NTSB Holds Update on Midair Collision in DC Late Today

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J. Todd Inman, An NTSB Member, Conducts Brief Update Late This Afternoon on Reagan National Airport Collission.

J. Todd Inman, a NTSB member, said in an one half hour update late today, that a combined voice recorder has been recovered from the Black Hawk helicopter and is currently at NTSB headquarters.  Inman said that it is “not compromised.”  Although it was the last item on his agenda, it may be the most important news he delivered in the press conference around 5:30 pm today as a follow-up to the midair collision between a Black Hawk helicoper and an American Airlines jet at Reagan National Airport earlier this week.

The significance of the recovery of this piece of equipment  from the Black Hawk helicopter is that it could could reveal what the crew members of the helicoper were focused on.    What did they actually see?   What was the discussion among the three crew members on board the Black Hawk.?  Was the helicopter above its height limit and had it deviated from its flight path?   The many questions that have been raised could be answered when the independent NTSB is able to access the helicoper recorder. The black boxes retrieved from the American Airlines jet is expected to be less informative according to some experts on the subject.

Inman said that numerous salvage equipment is in the process of coming to the site of the tragic mid-air colllision at Reagan National Airport.  A large crane has already arrived on the scene.  It is expected that the additional equipment will start removing large pieces of the American Airlines jet tomorrow morning.  That is necesary to be able to recover the bodies of the remaining victims of the collision.  It may be that many of the unrecovered bodies are in the jet fuselage.  That is part of why it needs to be salvaged from the Potomac River as soon as possible.

There are two distinct debris fields;  one for the American Airlines jet and the other for the Black Hawk helicopter.  Forty bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River.  The NTSB has said it will not step its recovery effort until all bodies have been recovered from the crash site.

When asked by a reporter if Inman had any interaction from the President or the White House,’ he answered that he had not had any communication with the White House.  He emphasized that the NTSB is an independent  entity that will not speculate on  what caused the mid-air collsion at Reagan Natinal Airport in which 67 lives were lost.  It was especially notable because Convicted Felon Trump has stated that the cause of the collision was due to the DEI policies of the Biden administration.

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