The National Transportation Safety Board just gave an update on last night’s midair collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines commuter flight. More than 60 individuals are presumed dead, and recovery efforts continue in the Potomac River.
Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t a lot of new information—with one exception: board member J. Todd Inman stated that “no chutes or slides were deployed” subsequent to the crash, indicating that there was no time to deploy emergency evacuation procedures.
A reporter from NBC, Tom Costello, asked NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy, “Does it hurt your investigation process to have the president already suggesting possible causes here as you try to keep in mind and begin this investigation?”
Homendy wasn’t having it. “Tom, with all due respect, I think the press also likes to state what probable cause is before we get to the probable cause. So what I’m going to say is you need to give us time.”
WOW!
NBC’s Tom Costello: “Does it hurt your investigative process, maybe for the chairman, does it hurt the investigative process to have the President already suggesting possible causes here as you try to keep an open mind and begin this investigation?”
NTSB Chairwoman… pic.twitter.com/5Xmrg43fsV
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 30, 2025
According to Homendy’s bio, she was first nominated to the NTSB by President Trump in 2018 and renominated by then-President Biden in 2021. Both times, she was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
Indeed, the usual left-wing media suspects were out quickly with speculation that Donald Trump was somehow to blame for the crash. Matt wrote about it here.
“We have substantial amounts of information,” Homendy added. “We need to verify and take our time to make sure it is accurate.”
Inman said to expect a preliminary report within 30 days, “and the final report will be issued once we’ve completed all our fact-finding and investigation.” Moreover, “If we find something that is a significant issue that warrants immediate action, we will not hesitate to make those recommendations and make them public. We have a good track record on that.”
He also noted that while the “black” boxes have not been recovered, he is confident they will be found in the water in the coming hours and days. The priority, he said, is recovering the victims.
“So the question was about black boxes, which are referred to as black boxes, which are typically orange,” he explained. “Right now, recovery of life is probably more important… there are still ongoing recovery efforts involving the fatalities involved, along with some debris is coming out as well. We will make sure that that perishable evidence is maintained. We have a great process for that. We will probably have more than one black box, so to speak.”
There are special considerations when a military aircraft is involved in a crash. “It’s our understanding that the Sikorsky helicopter is equipped with some form of reporting devices, and those will be read either by the DoD or by us,” he stated. “We have a good starting relationship with them, and we’ve already made agreements in order to be able to do that, so I feel comfortable in what we’re going to be doing.”
Asked about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s statement that the crash was caused by a “mistake,” he replied, “We don’t know what we know just yet. We do not know enough facts to be able to rule in or out the human factor, mechanical factors… That is part of the NTSB investigative process, where all of these groups will come together. It’s one of the reasons why the NTSB is known as the gold standard.”
“We will take the time that’s necessary” to complete a thorough investigation, Inman concluded.
Watch the full briefing here:
