Newly appointed Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Thursday that the midair collision Wednesday night between a regional American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk military helicopter over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., was “absolutely” preventable.
No one survived the collision, which claimed the lives of 64 passengers and crew onboard the commercial aircraft and three crew onboard the military helicopter.
During a morning news conference, Duffy said the skies over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were clear and the final runway approach of Flight 5342, which departed from Wichita, Kansas, was “standard,” as was the flight pattern of the military helicopter.
“Obviously, it is not standard to have aircraft collide. I want to be clear on that,” Duffy said. “But prior to the collision, the flight paths that were being flown from the military and from American, that was not unusual for what happens in the D.C. airspace.”
Asked by reporters whether the crash was avoidable, Duffy said it “absolutely” was.
Duffy’s comments came after President Donald Trump posted a statement on his Truth Social platform, questioning why the control tower didn’t wave off the military helicopter from the flight path of the American Airlines jet.
“It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!,” Trump wrote.
In a press conference from the White House later Thursday morning, Trump called the collision a “tragedy of terrible proportions,” and also used the briefing to go on the offensive against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, claiming that the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) DEI hiring plan was to blame for the collision.
Figure skaters, coaches, family members among the victims
U.S. Figure Skating issued a statement saying that “several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342,” according to the statement obtained by ABC News.
“These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas,” the statement continued. “We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”
Russian media also reported that two Russian figure skaters were on board the plane and expressed condolences to the families and friends of those killed in the collision.
“Unfortunately, we see that these sad information is being confirmed,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday morning. “There were other of our fellow citizens there. Bad news from Washington today.”
Earlier, several Russian state media outlets were reporting that married 1994 Russian world figure skating champions in pairs Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who lived in the U.S., were on board the plane, though U.S. authorities have not confirmed these reports.
At least 19 aircraft that were in the air and due to land at Reagan National Airport had to be diverted after the midair collision, according to Jack Potter, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. The diverted flights landed at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.