First thing is the communication between the air traffic control and the helicopter and the plane … There’s no direct communication between the civilian and the military helicopter and airplane. Instead,

The American Airlines plane operating as American Eagle Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport.

Flight recorders have not yet been recovered but the NTSB is "comfortable and confident" that the recorders will be recovered, Inman said. Search and rescue efforts are seen around a wreckage site in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport,