A commercial flight hit a military helicopter at Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan National Airport Wednesday night. The airport has a history of crashes and near-misses going back decades.
Among the unanswered questions about the crash near Washington, D.C., are the flight pattern of the Black Hawk helicopter and the exact nature of its training exercise.
Investigators say there are likely no survivors in the deadly aircraft collision that occurred Wednesday evening above the icy waters of the Potomac river.
It will be some time before investigators can offer clear answers to the cause of the midair crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport but air traffic controller audio and radar reviewed by NPR offer some insight into what happened before.
Authorities believe there are no survivors in the accident, which happened as a regional passenger jet was attempting to land Wednesday night at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The equipment was extremely damaged, however, so it's unclear how much information it will provide. There were 132 people aboard the flight, which crashed on Monday.
The memory unit from the cockpit voice recorder belonging to the Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 that crashed into the Java Sea has been recovered, investigators say. All 62 people aboard were killed.
Investigators say an engine throttle appears to have malfunctioned while the autopilot was engaged, possibly contributing to last month's crash of a Boeing 737-500 that killed all 62 people aboard.
