New U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who was sworn in a day before the devastating plane crash over the Potomac River, said that the tragedy was preventable. According to the New York Post, Duffy shared that he agreed with President Trump that it “looks like it should have been prevented.”
Duffy asserted that there was “not a breakdown” in communication as there was “communication between the aircraft and the tower.”
“I would say that the helicopter was aware that the plane was in the area,” Duffy said. “This was a clear night last night; the helicopter was in the standard pattern. If you live in the DC area, you will see helicopters up and down the river.”
“The American Airlines flight coming in to land was in a standard flight pattern as it was coming into DCA, so this was not unusual with a military aircraft flying the river and aircraft landing at DCA,” he added.
According to CBS News, “Search efforts continue in the Potomac River after an American Airlines plane with 60 passengers and four crew on board collided in midair with an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. At least 28 bodies had been recovered by 8 a.m. ET, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told reporters, adding that, ‘We don’t believe there are any survivors.’”
Duffy said that an investigation into the tragedy has begun and investigators have “early indicators of what happened here,” CBS reports.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom seemed to have suggested that the helicopter was to blame in the crash saying that “at this time, we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path of the PSA aircraft,” according to The Post.
An Army spokesperson said that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will work with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as the latter leads the investigation. The spokesperson confirmed the helicopter involved in the collision was on a training mission.
Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said that “there’s a lot of questions” following the tragedy. Noting that Reagan National Airport is “very congested,” Kaine said “you can’t tell a lot from video footage taken at night, but the footage raises a lot of questions about how this happened.”
Kaine shared that while it is not time to “speculate,” it is noteworthy that the congestion at the airport has been a concern.