Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 3, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Read the Winter issue at: winnipegfreepress.com/fp-features Available in your Free Press (subscribers) on March 29 and at Manitoba Liquor Marts - while supplies last! SPRING 2025 ISSUE OF DON’T MISS THE COMING SOON! A8 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I WORLD MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2025 Families of victims visit site of U.S. air disaster A RLINGTON, Va. — Families of vic- tims of the deadliest U.S. air dis- aster since 2001 visited the crash site on Sunday and divers scoured the submerged wreckage for more remains after authorities said they’ve recovered and identified 55 of the 67 people killed. Washington, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said officials are confi- dent all will be found. Divers are work- ing diligently to locate remains as crews prepare to lift wreckage from the chilly Potomac River as early as this morning, Donnelly said at a news conference. Col. Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers said divers and salvage workers are adhering to strict protocols and will stop moving debris if a body is found. The “dignified recov- ery” of remains takes precedence over all else, he said. “Reuniting those lost in this tragic incident is really what keeps us all go- ing,” Pera said. “We’ve got teams that have been working this effort since the beginning, and we’re committed to mak- ing this happen.” Divers have high-definition cameras with feeds monitored on support boats, Pera said, putting “four or five sets of eyes” inside of the wreckage. Owing to the frigid conditions, one diver was treated at a hospital for hypothermia, Donnelly said. Portions of the two aircraft that collid- ed over the river Wednesday night near Reagan Washington National Airport — an American Airlines jet with 64 people aboard and an Army Black Hawk heli- copter with 3 aboard — will be loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to a hang- ar for investigation. Family members were taken in buses with a police escort to the Potomac Riv- er bank near where the two aircraft came to rest after colliding. The jet, en route from Wichita, Kansas, was about to land. The Black Hawk was on a train- ing mission. There were no survivors. Federal investigators were working to piece together the events that led to the collision. The National Transportation Safety Board didn’t hold a press briefing on Sunday, but did release a photograph showing investigators on a small boat looking at wreckage and another of them examining a flight data recorder. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he wanted to give investigators space to conduct their inquiry. But he posed a range of questions on Sunday morning TV news programs. “What was happening inside the tow- ers? Were they understaffed? … The position of the Black Hawk, the eleva- tion of the Black Hawk, were the pilots of the Black Hawk wearing night vision goggles?” Duffy asked on CNN. Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Ga.; Chief Warrant Offi- cer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Md.; and Capt. Rebecca M. Lo- bach, of Durham, N.C., were in the heli- copter. The plane’s passengers included fig- ure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wich- ita and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip. The NTSB said Saturday that prelim- inary data showed conflicting readings about the altitudes of the airliner and the helicopter. Investigators also said that about a second before impact, the jet’s flight re- corder showed a change in its pitch. But they did not say whether that change in angle meant that pilots were trying to perform an evasive manoeuvre to avoid the crash. Data from the jet’s flight record- er showed its altitude as 325 feet (99 metres), plus or minus 25 feet (7.6m), when the crash happened, NTSB offi- cials told reporters. Data in the control tower, though, showed the Black Hawk at 200 feet (61m), the maximum allowed altitude for helicopters in the area. The discrepancy has yet to be ex- plained. Investigators said they hoped to rec- oncile the difference with data from the helicopter’s black box and planned to refine the tower data, which can be less reliable. “This is a complex investigation,” in- vestigator in charge Brice Banning said. “There are a lot of pieces here.” Banning said the jet’s cockpit voice recorder captured sound moments be- fore the crash. “The crew had a verbal reaction,” Banning said, and the flight data record- er showed “the airplane beginning to in- crease its pitch. Sounds of impact were audible about one second later, followed by the end of the recording.” Full investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days. NTSB member Todd Inman said he has spent hours meeting with victims’ families. “Some wanted to give us hugs. Some are just mad and angry,” Inman said. “They are just all hurt. And they still want answers, and we want to give them answers.” More than 300 responders were tak- ing part in the recovery effort at a given time, officials said. Two Navy barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreck- age. On Fox News Sunday, Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration was looking into staffing in the Reagan Air- port control tower. Investigators said there were five con- trollers on duty at the time of the crash: a local controller, ground controller, assistant controller, a supervisor and supervisor in training. According to an FAA report obtained by The Associated Press, one controller was responsible for helicopter and plane traffic. Those duties are often divided between two people but the airport typ- ically combines them at 9:30 p.m., as traffic slows. On Wednesday, the super- visor combined them earlier, which the report called “not normal.” “Staffing shortages for air traffic control has been a major problem for years and years,” Duffy said, promising that President Donald Trump’s admin- istration would address shortages with “bright, smart, brilliant people in towers controlling airspace.” With the nation already grieving, an air ambulance crashed in Philadel- phia on Friday, killing all six people on board, including a child returning home to Mexico from treatment, and at least one on the ground. Three people injured on the ground re- main in critical condition, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said Sunday. Parker said 22 people were injured and five of them remain hospitalized. At least 11 homes were significantly dam- aged, along with some businesses. “Our city continues to mourn their loss and they are in our thoughts and prayers,” Parker said of the deceased. A Mexico-bound air ambulance plunged to the ground Friday evening, less than a minute after takeoff from Northeast Philadelphia Airport with six people on board, including a girl who had spent months being treated at a city hospital. One of the dead was killed inside a car as debris from the Learjet 55 crash ex- ploded into the neighbourhood, damag- ing nearby homes. Also Friday, the FAA heavily restrict- ed helicopter traffic around Reagan Air- port, hours after Trump wrote on social media that the helicopter had been fly- ing higher than allowed. Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neigh- borhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground. — The Associated Press JOSE LUIS MAGANA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS An American Airlines jet passes as family members of the victims of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an army helicop- ter stand near the wreckage site in the Potomac River at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Sunday, in Arlington, Va. DAVID R. MARTIN, MICHAEL R. SISAK AND CLAUDIA LAUER ;