we’re crushed in spirit tonight we mourn with the families who lost loved ones and and we truly are, uh, joining them in prayer and wrapping our arms around them in love and compassion. Thanks for everybody for coming out tonight and thank you for your thoughts and your prayers. So certainly I speak for the people of Washington, 700,000 of us uh who are extremely sorry, um, for the families who are experiencing loss, uh, tonight, uh, and so we want you to know that we will continue to work with American Airlines to share information as frequently as possible and make sure that we’re getting accurate information. Uh, out to the public, but, uh, my sorrow for all of the people and crew, uh, on the plane, uh, and our military personnel on, um, the helicopter is very deep. Uh, I do want to turn to Jack Potter who is the CEO of our airports authority, uh, responsible for, uh, Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport, uh, to talk to you about, um, uh, how the airport, um, responded and, uh, what we’re looking what what’s gonna happen next. Good evening, as was said, I’m Jack Potter, the president CEO of the, uh, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Uh, thank you all for being here tonight and, uh, under these, uh, very, very, uh, grim circumstances. Uh, first of all, I wanna let you know that we’re providing support to all the families. Uh, who were involved, American Airlines has established ***, *** phone number for them to reach out. It’s been published, but let me repeat it, it’s 1-800-679-8215. Uh, so families of folks that were on the plane are asked to contact them. We did have folks who were at the airport to pick up loved ones, uh, and so, uh, American has set up, uh, *** center in their American, uh, in their lounge, uh, at the north end of the airport, and we’ve directed the families there, and there are folks there to uh councils there to work with the families. Uh, we did have aircraft that were in the air. They were diverted to Dulles Airport, some 19 aircraft. We had personnel, United and others had personnel. We wanna thank Wamata for extending their hours on the metro to make sure that those folks were accommodated, uh, right now. As was said earlier by the chief, uh we’re in *** rescue mode, uh, we will continue in that rescue mode. Uh, I wanna thank all of the mutual aid responders, uh, all the counties, uh, the district, uh, folks from Maryland and Virginia, everybody’s on site doing the best they can. Uh, and numerous boats out in the water right now. Uh, NTSB is on site. I wanna thank all of the folks behind me, the secretary, the mayor, uh, two senators for all of their support, and we’re gonna continue to work through the night. Uh, I do want to make an announcement. People are, you know, concerned about what’s gonna happen in the morning. Reagan National Airport will be closed until 11 o’clock. That’s when the first flights will. Take off, uh, but, uh, we’re gonna continue to do our best and work through this situation, uh, over the course of the night, and we hope to have more news as it develops, but for right now, uh, it’s, it’s *** very difficult situation out there with the cold it’s very dark, but there are numerous boats out there. There are dive teams out there, so, uh, again we’ll continue to work the situation and I’ll turn it back to the mayor. Thank you very much. Thanks for that update and uh I do you’ve heard uh that in the national capital region the district of course is Washington DC is at the center, uh but we are *** close region uh we have heard from the governors of Maryland and Virginia. Uh, the, the mayor of the city of Baltimore, all, uh, who have sent, uh, as personnel, uh, to help in the rescue operations. Last thing I’ll not just to our, uh, our local viewership and, uh, just please let our first responders do their work, um, try to let our vehicles, um, get to scenes and through scenes uh we don’t want anybody else to get hurt, um. Because of moving vehicles, OK, so, uh, we will be able to take uh *** few questions. There’s not *** lot that we can say we won’t be able to say anything about an investigation, as you know, uh, once uh fire and EMS completes uh. The rescue operation then the investigation goes over to the National Transportation Safety Board uh and I’m sure the safety board NTSB will provide information about when they will be briefing about uh an investigation so we’ll take *** few, yes. Can you um confirm that both aircraft are in the water and perhaps Chief Donnelly can explain what’s involved in conducting an operation like this in this country. Uh, yes, both aircraft are in the water. Uh, the focus now is, uh, rescuing people, uh, and that’s what all of our personnel are focused on, and Chief, I think he’s given ***, *** pretty good description, but if there’s anything else you wanna add, Chief. I would just say that the boats are out doing searches. We have divers on both aircraft and uh they’re, they’re searching those those the airport, the the aircraft at this point. All we can um confirm tonight is the number of people on each aircraft, 64 people on the American. Um, airlines, um, plane and 3 people on the military helicopter, um, when we can’t provide any more information about recovery efforts have talked about lost loved ones. So how do you know that there might be people. I didn’t say I didn’t know people have lost loved ones. I said we can’t talk about any of the recovery efforts in specific tonight. Yes, so, so I’ll, I’ll call on who’s next. Yes, thank you, Mayor Bowser. Um, will this affect operations at Dawson BWI? Will the Potomac River traffic be closed to boats? Yes, um, and so Jack has talked about Jack, do you, can you talk about Dallas? I’m not sure we can talk about BWI, but we can talk about Dallas. There is no impact at BWI or at Dulles, as I said earlier, our airport here, Ronald Reagan National Airport will be closed until 11 o’clock. Obviously that will be fluid. Uh, we’ll learn more, but we wanted to advise passengers who might be coming to the airport in the morning that we will be closed until at least 11 o’clock. Yeah, one second, you’re next. Uh. So other than the current situations like you, we know the water is extremely cold and it’s very dark outside, although you know senators saying that there are numerous boats in the water, but what’s the still, you know, the biggest challenges for the rescue team what best scenario we can expect in the coming few hours. So, uh, the challenges are access, um. The water that we’re operating in is about 8 ft deep. Um, there is wind. There are pieces of ice out there, so it, it’s just dangerous and hard to work in. And because there’s not *** lot of lights, you’re out there searching every square inch of space to see if you can find anybody. The divers are doing the same thing in the water. The water is dark. It is murky. Um, and that is *** very tough condition for them to dive in. Uh, the question about the river we’ll make that decision later. The Coast Guard’s on scene and I would expect that it’s not *** high use time in the river and we should not expect to have, uh, commercial uh recreational traffic on the river tomorrow. OK, 123. Get in touch with the aircraft controllers who were in the tower at the time. I have not. And the second question, this is your first several hours in this position. What are your thoughts? I My focus is on um those who are impacted on this flight and um. Again, I’ve, I’ve been *** secretary for uh *** little over *** day and um the tragedy um that we’re gonna deal with with this recovery, um, I think is touching everyone’s hearts whether it’s here in uh in the greater DC area uh or in Kansas, um, and again I think everyone here is uh thinking and praying for those who, uh, potentially have lost *** loved one and uh thank you your question. Did any of you of you have any sense about how an accident like this could have happened so close to the airport right in the. Reports the contacted the helicopter moments before the crash to ask if they had sight of the aircraft. Helicopter reported that it did have sight of an aircraft. Is it possible that it had the wrong aircraft in sight? Do you have any sense of what I know that the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation will be able to to search on all of those questions. We wouldn’t be able to talk about that tonight. Yes, parts for the first thing you were talking about how you were in the situation. With the president and Pete Hudson, uh, both being there, can you tell us more about the president’s initial reaction to that. So I, I was not in the Situation Room. I did have *** conversation, uh, with the Situation Room, um, where the president, uh, was located as well as with Secretary Heeth, um, we’re exchanging information. uh I would just note that. Uh, not just the local team, but the federal team has, uh, performed very well in, uh, this crisis. Um, I know the president is incredibly concerned about, uh, what’s happened here today. Uh, I’m sure we’ll continue to hear more from him, uh, and I’ll continue to consult with him and Secretary Hegseth. Like Uh, uh, absolutely, we, uh, the president has, uh, committed to, uh, to this team, um, and to, uh, the NTSB through the DOT that we will provide all resources necessary as we go through this recovery, but also, uh, the support from FAA and DOT, uh, as the NTSB investigates the condition of these aircraft, or are they, are they, are they splits? Again, I don’t think we can comment on that. Our focus is on getting um the passengers and crew out of the water. And just one more clarification because earlier we gotten guidance that DCA was going to be shut down at least until Friday at 5 a.m. I, I just heard 11 a.m. 11 a.m. tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, OK. Yes, OK, we can take um we can take *** few more questions, *** question here, *** question here and here. Yes. Mayor Bow, can you just confirm? And transported to the Um, I, I again, I can’t say anything about the rescue operation right now. Uh, who was next? Yes. Yeah, Chief Donnelly, can you speak *** little bit more about the unified command who leads this phase of the rescue and recovery? At what point do you then change phases, and can you describe to us the scene as best you can when first responders first arrive? So, um, I happen to be listening to the radio this evening when the call came out. um, I was to the responders come in and uh the initial response, they, they were, um. Very professional trying to locate this. This is if you can imagine the river is *** large black spot uh at night with no lights on it except for *** few buy lights so they were out there looking, uh, the boats pretty quickly, uh, were able to locate the one of the aircraft and get there. Um, so that’s what’s going on right now. Everybody’s working on that. We will reevaluate where we are with the rescue, uh, operation in the morning when we get *** better sense of it, but we are still out there working and, uh, we’re gonna continue that throughout the night. We, we don’t know yet, but we’re working. Is any part of the search happening overland? No. We’re all in the water. Yes, yes, oh, you got *** question. Somebody didn’t get *** question. Hold on. Yes, um, I just wanted to ask, do you have an estimate, an estimate yet on how long, uh, the recovery efforts will take? So um. Experiences like this go we expect to continue our operations in the fire department for multiple days, and then I would expect the investigation goes longer than that. OK, you didn’t get the question and you, you are next, I think. Thank you. uh, thank you Mayor. Uh, my question is, do we have any plan to uh prevent future uh crash or future accidents? Do we have any, any like to reform the uh authority, the airport control to calm those people who are flying in the next few days and also how long the the rescue is gonna last? Are we gonna stop uh rescue after tomorrow at 11 a.m.? The like the like diversity because they are still in the golden hours now. No, I mean I think you just heard the chief said we’re gonna be um out there as long as it takes and we’re obviously trying to to get to people as soon as possible but we are gonna recover our fellow citizens. Yes. Uh, this is for the Chief and secretary Duffy. Um, how do you balance the search and rescue operation with preserving the sea for the investigation that’s. So, um, From the from the fire department’s point of view we are always gonna put people, uh, first, um, but I don’t think that I think our operations because we have *** unified command, we are all working together and the NTSB is in contact with us and we will work together to make sure that if there’s crucial evidence that it’s not. That it’s preserved and that’s something we do every day with our police department on crime scenes and things so life comes first and everything else after that. OK, question. I know it’s early, but are there any immediate actions that the FAA should take to prevent helicopters and commercial airplanes getting close. So obviously there’ll be *** review of uh what happened here tonight um and uh after the FAA uh studies what happened uh we will take appropriate action if necessary uh to modify uh flight paths and uh and permissions. OK, do you have any more details about the helicopters with the. Um, I spoke with the president’s national security adviser, and I have not talked to the president yet, and, um, I do not know what the mission was, so let me close, um, by saying again. Uh thank you to the members of the press to help us get information out to the families of the American Airlines number is 800-679-8215, 800-679-8215, uh, and I expect the airport will likely provide, um, additional information in the morning. Thank you.
‘It’s very personal’: Officials provide update to plane crash near Reagan National Airport
Updated: 2:38 AM EST Jan 30, 2025
Authorities provide an update after an American Airlines plane crashed with an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.Sixty passengers were onboard the plane along with four crew members, officials say.The Federal Aviation Administration said that a regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter collided just off the runways of Reagan National Airport. Officials said the Army helicopter that collided with the passenger jet was on a training flight.At a news conference shortly before 1 a.m., Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and authorities said first responders from across the region are conducting a rescue operation in dark and cold conditions. “We want to extend our thoughts and prayers to those individuals who are impacted by the events tonight, their families. We know that this is a difficult time for them,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said an alert was called at 8:48 p.m. for a large regional response for a plane crash. The first units arrived at the scene about 10 minutes later and began rescue operations.Donnelly said they’ve requested helicopters from Maryland State Police, and that first responders are dealing with extremely rough and cold conditions.”It’s very personal,” said U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, who chairs a subcommittee on aviation. “I know that flight. I’ve flown it many times myself. I lobbied American Airlines to begin having direct, nonstop flight service to DCA. That flight has been in existence for about a year, and it’s certainly true that in Kansas, in Wichita in particular, we’re going to know people on that flight.””I want the folks back home to know that we care, we love them, and this is a time when we’ll have to join arms together and help each other out. We’ve been through things like this before — tornadoes, floods and things — but it’s really hard when you lose 60 people simultaneously,” said U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas.Jack Potter, the president and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said Reagan National Airport will be closed until at least 11 a.m. Potter said there’s no impact to flights at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall or Dulles airports.”We did have aircraft that were in the air, they were diverted to Dulles International Airport, 19 of them,” Potter said.
Authorities provide an update after an American Airlines plane crashed with an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Sixty passengers were onboard the plane along with four crew members, officials say.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that a regional jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter collided just off the runways of Reagan National Airport. Officials said the Army helicopter that collided with the passenger jet was on a training flight.
At a news conference shortly before 1 a.m., Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and authorities said first responders from across the region are conducting a rescue operation in dark and cold conditions.
“We want to extend our thoughts and prayers to those individuals who are impacted by the events tonight, their families. We know that this is a difficult time for them,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said an alert was called at 8:48 p.m. for a large regional response for a plane crash. The first units arrived at the scene about 10 minutes later and began rescue operations.
Donnelly said they’ve requested helicopters from Maryland State Police, and that first responders are dealing with extremely rough and cold conditions.
“It’s very personal,” said U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, who chairs a subcommittee on aviation. “I know that flight. I’ve flown it many times myself. I lobbied American Airlines to begin having direct, nonstop flight service to DCA. That flight has been in existence for about a year, and it’s certainly true that in Kansas, in Wichita in particular, we’re going to know people on that flight.”
“I want the folks back home to know that we care, we love them, and this is a time when we’ll have to join arms together and help each other out. We’ve been through things like this before — tornadoes, floods and things — but it’s really hard when you lose 60 people simultaneously,” said U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas.
Jack Potter, the president and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said Reagan National Airport will be closed until at least 11 a.m. Potter said there’s no impact to flights at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall or Dulles airports.
“We did have aircraft that were in the air, they were diverted to Dulles International Airport, 19 of them,” Potter said.
