As crews removed some of the wreckage of the American Airlines plane that collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, D. Of the 67 victims, 55 have been identified, Assistant D. Fire Chief Gary Steen said. He said additional remains were recovered Monday, and that they were in the process of being identified.
Frank Pera of the U. Army Corps of Engineers described the wreckage removal effort on Monday as a "very successful day. Salvage crews also brought a wing out of the water.
Pera said at a news conference most of the recovered wreckage will stay on the salvage operation's barge, covered up, until tides allow for the transferring of the items to shore. Crews spent the weekend positioning key equipment to begin removing the wreckage. He said Monday that Tuesday's goal is to remove the cockpit from the river.
Under a massive police escort Sunday, the families of the 67 people killed in Wednesday's collision gathered within sight of the wreckage just off one of the runways at Washington's Reagan National Airport. Investigators with the NTSB said black box data indicates the airliner was flying at around feet ahead of the collision. That's well higher than the feet set by the Federal Aviation Administration for helicopter traffic in that area. According to the NTSB, the airline pilots appeared to pull up about a second before the crash, and investigators are working to understand if the air traffic controllers' screens were providing the helicopter's actual altitude leading up to the collision.
The agency said five people were in the airport control tower Wednesday night. That includes two controllers who CBS News has learned were doing multiple jobs. Rebecca Lobach and Staff Sgt. Ryan O'Hara , the crew chief. Mark Ott, deputy director of aviation for the Army.
