The black boxes from the American Airline jet that crashed into a US Army helicopter near Washington, DC, killing all 67 people on board, has been located by investigators.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Friday said it recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Bombardier CRJ700 jet that collided with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
“The recorders are at the NTSB labs for evaluation,” the agency said in a post on X.
Jennifer Homendy, NTSB Chairman earlier told reporters that the agency would “leave no stone unturned” in its investigation into the accident, the first deadly crash involving a US commercial airliner in more than 15 years.
Read also: Scores feared dead in Washington after jet collides with helicopter, crashes into river
“We are going to conduct a thorough investigation of this entire tragedy, looking at the facts,” Homendy said.
The announcement comes after US President Donald Trump drew ire for claiming that diversity, equity and inclusion policies (DEI) at the Federal Aviation Administration may have been to blame for the disaster.
“These are not people who should be doing this particular job,” Trump said at a news conference, without specifying whom he was referring to.
“We want brilliant people doing this. This is a major chess game at the highest level.”
Asked by a reporter how he could draw a link between the crash and DEI policies when investigations were not complete, Trump said he had “common sense”.
Trump’s comments prompted condemnation from Democrats and disability rights groups, including the National Disability Rights Network, which branded his statement “irresponsible, disparaging, and wrong”.
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