One week after horrific crash, last pieces of jet being pulled from Potomac River: Updates

ARLINGTON, Va. ? Crews returned to the Potomac River and forged ahead with a massive salvage effort on Wednesday, one week after a horrifying midair crash that killed all 67 people aboard a passenger jet and Army Black Hawk helicopter.

Video showed a crane pulling more wreckage from the icy waters as piles of mangled debris lay on a U.S. Navy barge. Multiple boats patrolled the waterway as dive teams looked for smaller pieces of wreckage.

In a Wednesday evening update, the National Transportation Safety Board said parts of the wrecked passenger plane were offloaded from the barge and transferred to a secure location. Investigators will examine the jet's general airworthiness and traffic collision avoidance system.

Crews are expected to finish retrieving all major components of the American Airlines jet on Thursday before shifting focus to the Black Hawk helicopter, which investigators said will be crucial to its investigation into the cause of the deadliest air disaster in over two decades.

The National Transportation Safety Board, the agency leading the investigation, said Wednesday that the air traffic control tower display showed the Black Hawk was flying above the 200-foot altitude ceiling assigned to its flight path. The agency stressed it needs additional information from the helicopter after it is recovered from the water later this week.

The Federal Aviation Administration has restricted helicopter flights around the airport and closed two of its runways, including Runway 33, where American Eagle Flight 5342 was set to land when it collided with the helicopter on Jan. 29.

Officials said the bodies of all 67 victims have been recovered and positively identified. "This marks one of the final steps in bringing closure to the families and the community," Unified Command said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

Remembering the victims: Students, Olympic skaters, families and more. A tribute to lives lost.

Figure skating benefit to be held in Washington to honor victims

A live figure skating tribute event will be held at the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington next month, the U.S. Figure Skating organization announced on Wednesday.

The event titled "Legacy on Ice" is set for March 2 and its proceeds will go to the families and loved ones of the dozens who perished in the collision. Nearly half of the 60 passenger aboard the passenger jet were returning from a competitive youth figure skating program in Wichita, Kansas. The victims included teenage skaters as well as their coaches and family members.

"As we begin to heal from this devastating loss, we look forward to honoring the enduring memories of these athletes, coaches and family members who represented the best of the figure skating community,” U.S. Figure Skating interim-CEO Samuel Auxier said. “We can think of no better way of celebrating their legacies than through the sport they loved."

The event will be co-hosted by 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano and will feature appearances from multiple Olympians and U.S. world champions, including Ilia Malinin, Amber Glenn, Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

Skating community hit hard: Nearly half of passengers on fatal flight were members of figure skating community

Duffy raises questions about aviation rules after crash

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Wednesday he is reconsidering rules that allowed air traffic control supervisors to reduce staffing at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport before the devastating midair collision last week.

Duffy, who said he spoke to Elon Musk on Tuesday about airspace reform, also questioned the military's use of helicopter flights near the congested airport.

"If we have generals who are flying in helicopters for convenience through this airspace, that's not acceptable. Get a damn Suburban and drive – you don't need to take a helicopter," Duffy said in a speech in Washington.

Officials have said the Black Hawk helicopter was on a training mission and the pilot may have been wearing night vision goggles.

"We also have to look at (military) missions that have flown the DC airspace," Duffy said. "We're going to hopefully find this out, but if they had night vision goggles on a mission like that at nine o'clock at night and not at 1 a.m. – it is unacceptable."

Duck hunters returning from a Kansas trip among plane crash victims

Seven men boarded a plane together at the end of their hunting trip, bound for Maryland where their wives, kids and co-workers were expecting them. But they never made it home.

The group had gone on a hunting trip in Great Bend, Kansas, according to Chase White, the owner of Fowl Planes, the guide service leading the trip. White said three men in the group drove home, while seven of them boarded the doomed American Airlines Flight 5342.

"We are completely heartbroken. Please pray for the families, friends and for our 3 other hunters in the group who were driving home," Fowl Planes said in a statement. "Heartbroken is an understatement."

The group included Mikey Stovall, 40, who was planning a snowboarding trip with his son; Charlie McDaniel, a 22-year member of the UA Steamfitters; Jonathan "Jon" Boyd, 40, who is survived by his two sons, 11 and 1; Alex Huffman, 34, who was known for his "contagious" laugh; Jesse Pitcher, a 30-year-old newlywed; Steve Johnson, an avid outdoorsman who ran an IT company; and Tommy Clagett, a father of two who coached youth soccer.

Read more about the victims here: Loved ones mourn 7 men who perished in DC plane crash after hunting trip

Winter storm may complicate recovery operations

Dangerous conditions on the Potomac River could be made worse by a winter storm that triggered weather advisories for the Mid-Atlantic region on Wednesday, as authorities braced for the potential of strong winds, sleet and ice.

The National Weather Service said up to an inch of sleet could accumulate in the Washington area as bouts of freezing rain move across the region. The temperature of the Potomac River near the debris field hovered from the mid 30s to low 40s, according to the weather service.

The conditions on the river – with low visibility and strong tides – have already proved difficult to navigate, especially for divers scouring though the murky water for debris. A diver with the Metropolitan Police Department was hospitalized for treatment related to hypothermia, Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said on Monday.

Runway 33 draws scrutiny amid plane-helicopter crash investigation

The primary approaches to the airport’s main runway provide jets with hundreds of feet of clearance over the helicopter corridors, but Runway 33 is not as accessible, the Washington Post reported. The approach to Runway 33 can take jets within 15 feet of the top of the Route 4 helicopter corridor that the Black Hawk was using, the Post said, citing FAA documents.

The helicopter route and landing path for the runway almost put aircraft “in the same place,” Scott Dunham, who has worked as a National Transportation Safety Board investigator and an air traffic control instructor, told the Post. “You have to move one of them.”

DC plane crash updates: Officials recover all 67 people killed in devastating collision

Busy skies mean more close calls

There have been several near collisions and other close calls around the country in recent years that concerned experts and officials.

Robert W. Mann Jr., a former airline executive officer and current president of R. W. Mann and Co. consulting, told USA TODAY that the growth in air travel demands has put more planes and helicopters are in the sky.

"It creates a more congested and more complex control environment, especially near major hubs but also en route, and that just creates greater challenges,” Mann said. “The complexity of traffic and the density of traffic in terminal areas of large airports – that’s  what’s driving an increasing number of incursions, runway incursions, taxiways incursions, incidents of aircraft damage on the ground, and in some cases, real tragedies.”

? Zach Wichter and Nathan Diller

Collision renews urgent questions: Near collisions, air safety issues under scrutiny

Friends remember Brian Ellis: DC plane crash passenger 'one of the best'

Naval academy grad among victims

Brian Ellis and his teammates won the Georgia state high school football championship in 1987. By the fall of his senior year in 1988, he was their starting quarterback.

“It was an early sign of his leadership and commitment to team values,” stated a tribute to him this week by the public school district in his hometown in Clayton County, Georgia. Those virtues would follow him through a football career at the U.S. Naval Academy, almost 22 years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, and in the enduring friendships he maintained until he perished with 66 others in the crash over Washington, D.C., last week.

Ellis, 53, served as a helicopter pilot and instructor for 12 years of his Marine career, including stints overseas while deployed. For his friends, the irony of his death in a collision with an Army helicopter was tough to handle.

Read more: Friends remember Brian Ellis, DC plane crash passenger, as 'one of the best'

? Dinah Voyles Pulver

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DC plane crash: Last pieces of jet being removed from Potomac River