Image source, Reuters

Terry Liercke, vice president of Reagan Airport, is being questioned about whether he's ever raised concerns about air traffic congestion with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"The United States airspace is the safest in the world. Safety is our, one of our top priorities," Liercke says in response.

A reporter presses the issue, saying, "There have been near misses here before," and asks again if he's raised concerns with the FAA.

Liercke doesn't give a direct answer, saying only, "We work with the FAA."

The briefing's over now. We'll have a roundup for you shortly.

Image source, Reuters

The DC fire chief John Donnelly says officials believe the aircraft's fuselage needs to be removed before more bodies can be recovered.

"A lot of our operations today are focused on the helicopter," he says.

Donnelly is then asked how long it will take to recover the bodies from the river.

He says there are too many unknowns to give a timeline but hopes more can be done tomorrow when salvage crews arrive.

He is then asked how the weather is affecting the recovery operation, with rain forecast for the coming days.

He says the weather will slow efforts slightly, but it’s currently conditions they can work in.

Donnelly explains more about the search and rescue effort, saying, "we've had over 300 responders operating at one time."

He adds that around 500 people have worked at the site of the fatal crash over the Potomac River.

"Unified command has activated peer support for its first responders to make sure that everybody has somebody that can help us get through this," he says.

He thanks the community for their "outpouring of support" and warns people to be cautious of scams when donating money.

"Be careful. Avoid fundraising scams. Only trust verified sources."

Donnelly says they still expect to recover all the bodies. That’s why the teams are continuing their work, he says, adding that they’ll be collaborating with the salvage company.

Image source, Reuters

DC fire chief Donnelly says teams worked through the night to recover more victims.

They used sonar scans, carried out shoreline searches, and conducted aerial searches.

So far, remains of 41 victims have been recovered, with 28 people positively identified.

Two coastguard ships are helping dive teams, and more are expected to arrive tomorrow.

Officials are reassessing the situation and are asking local residents to report any debris or remains they come across straight away.

We are now hearing from Terry Liercke, the vice-president and manager at Reagan National Airport.

He says the airport is running at a "reduced capacity" with only one of three runways currently open.

Out of around 800 flights, 100 flights were cancelled today, he says.

He advises those travelling from the airport to check with airlines before the flight.

Image source, Reuters

The press briefing has just begun with John Donnelly of DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, who starts by introducing others standing with him, including representatives of the Coast Guard and Reagan National Airport.

Donnelly says that as they continue to learn more about the victims, they are "sharing prayers and condolences" with families.

He thanks response teams, both on the site and those supporting families.

He calls it "heart-breaking work" before handing over to Terry Liercke from Reagan National Airport.

The White House briefing has finished, and now we're waiting to hear from police, fire and emergency services, the FBI and others at another news conference in Washington DC.

This was delayed earlier, but it’s now about to start in a few minutes.

Stay with us for the key updates.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, White House

We have just wrapped up the press briefing at the White House, in which Karoline Leavitt answered repeated questions on President Trump's response to the plane crash.

While she acknowledges the investigation is still under way, she defends Trump's comments and allegations that hiring practices may have, in some way, contributed to the accident that took place in DC this week.

At the very end of the news conference, Leavitt is asked about Trump's use of expletives yesterday as he laid the blame on former presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for issues at the FAA.

"I think one of the things that the American people love most about this President is that he often says what they [others] lack the courage to say themselves," she says.

"I think yesterday at this podium you heard President Trump express great frustration, perhaps even anger, with the previous administration's policies, many of which have led to the crises that our country is currently facing," Leavitt concludes.

Karoline Leavitt is also asked whether President Donald Trump believes people with disabilities have a place to work in the federal government.

She says, "people should not be hired based on their disabilities, based on their skin colour, their gender, their race. None of that matters."

"The president is focused on ensuring that the most competent individuals, the best and the brightest in this country are in positions in the federal government."

Image source, Reuters

We can now bring you more from President Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who defended Trump's remarks about DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) earlier.

Yesterday, asked by a reporter how he could blame diversity programmes for the crash when the investigation had only just begun, the president responded: "Because I have common sense."

In the briefing today, Karoline Leavitt says: "When you are flying on an aeroplane... do you pray that your plane lands safely and gets you to your destination, or do you pray that the pilot has a certain skin colour?"

She continues: "I think we all know the answer to that question, and as President Trump said yesterday, it's common sense."

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Karoline Leavitt is just asked about the president's assertion that the helicopter in the crash was "flying too high" and where that information came from.

"The president based that statement on truth," she hits back, saying that the information comes from briefings given to Trump.

So far, the plane crash and Trump's comments about it have taken a secondary role in this briefings, overshadowed by tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which Leavitt has just said are due to take effect tomorrow, as Trump has previously said.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

More now from the White House briefing.

Leavitt, Donald Trump's press secretary, swiftly moves to defend the president's assertion yesterday that flying is safe.

"With that said... we certainly have seen the deterioration of the federal hiring standard [at the FAA]," she says.

When asked if anyone involved in the accident benefited from the hiring practices that Trump outlined yesterday, she declines to answer.

"But, I will say that the president has rightfully pointed out that there have been problems with the aviation industry over the past several years," she adds.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

There's a White House press briefing happening right now, at which Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is going through a list of President Trump's actions following Wednesday's air crash.

She notes that "to ensure transparency", Trump directed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator to look at staffing and hiring practices and take "all necessary actions" if something is deemed unsafe.

There has still, to date, been no evidence that hiring practices directly led to the crash earlier this week.

"President Trump has long led on aviation safety," Leavitt says.

The topic is likely to take up a good portion of the questions today at this briefing.

We're seeing multiple reports that the Federal Aviation Administration has indefinitely restricted helicopter flights in the area around Washington Reagan National Airport - where Wednesday's crash took place.

All helicopters, aside from police and medical aircraft, will be barred from parts of two helicopter routes between the airport and nearby bridges, one news agency, Reuters, reports.

If we get anymore information about this, we'll let you know.

We can bring you comments now from Congressman Don Beyer, a representative for Northern Virginia - where Reagan National Airport is located.

Beyer tells the BBC’s Carl Nasman he would "rather" the airport was "less crowded".

He says he fought against the decision to add new flights to the already busy schedule at Ronald Reagan airport, but stresses he doesn't want to draw any conclusions until the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has completed its investigation.

While we try to establish when we might hear from officials in Washington DC, here are a few pictures of the search operation that continues on the Potomac River.

As a reminder, 67 people in total died when an American Airlines passenger plane and US military helicopter collided on Wednesday night. So far, 41 bodies have been retrieved.

The search for the last 26 continues.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

We're hearing that the update we were expecting from officials in Washington DC has been delayed.

As yet, we aren't sure what's happening or why there's a delay - but we'll let you know when we do.

In the next few minutes, we're expecting to hear from officials in Washington DC about the investigation following the fatal collision between the American Airlines jet and US army Black Hawk helicopter.

For a reminder of what we know so far, our previous post recaps the latest updates.

Stay with us as we bring you the key lines from the upcoming news conference. You'll also be able to watch it live at the top of this page.

Image source, Reuters

It's coming up to midday in Washington DC, if you're just joining us here's a recap of what we know so far:

• President Donald Trump says that the Black Hawk helicopter involved in the crash was "flying too high", in a post on Truth Social

• Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth says in an interview with Fox News that "someone was at the wrong altitude", but adds that "right now we don’t quite know"
• Forty-one bodies have now been recovered, including the three people who were flying on the US military helicopter, DC emergency officials tell the BBC

• Investigators have recovered the flight data recorders, known as black boxes, from the wreckage of the passenger plane, while a preliminary report into the crash is expected to be issued in 30 days
• A member of the National Safety Transportation Board (NSTB) and spokesperson for the investigation, Todd Inman, says recovering the commercial plane's black boxes is a "good start", adding that the wider investigation into the cause of the crash "could take a year, if not more"