The soldiers were flying a military helicopter involved in the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster since 2001.
WASHINGTON — The bodies of three soldiers who were on board a military helicopter that crashed into a passenger plane near Washington, D.C. Wednesday night have been recovered, one day after the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster since 2001.
The crew that was flying the Army Blackhawk helicopter was “very experienced” and were not new to the unit or the congested flying that occurs daily around Washington, D.C., according to Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation.
“Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them,” Koziol said. “Even the crew chief in the back has been in the unit for a very long time, very familiar with the area, very familiar with the routing structure.”
The crew included an instructor pilot and pilot in command who were experienced to the point where either crew member “could manage that helicopter by themselves.”
Military officials said Thursday that the remains will be at Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. That office coordinates the dignified transfer of fallen service members. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet announced.
No identities of the crew have been released.
Shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday, the helicopter collided with American Airlines Flight 5342 from Kansas carrying 60 passengers and four crew members. Video of the crash shows the two aircraft intersecting near the airport before exploding in a violent fireball and raining debris into the river below.
Officials said Thursday morning they had transitioned from rescue to “recovery efforts,” meaning they did not expect to find any survivors from the crash.
More than 30 bodies have already been recovered from the river as divers continue to search for those who went down in the plane’s fuselage. The body of the plane split into three during the crash, according to officials.
In remarks delivered from the White House Thursday, President Donald Trump appeared to put at least some of the blame for the crash on the deceased helicopter pilots, saying they should have seen the plane coming in for a landing.
The NTSB, which conducts investigations into all plane crashes, has not confirmed Trump’s theory about the cause of the crash, and is still actively investigating.
