Washington aircraft crash black boxes recovered

The black box from the helicopter that collided with a commercial airliner was recovered in Washington DC yesterday.

- FOREIGN STAFF

Investigators are reviewing the flight data recorder along with two from the plane.

No-one survived the collision between the American Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 airliner and US army Black Hawk helicopter. Three soldiers died on the helicopter and 60 passengers and four crew died on the aeroplane.

Forty-one bodies had been pulled from the river as of yesterday afternoon, including 28 that had been positively identified, Washington DC fire chief John Donnelly Sr said at a news conference.

He said next of kin notifications had been made to 18 families, and that he expects that all 67 of the bodies of the dead will eventually be recovered.

“It’s been a tough response for a lot of our people,” Mr Donnelly said, noting that more than 300 responders were taking part in the effort at any one time.

Officials also heavily restricted helicopter traffic around the airport, an official said, hours after President Donald Trump claimed in a social media post that the Army Black Hawk had been flying higher than its allowed limit.