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Just one week after a midair collision near Reagan National Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are planning to brief senators.
The midair collision between a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and a Bombardier CRJ700 airliner was confirmed to have killed 67 people.
Since the crash, the FAA has imposed stricter restrictions on helicopter flights near the airport until late February, apart from police and medical transport, air defense and presidential air transport.Â
A barge carrying a crane moves parts of the wreckage from the Potomac River in the aftermath of the collision of American Eagle flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the river, by the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., February 5, 2025. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)
“I can tell you at one point, very close to the impact, there was a slight change in pitch, an increase in pitch,” he added later, when asked whether the plane pulled up.
A barge carrying a crane transports parts of the wreckage from the Potomac River as they cross past the helicopter involved in the crash, in the aftermath of the collision of American Eagle flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the river, by the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., February 5, 2025. (REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz)
While air traffic control data had the plane’s altitude at 200 feet at impact, Inman said they “have not finalized that and need to get more granularity to it,” and that data from the Black Hawk’s recorder is also needed to answer for the apparent 100-foot difference in altitude.
Fox News Digital’s Andrea Margolis and Rick Eggleston contributed to this report.