The bodies of all 67 victims of last week’s deadly collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter have been recovered and identified, according to an update from authorities Wednesday.
Crews continue to work to remove debris from the Potomac River. Situated in close proximity to the Arlington, Virginia, airport’s original terminal, one can see the flashing lights of police and U.S. Coast Guard vessels surrounding a massive floating platform Wednesday.
On that barge is a large, orange crane, which has been lifting heavy chunks of debris out of the water and onto the platform. Once there, the debris is examined by a National Transportation Safety Board investigator before it is packaged and sent to a land facility for further analysis.
Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District Commander Colonel Francis Pera joined WTOP on Wednesday afternoon with an update on the timeline on the salvage operation.
“At this point, we’re very close to finishing with the civilian aircraft. We’re currently down loading about 90% of that wreckage right now. Our goal is to really transition within the next 24 hours to now focus on the Army helicopter. And we hope to have that portion of the recovery done by Friday,” he said.
The most difficult work in the Potomac has already been done, Pera said, and he expects the helicopter to be recovered smoothly and quickly.
“We’ve got some experts who do this all over the world, and we’ve really brought in the best to get this done. Right now, because of the shallow nature of the water around the helicopter, we don’t see this as the most complex,” he said.
Winter weather is moving into the D.C. area Wednesday night and into the early morning hours of Thursday, but Pera said since high winds aren’t expected, the weather shouldn’t play a huge factor in the operation.
As of Tuesday, the remains of all 64 passengers and crew of the CRJ-701 twin-engine passenger jet and the three crew members of the U.S. Army UH-60 helicopter were secured, and positive identification had been made for all of them.
The NTSB said it was examining new data that could put the helicopter above its 200-foot flight ceiling. The airport’s air traffic control screen — relying on radar sensors and other data — had it at around 300 feet, the agency said.
Investigators said they need to get more information from the still-submerged Black Hawk to verify the data.
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