President Trump confirmed Thursday that there are no survivors after an American Airlines plane and an Army helicopter collided in the air over Washington DC Wednesday night. The search-and-rescue operation became a recovery mission in the early morning hours, officials said.
The flight from Wichita, Kan., collided with the military chopper while approaching Runaway 33 at Reagan National airport around 9 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
There were 64 people aboard American Flight 5324, with 28 bodies recovered from the river so far, officials said Thursday afternoon. The bodies of all three soldiers who were on the Army helicopter had been recovered as well.
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The air traffic controller working at the time of the deadly plane-helicopter crash in Washington was doing the work of two people, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Staffing in the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was "not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic," the FAA found in its preliminary report, according to the New York Times.
