Data recovered from the American Airlines plane and Army helicopter crash in DC revealed a key discrepancy in their altitude readings that may offer an explanation for the tragedy that left 67 dead.
The National Transportation Safety Board revealed that preliminary data from the Black Hawk helicopter and passenger jet showed conflicting readings about their altitudes at the time of the catastrophic collision.
Data from the passenger jet’s flight recorder showed its altitude as 325 feet, plus or minus 25 feet, when the crash happened Wednesday night. Data in the control tower, though, showed the Black Hawk helicopter at 200 feet at the time.
The 100-foot discrepancy is yet to be explained, but if the impact did occur at 325ft, the crash would have occurred well-above the maximum allowed altitude of 200ft for helicopters in the area.
Investigators hope to reconcile the altitude differences with data from the helicopter’s black box, which is taking more time to retrieve because it became waterlogged after it plunged into the Potomac River. They also said they plan to refine the tower data, which can be less reliable.
‘That’s what our job is, to figure that out,’ said NTSB member Todd Inman, who grew increasingly agitated with reporters’ questions seeking more information and clarity about the readings during a Saturday evening news conference.
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
The two black boxes were recovered from the crash wreckage after both the plane and helicopter landed in the Potomac River
He acknowledged that there was dissension within the investigative team about whether to release the information or wait until they had more data.
Investigators ‘currently don’t have the readout from the Black Hawk’ so they cannot provide information about the altitude at which the helicopter was flying, but Inman said that ‘obviously an impact occurred, and I would say when an impact occurs, that is typically where the altitude of both aircraft were at the moment.’
No one survived the collision, which occurred as an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, with 64 people on board was preparing to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport, just across the Potomac from the capital. The Army Black Hawk helicopter, which apparently flew into the jet’s path, had three soldiers on board.
‘This is a complex investigation,’ said Brice Banning, NTSB investigator in charge. ‘There are a lot of pieces here. Our team is working hard to gather this data.’
Banning also discussed the last moments from the jet’s two black boxes, which captured sound in the cockpit and flight data.
‘The crew had a verbal reaction,’ Banning said, with the data recorder showing ‘the airplane beginning to increase its pitch.
‘Sounds of impact were audible about one second later, followed by the end of the recording.’
A forensic team collects a piece of debris from the Potomac River
The passenger jet’s two black boxes captured sound in the cockpit and flight data. A crane retrieves part of the wreckage from the Potomac River, in the aftermath of the collision
First responders confirmed Sunday that 55 of the 67 victims of America’s deadliest crash since 2001 have been identified. Officials are also scheduled to undertake a ‘lifting operation’ on Monday to remove the wreckage from the river.
Full investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.
Inman added that he has spent hours meeting with victims’ families.
‘Some wanted to give us hugs. Some are just mad and angry,’ Inman said. ‘They are just all hurt. And they still want answers, and we want to give them answers.’
More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at a given time, officials said. Two Navy barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreckage.
Crews are scheduled to undertake a ‘lifting operation’ on Monday to remove the wreckage from the river.
Portions of the aircraft will then be loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to a hangar for further investigation.
An unidentified firefighter working the scene, however, told reporter Brian Entin he and others are ’emotionally wiped out after seeing the horror up close.’
The firefighter explained that the water is ‘actually very clear’ and with their flashlights, ‘they saw horrible things when they arrived.’
The accident occurred when an American Airlines jet from Wichita, Kansas collided with the Black Hawk over Washington DC Wednesday night, killing all 67 people aboard the two aircraft
No one survived the collision, which occurred as an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, with 64 people on board was preparing to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport
Meanwhile, family members of the victims gathered at the crash site on Sunday as they awaited news about their loved ones.
Dozens of people were seen arriving in 10 charger buses – with a police escort – to the banks of the Potomac River just outside Reagan National Airport, where the plane went down just before 9pm.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posed a series of questions about the crash on morning television news programs Sunday.
‘What was happening inside the towers? Were they understaffed?’ he asked on CNN.
‘The position of the Black Hawk, the elevation of the Black Hawk, were the pilots of the Black Hawk wearing night vision goggles?’
Then on Fox News, Duffy announced that the Federal Aviation Administration was looking into staffing at the control tower.
‘Staffing shortages for air traffic control has been a major problem for years and years,’ he lamented, as he promised that President Donald Trump’s administration would address shortages with ‘bright, smart, brilliant people in towers controlling airspace.’
Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since November 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport.
The crash killed all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.
Experts regularly highlight that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded airspace around Reagan National can challenge even the most experienced pilots.
