As Wichita reels from the deadly plane crash in Washington D.C., investigators revealed that they've recovered the black boxes from both the American Airlines flight that had left Wichita before crashing into the Potomac Wednesday night, and the Black Hawk military helicopter that collided with it.
In more somber news, they also pulled more bodies from the water to bring the total of 40 recoveries associated with the flights that carried 67 souls before crashing into the icy water.
As they continue their recovery mission, officials are trying to determine what led to the collision between American Airlines flight 5342 as it was approaching Runway 33 at Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, and the Sikorsky H-60 helicopter.
Four people briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak about it publicly told media sources that the helicopter appeared to have been flying higher than air traffic control had approved. The helicopter was on an “annual proficiency training flight," newly appointed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a video statement. He added that the crew had night-vision goggles, but "was a fairly experienced crew."
It has been revealed that only one air traffic control worker was handling both helicopter and airline traffic at the time in the tower, which was “not normal” at the time of the crash, according to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation. Typically, the job is handled by two.
“When one person dies, it’s a tragedy,” Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas said late Wednesday. “But when many, many, many people die, it’s an unbearable sorrow. It’s a heartbreak beyond major.”
Among those lost were top figure skaters who had attended a training camp in Wichita, Kansas, held in conjunction with prestigious U.S. Figure Skating Championships. In a statement, Doug Zeghibe, the skating club's CEO and executive director, identified club members on the plane as Jinna Han, Jin Han, Spencer Lane, Christine Lane, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova.
Shishkova and Naumov are Russian-born figure skaters and former world champions.
"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," U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement.