NTSB Studies Flight Data from Washington Plane Crash

The NTSB, in coordination with the U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage, has recovered the aft fuselage, right engine and right pylon of the Bombardier CRJ700 after its midair collision with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 airplane operated as American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, to Reagan Washington National Airport, and the US Army helicopter collided at 8:47 p.m. ET on January 29, 2025, killing 67 people.

The salvage of both aircraft is expected to take several days. FBI dive teams will recover smaller pieces of wreckage.

Reuters reports that data retrieved from an investigation will be released on Tuesday. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said: "We have much more granular data from Potomac TRACON that we're going to be able to release," referring to a Federal Aviation Administration terminal radar approach facility in Virginia.

The NTSB investigative team has obtained training and flight logs for both flight crews and maintenance logs for both aircraft. The human performance group is building several day histories for both flight crews, and the Air Traffic Control group has completed interviews of all five staffed positions in the tower.

NTSB investigators are working to synchronize flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder data from both aircraft, ATC communications and radar scope data to obtain a detailed timeline.

The flight data recorder for the Black Hawk did not have timestamps, so investigators will have to manually create timestamps, which requires additional time to validate.

Investigators from the NTSB said on Saturday they had determined that the CRJ-700 airplane that had departed Wichita, Kansas, was at 325 feet (99 meters), plus or minus 25 feet, at the time of impact.

The detail suggests that the Army Black Hawk helicopter was flying above 200 feet (61 meters), the maximum altitude for the route it was using.
Homendy said that data was from DC radar which updates every 5 seconds, and "that can change in a quick period of time when the helicopter is moving at a good speed."

Data confirmed that the air traffic controller alerted the helicopter to the presence of the CRJ-700 about two minutes before the collision.

A preliminary report is expected within 30 days from the date of the accident. A probable cause of the crash and any contributing factors will come in the final report, which is expected in 12 to 24 months.