DC Crash aircraft: Search for River Potomac River, complicated by the conditions of their control
As the efforts on recovery on the Potomac River continue after a collision in the middle mecopter and an an American Airlines plane On Wednesday night, the virginia rescue diver and the firefighter illuminated the challenges, divers may face in cold waters.
A total of 64 people, including passengers and crew members, were on board AA Flight 5342 from Wichit to the National Airport Reagan (DCA). Three soldiers conducted the training of surgery on the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk army, who came from Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
All 67 people on the ship of both aircraft are assumed to be dead. From Friday afternoon, the authorities said they had taken out 41 sets of the rest and identified 28 of these victims.
“This is incredibly unusual. You know, we are trained and we are always ready to answer the invitation … when the diving call comes. But this usually includes one victim. And on rare occasions, several victims,” Jake Crockett, and a firefighter and a diver with SCUBA Chesterfield Fire & Ems rescue team, he told Fox News Digital.
Stinging a video from a military base shows a new angle of disaster in a collision in Mirair
Emergency units search the place of the U.S. aircraft collision on the Potomac River after the plane crashed to the National Airport on the National Airport on January 30, 2025. At Arlington, Virginia. A military helicopter collided with a plane on Wednesday. (Tasos Cathopodis/Getty Images)
“But some of this size, you know, has 67 people to explain, along with two planes and all the debris, it’s incredibly unusual. This is something that, no doubt, none of them could have predicted.”
Crockett believes that the recovery mission could last for weeks, but he hopes that all the victims will be counted in for the next few days.
Victims identified in an airline accident involving jet and military helicopter American Airlines
“Obviously, they make a really good progress in a short time. But I’m sure the recovery of victims should be a priority number one … ensuring the closure of these families who lost their loved ones should be the most important thing,” Crkett said.
“Once this is over and then recovers Two aircraft and then finding as many collisions from collisions I can in Rijeka, “he added.” This is what they will probably need for the longest … They will look for every piece, every walnut and bolt I can for an investigation. “
Persecuting the final post on social networks from the Sisters of “Sisters of Skating
FBI agents stand near the debris after the Black Hawk helicopter collided with a flight of American Airlines 5342 while approaching Ronald Reagan Washington’s national airport and crashed into the Potomac River, Arlington, Virginia, USA January 30, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Crkett said divers are likely to face a multitude Challenges in Rijeka Potomacwith the greatest visibility of water.
“It will be zero visibility or close to zero is that it will dive, so the search for small parts of the aircraft in such visibility will be extremely challenging … they lead here both lakes and ponds and rivers … When you enter, it’s just dark,” he said. “You rely 100% to the touch and in training, you return to the training of the correct search forms so that you do not miss anything. You just touch everything you can get your hands and feel it and feel it and feel it trying to recognize it.”
Without the ability to see in such a large water body, Crockett explained that certain technology such as sonaries could help divers to discover large items underwater, but added that there are limitations.
“At the end of the day, all the technology, it just gives you somewhere to look,” he said. “Someone will have to go down there to still recover, to still make sure it is something connected.”
Crockett noted that the river temperature could also be a barrier to divers during a recovery mission.
“The water temperature is especially above the freezing, and that, you know, was absolutely unbearable to jump in without, you know, without the appropriate diving suits,” he said. “Even with the appropriate Ozo, you can stay in that water just so long before you start losing your dexterity in your hands, which would affect your search.”
Official security shares details of the investigation, a bomb staff report
Crockett said he “didn’t say” how much left of the wreck.
“Potomac is massive, you know, where they are, it goes hundreds of miles all the way to the Chesapeke Bay,” he said. “It’s a river, so it has electricity … It’s another factor for divers.”
Crockett explained that river current It can be a significant factor for several reasons, including divers who need to fight electricity and feel “fatigue” as a result, and the flow of water that potentially moves around the remains of the victims and the debris of the wreck.
“They have a really big job ahead of them, which is why I think it will be weekly, because to be thorough, they will be up and down,” he said, “he said.
Timeline: A plane and helicopter in a deadly bang
The efforts in search and rescue can be seen around the place of the wreck in Rijeka Potomac from the National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington, early Thursday morning, January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Va. (Carolyn Kaste/AP Photo)
What originally started as an effort to search and rescue Wednesday turned to a recovery mission after believers believed There were no survivors.
“Once the recovery mission is overturned … Our goal is to ensure that closure,” Crockett said, adding that the victims’ families “should be able to properly bury their loved one and grieve and grieve appropriately.”
Click here to get the Fox News app
Crkett added that if his team would be called to help in efforts to recover, he would be ready for the challenge.
“The first family is responsible massive and everyone is always willing,” he said.
Fox News’ Audrey Conklin and Greg Norman contributed to this report.
