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D.C. Fire Says, No Survivors in Midair Collision, 67 Believed Dead; 11:00 A.M. ET, Trump News Conference After Deadly Midair Collision; American Airlines CEO Says, We Don't Know Why the Military Aircraft Came into the Path of the Passenger Jet. Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired January 30, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:00]
PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Pamela Brown in Washington.
And we begin this hour with breaking news. There are new details this morning in this tragic midair collision between a passenger plane and a U.S. Army helicopter. These right here are live images of the icy Potomac River where crews have spent the night searching for survivors. It is now a recovery mission.
This morning, hope is lost. There is no sign of survivors among the 64 people on the American Airlines flight and the 3 soldiers aboard the Black Hawk helicopter. It is the deadliest air disaster in the U.S. in more than 23 years.
And the next images we want to warn you may be difficult to watch. This Earth cam video captures the moment of impact right here. You see it. You see the plane with the lights. There you go. You see the helicopter approaching from the left as the American Eagle flight descended to land at Reagan National Airport. And a witness describes the horror of what unfolded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROY BEST, WITNESSED CRASH: I was sitting on the rooftop of my building. I was from neighbors. And we have a direct sight going down to the airport so we can see everything clearly. We were just talking, next thing you know I heard a loud explosion. I looked to the left, saw a big ball of fire and then wreckage just falling down towards the river and my neighbor hollered out, oh my God, that's a plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: We've got CNN reporters covering every angle of this breaking news. Rene Marsh joins us here in D.C. and Natasha Bertrand is live from the Pentagon.
Rene, first to you, what is the latest on the investigation?
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Pamela, this is all just getting underway. And I spoke with the NTSB this morning and they made it clear while they are ready to go and have gotten themselves in position, what they do not want to do is impede the recovery operation. Because on the other side of this investigation or midair collision investigation are families and they want to see the bodies of their loved ones retrieved. So, they don't want to in any way get in the way.
We do expect to hear at some point from the NTSB, but they're setting the bar low. They said, do not expect to and so we're going to be get to get any sort of investigative update. It will all be about process. And I can walk us through what that process will be. But I think the big question that these investigators are going to be focused on is what happened here.
We do know from air traffic control audio that the pilot of that Black Hawk helicopter saw the commercial airliner. And, in fact, we have that audio. So, let's take a listen to that and then talk about it on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT 2-5, do you have the CRJ in sight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT 2-5, pass behind the CRJ.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT-25, has aircraft in sight, request visual separation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 472, Washington Tower, 1 star, 32017.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARSH: And that, at the end, that sound, that is just an audible gasp of air traffic control when they realized what had happened.
From the point of the Black Hawk pilot saying that they saw the commercial airliner, it was about 13 seconds before you saw that impact that you just showed that video for. So, what happened in that timeframe, what went wrong is at the heart of this investigation.
So how does it work? Process. NTSB, the FAA, the DOD, the Department of Defense, the Army all for this investigation. We know that three pieces of the plane's fuselage has been located in waist deep water. They're going to want to take a very close look at that because, believe it or not, you can glean clues from that that helps to piece together this bigger picture.
The other critical piece of information is going to be those black boxes. Both of these aircraft are equipped with black boxes. They're designed to withstand very intense levels of heat as well as water. So, the fact that this crash site is over the Potomac River shouldn't be a problem as far as getting that data off. Once they have found it and retrieved it, a treasure trove of information.
[10:05:0]
They will then be able to begin the process of piecing together this timeline of events. Pam?
BROWN: The work of those first responders, those divers who are in there right now is just so critical for so many reasons. Rene Marsh, thank you so much.
Natasha, to bring you in on this, so this Black Hawk helicopter was on a training mission at the time of the collision. What more can you tell us about that?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, we're getting a little more information from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who issued a recorded statement just about an hour or so ago providing a little more detail on what this Black Hawk was actually doing. This was apparently a required night evaluation that this Black Hawk that belonged to the U.S. Army. It was based out of Fort Belvoir in Virginia was engaged in.
And according to Hegseth, according to National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, as well as another U.S. Army official that we spoke to, this was not an inexperienced crew. This was a fairly experienced crew. There were no particularly junior pilots on board. But here's a little bit of what Hegseth said in his recorded comments earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENS SECRETARY: It was a fairly experienced crew and it was doing a required annual night evaluation. They did have night vision goggles The 12th Aviation Battalion, as of now, is granted a 48-hour operational pause on contingency missions as what happened is reviewed. And a senior level aviation team, an investigative team from our Aviation Safety Center, was deployed last night and already is in Washington, D.C. to investigate what's going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERTRAND: So they are going to be looking at, according to Hegseth, whether this helicopter was on the appropriate flight path, whether it was at the right altitude, basically whether anything went wrong here. But we should note that this is extremely routine, according to former pilots in this unit that we have spoken to, according to Army officials that we have spoken to. This is not out of the ordinary for these Black Hawk helicopters to be operating in this area and along that route in particular.
So, the question will now become, was there anything that happened that impeded these pilots from being able to get out of the way of that big passenger aircraft? Was this simply pilot error? Did it come down to something more technical? That is what they're going to be investigating at this point. And as Hegseth said as well, the 12th Aviation Battalion, which is the unit that this helicopter belongs to, that is now on an operational pause while all of that can be investigated, Pam.
BROWN: All right. Natasha Bertrand, Rene Marsh, thank you both.
17-year-old Jimmy Mazel saw the collision firsthand and he joins us now. Jimmy, I'm so sorry that you had to see that. First of all, just bring us into that moment.
JIMMY MAZEL, WITNESSED DEALY MIDAIR COLLISION: Yes, ma'am. Last night, I was at Gravely Point Park with my girlfriend. We were eating our dinner and watching the planes land and take off just as normal. And I noticed a white light falling out of the sky and I wasn't sure what it was. I was very concerned to what it could be. And shortly thereafter, there was a large response, fire trucks and police cars and anything you can think about. It was being responded to the airport. So, it was very, very insane.
BROWN: Yes, we just have video up right now showing this midair collision. Did you see anything? You said you saw the white light going down. Did you see anything just before? Did you see the potential for collision to happen?
MAZEL: No, ma'am. All I saw was the white light falling out of the sky last night. And, yes, that's what I saw.
BROWN: So, there must have been so much confusion when you saw that. When did you realize what had actually happened?
MAZEL: Yes, ma'am. Last night, I was very curious to find out what happened or what was happening. And I stuck around maybe 20 or 30 minutes after just to look and see what was happening and see if I could figure anything out. But after that, I went to Alexandria, where my brother is a police officer there, and we drove to a local park there, where there are new stations, and we were starting to figure out what was happening and that's where I figured out that a collision happened with a plane and a military helicopter.
BROWN: That's so traumatic, what you saw, and realizing what that was. How are you doing right now?
MAZEL: I'm still shocked. I'm still a little shaken. My prayers go out to everybody involved, and it's very terrible what happened. I feel bad for everyone. I wish there was something I could have done to help.
[10:10:00]
But, yes, my prayers go out to everyone.
BROWN: All of our prayers go out to them and just so many families right now are grieving. It's just horrific.
Jimmy Mazel, thank you very much.
Families and friends, they're trying to process this, that the loss of 67 loved ones taken all too suddenly in last night's midair collision. A pastor in Kansas was at the Wichita airport when news of the crash broke and he reflected on his community now devastated by tragedy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN STALEY, CONGREGATIONAL CARE AND STAFF CHAPLAIN, CHAPEL HILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: All of us are going to know people who know people. So, it's a great time to double down on caring for each other, holding each other, holding hands maybe a little more than we used to, and continuing to pray and depend on the Lord in this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in Wichita. So much sadness there on the ground, Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey. You can really get the sense that this is a community waiting for to kind of get a sense of the scope and the magnitude of just how painful this tragedy will be as community members start learning the names of the victims of who died in this air collision just at the edge of Reagan National Airport.
And this morning, city officials and the mayor held a press briefing. They talked about the care teams that were activated last night. There was one family that showed up at the airport here in Wichita that was cared for by the care teams that were there and that went -- going through that process. And the mayor also talked about just the emotional toll that this is taking on the city here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR LILY WU, WICHITA, KANSAS: We have been told that there are no survivors. We mourn with all those who have been impacted. This is a terrible tragedy that will unite those in Washington, D.C. and Wichita, Kansas, forever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: And, Pamela, the mayor also talked about how the city was coming off an extremely jubilant weekend. The U.S. figure skating championship was held here over the weekend and served for several days. And the mayor talked about how the city was able to witness Olympians, future Olympians. And the U.S. Figure Skate Association confirms that there are obviously several members, coaches, athletes, families that were on this flight because there was a camp for young skaters held after that championship event here in Wichita, so, many of the victims presumably coming from this.
And the mayor talked about what a joyful experience it had been for this city, Pamela, to witness not just these amazing figure skaters, but being able to witness what they thought might be future Olympians here in their city over the weekend.
BROWN: They were so young, had such bright futures. I've been looking at the pictures from that event there in Wichita, where there was so much excitement and jubilation and now just grief and sadness.
Ed Lavandera, thank you.
Much more news on this midair collision after a quick break.
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[22:15:00]
BROWN: Later this hour, we're expecting to hear from President Trump as he addresses the nation for the first time following last night's fatal midair collision.
For more on how the White House is responding this morning, CNN White House Reporter Alayna Treene joins us. So, Alayna, the president weighed in on this crash last night. What did he say and what are we expecting to hear from him shortly?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: And that's right. And to be clear, Pamela, we do know now that he is going to be, as you said, addressing reporters in the White House briefing room, as well as the public, really hearing from him in person and directly for the first time since this midair collision last night.
Now, again, we did hear from him in a statement last night, as well as he posted directly on social media. I'm going to read you some of the post or, excuse me, the statement that he first sent out. This was just roughly two hours after that crash. He said -- he called it a terrible accident, which just took place at Reagan National Airport. May God bless their souls. He continued to say that he was monitoring the situation and to have -- you know, as more details arise.
And then he also posted just after midnight onto Truth Social, his social media website. He said this. I'm going to read for you one line of it, because this is what is getting a lot of attention today. He said, quote, this is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. Not good.
Now, one thing to note there is that we did hear this morning from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who I would note was just sworn in on Tuesday, two days ago. He said that he, quote, absolutely agreed with President Donald Trump that this was potentially preventable.
Now, I also can tell you, Pamela, from my conversations with sources, I also spoke with him. I spoke this morning with White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, who said that he was in the Situation Room with President Donald Trump until very late last night. Duffy said that he believed Donald Trump was back in the Situation Room this morning. And, again, of course, we reported that Donald Trump is going to be addressing the public at 11:00 A.M. from the briefing room, so more details on this to come. Pamela?
BROWN: All right. Alayna Treene from the White House, we'll check back soon.
And still ahead, I'll speak to a Republican congressman on the Transportation Committee, Congressman Tim Burchett about this midair collision.
[10:20:02]
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: Here in Washington, rescue officials say there appears to be
no survivors from that tragic midair collision between a passenger plane and an army Black Hawk helicopter.
Joining us now is Congressman Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican who is on the Transportation Committee. Actually, these are the wrong guests. We're going to go to hopefully the congressman. We're going to be with you soon.
Juliette -- oh, okay. I'm being told in my ear that I guess the congressman is not available.
[10:25:0]
So, I'm going to go to you right now, Juliette Kayyem, and ask you what I was going to ask the congressman is, you know, how does this happen?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, we don't know and I don't think anyone knows. Here's the data points we do know at this stage and there'll be -- both the secretaries of transportation, secretaries of defense said that there'll be a review.
What we do know is that these were -- for both instances, at least so far, we know that these were normal flight patterns for both the helicopter and the airplane. That's important for people to know, because it's very common at DCA for to have this sort of intersection of both military, federal aircraft as well as civilian. DCA is used to it. Their air traffic controllers are used to it. So, the weather was relatively -- was clear. So, every piece of this is, let's just be honest, is not making sense right now. And that's what the investigation is going to tell whether there was some deviation from the flight pattern by the helicopter where you're hearing a lot of analysts -- aviation analysts say that. That's going to be a focus as well as a communication with the air traffic control.
I'll just add, you know, D.C. is a crowded, complex, multiple crossing runways airport. It's got the best facilities and being able to adapt to that. But this is a very complicated system.
BROWN: Yes. No, certainly. And I want to dive a little bit deeper into that. And some of the evidence that's coming in here, Greg Feith, is we have the video showing the moment that the collision happened and just before. And then we have this air traffic controller sound and you hear the controller talking to the Black Hawk helicopter pilot just before the collision. Let's listen to that and then talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT 2-5, do you have the CRJ in sight?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT 2-5, pass behind the CRJ.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT-25, has aircraft in sight, request visual separation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 472, Washington Tower, 1 star, 32017.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: You hear that gasp. That's when they realized what happened, Greg. So, there was less than 13 seconds between that discussion with the air traffic controller and the Black Hawk helicopter pilot. How critical are those seconds in understanding how this happened?
GREG FEITH, FORMER NTSB SENIOR AIR SAFETY INVESTIGATOR: They're very critical. It's trying to understand what those pilots actually were reporting affirmative to when the air traffic controller was reporting. Do you see the R.J.? Was that the aircraft that the crew actually saw, or did they see a different aircraft, or did they lose the aircraft in the ground light?
We had this issue in San Diego with PSA, a 727, when the air traffic controller had told the crew that they were Do you see this aircraft, a small training aircraft at your 1:00 position? Well, there happened to be four similar aircraft, and when the crew said, yes, we have that airplane in sight. The one that they saw was not the one that the air traffic controller was referring to. And, unfortunately, they collided and crashed in San Diego.
So, that's going to be key with the communications and really understanding what the communication was between the two pilots in both aircraft, because, again, one pilot is flying, the other one is basically monitoring. And so the question is, what was the communication? What was understood or possibly misunderstood? And did they collide because of that misidentification?
BROWN: Yes. What do you think about that and this idea that this could have been sort of a disorientation situation? You have lights, it's nighttime, which is tough. This is a crowded airspace. What do you think about that theory at this point as we are trying to learn more about how this happened, Juliette?
KAYYEM: So -- and I'll defer to aviation experts, but at least in terms of what I know in terms of response planning, there's still nothing unusual yet to explain the sort of historic midair crash that happened last night that there's a generation of people.
There's a generation of people, I just was talking to my students who don't even -- I mean, we're older. We remember these. These are very, very rare. And there's nothing that we're seeing now, so that's why I think the communications are key, that would suggest some outside element was responsible. But the helicopter training mission was a normal training mission. They're always done at night. The airline knew this route.
[10:30:02]
I mean, so in terms of looking for the outside elements, I think it's going to be hard to say that that is true.