Authorities say that 28 people have been identified following Wednesday's fatal air crash near Washington DC, and expect to find all the bodies of the victims - so far, the remains of 41 have been recovered
Helicopter traffic around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has been restricted, which Secretary Sean Duffy says will ensure the safety of plane and helicopter traffic
President Trump says the helicopter involved "was flying too high" - but does not provide any evidence to back up the claim
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the president "based that statement on the truth" from briefings he has received
An investigation is under way to establish what caused the collision between the US army helicopter and an American Airlines passenger plane, killing 67 people
Investigators have already recovered the flight data recorders, known as black boxes, from the wreckage of the passenger plane - a preliminary report into the crash will be issued in 30 days
Ros Atkins on... the Washington DC plane crash
BBC North America Correspondent Anthony Zurcher explores President Donald Trump's claim - without evidence - that diversity policies were a factor in the Washington DC plane crash.
Watch: Trump says, without evidence, that diversity policies were factor in DC plane crash
Earlier today, satellite was able to capture images of debris and the recovery effort in the Potomac River - which marks the boundary between Washington DC and the state of Virginia - after a military helicopter and plane collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Officials say no one is believed to have survived the crash - there were 64 people aboard the American Airlines flight and three people on board the helicopter.
Image source, Reuters
Image source, ReutersAs we've reported, figure skaters, their coaches and families were among the Washington DC plane crash victims.
"These kids and their parents, they're here at our facility in Norwood six, sometimes even seven days a week. It's a close, tight bond," says Doug Zeghibe, CEO of The Skating Club of Boston.
He is overcome with emotion as he talks about the six members killed in the Washington DC plane crash.
CEO of Boston-area skating club emotional after DC plane crash
The Mayor of Wichita in Kansas has told the BBC her community is "grieving" for those who perished in the plane crash.
The American Airlines flight took off from Wichita, Kansas, last night with 64 passengers and crew on board.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight programme, Mayor Lily Wu said the community held a prayer event this afternoon with faith leaders.
"I'm just really grateful that this community wants to be united in helping those individuals who are grieving right now," she said.
The mayor said officials don't yet have the names of those who were killed in the crash.
"Right now, we are waiting, because I do believe it's respectful that families get contacted first, and so I know that that process is happening right now," she added.
Officials have recovered the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, known as the black boxes, from the American Airlines plane, a source confirmed to the BBC's US partner CBS News.
The black boxes can help offer clues about what may have gone wrong on the flight.
The recorders will be analysed at the National Transportation Safety Board lab, nearby the site of the crash, according to CBS.
Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen told BBC News that congestion at the airport may have played a role in the crash.
The Reagan National airport is "definitely beyond capacity" and "there is too much congestion" which causes incoming flights to circle in the air for a long time as they wait for clearance to land.
"This was avoidable," he said, calling Reagan "the most congested airport in the country".
Van Hollen was among several senators who last year spoke out against a rule that ultimately allowed more airplanes to pass through Reagan each day.
"Whether or not that was a factor in this collision is a separate matter, but it's something that the [National Transportation Safety Board] should look at," he said, referring to the lead investigative agency.
Van Hollen, a Democrat, also denounced Trump for "recklessly and irresponsibly" speculating about the cause of the crash.
He said he is "absolutely appalled that President Trump would would take this moment of tragedy and politicise it, [and] start pointing fingers at different people without any basis for doing so".
He called on Trump to apologise to the families of the dead, as well as the nation, for "making a political show out of this awful tragedy".
Van Hollen also criticised the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for not having "adequate levels of staffing", and urged them to hire more people.
But Van Hollen said he is concerned that Trump will replace the FAA's "merit-based federal employees who are selected based on qualifications" with his own allies.
"I don't think anybody wants political hacks in very important positions of responsibility," he added.
The BBC's Americast has an episode out this evening about the airplane crash in Washington.
Anthony Zurcher speaks to Sarah Smith, who's been on the banks of the Potomac River where the rescue operation is taking place.
The two discuss the details of the collision involving a commercial jet and a military helicopter that is believed to have killed 67 people. The cause of the disaster still unknown.
The search effort for remaining bodies in the Potomac River have been paused because of dangerous conditions, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.
Responders believe they have accessed all the remains they can safely retrieve, the outlet reports.
The US Coast Guard is going to help remove parts of the aircraft so divers can recover the remaining bodies of the victims of the crash.
Once those parts of the craft are removed, and conditions are safe, divers will go back into the waters.
The operation bears some resemblance to the Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse last year, when divers had to search the Baltimore River for bodies after a ship hit the bridge, hurling people into the water.
Divers had to maneuver around huge metal debris in the water to try to recover bodies.
Image source, ReutersStaffing for air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night, when the plane crashed, may not have been at normal levels for the time of day and the amount of traffic, according to reports in US media, including the New York Times.
There was one controller managing traffic for helicopters and planes, a job normally handled by two people, according to two sources cited by the BBC's US partner CBS News.
Another source told CBS that there are usually two people working that job in the first part of the evening, and that one person then covers it later in the evening. The source said those the duties were combined earlier than usual on Wednesday night.
CNN has also reported that one person was working a normally two-person job, citing a source who also said it is not unusual for one person to handle both local and helicopter traffic.
A little earlier, our colleagues at Newshour spoke to Peter Goelz, the former managing director of the US National Transportation Safety Board.
Echoing the two lawmakers we mentioned earlier, Goelz described the airspace where the accident happened as "the most congested airspace" in the country, with Reagan National Airport and military flights operating there.
"It is a very complex and crowded airspace. There have been close calls in the past in terms of mid-airs but there has been no accidents," he said.
Goelz also criticised Donald Trump’s comments about diversity hires during his earlier news conference, calling it "appalling".
"It served to undercut aviation safety, the reputation of American aviation safety that has been built up over 40 years," he said.
Image source, Getty ImagesTwo lawmakers from Virginia, where Reagan airport is located, had campaigned for some time against increasing the number of flights, but last year a decision was taken to add five new slots.
Asked by the BBC if more should have been done about safety concerns with increased flights, Democratic congressman Don Beyer says: “I don’t want to do cause-and-effect, because it’s probably not fair," but adds: "We’d rather that there should be a less crowded airport."
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine tells CNN he has been worried about higher safety risks in a more congested airspace.
"I’ve been praying that there... wouldn’t be something like last night, but kind of dreading in my heart that there would be.”
As a reminder, investigators have said they’re looking into several possible factors behind the deadly crash, and they don’t yet know the cause.
Image source, EPAWhile Trump doubles down on blaming diversity rules in the hiring process for air traffic control roles, we now bring you another response earlier from the Democrats.
US Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer tells the media: "It's one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracy theories, it's another for the president of the United States to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered."
"And families still being notified [of the death of family members], it just turns your stomach."
More on what Trump has said in the Oval Office.
He repeated his claim that diversity programmes might have contributed to the crash and signed a presidential memorandum called "Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety".
"In light of the damage done to aviation safety by the Biden administration's DEI and woke policies," Trump says the memorandum aims to "ensure that we are actively undoing all of that damage," referring to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programmes.
Talking about air traffic controllers, he tells reporters: "They have to be psychologically really, really smart. And you know, there are a lot of people who wouldn't be able to do that."
Earlier, Trump blamed his predecessors in the Biden administration for allegedly hiring people with disabilities and psychological issues as air traffic controllers. The former transportation secretary has since hit back at the claim.
Image source, EPATrump has just been speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, where he announces the appointment of an acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
He is also asked if he has spoken to the families of the plane crash victims, he says he doesn’t want to comment but does plan to meet them.
"The plane was on a schedule, you know, a track – they call it a track," he says.
"It was going down and landing, and the helicopter got in its way," he adds. "A tragic, tragic story."
Sean Dilley
Transport correspondent
Air accident investigators have five key questions they will be seeking to answer, according to a retired commercial pilot.
Captain Chris Rigby, who flew with British Airways and Britannia, told the BBC: "We'll never know exactly what happened in the cockpit in the moments leading up to the crash, but the voice recordings from both aircraft will help us understand more."
He believes there are five fundamental questions that need to be answered:
The former training pilot stressed that we should assume nothing until investigators establish the facts, but he said it is not uncommon for less experienced pilots to be fixated on the instruments, and in this case, the military aircraft would have been operating under visual flight rules.
As Nada Tawfik just mentioned, airport operations are now back to normal.
Although the first major commercial air crash in nearly 16 years in the US has made many travellers nervous, many still haven’t lost confidence in air travel.
You can hear some of their thoughts in this video.
Watch: Mixed feelings amongst travellers at Washington DC airport
Nada Tawfik
BBC News
I’ve just landed at Reagan National Airport on a United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey.
The journey was fairly standard, and there were a number of people on the plane, with no mention of the deadly crash.
Despite the earlier shutdown, the airport here is filled with travellers trying to get to their next destination. Those I’ve spoken with felt no hesitation at all about flying today, even thinking it would be safer with more precautions after what happened.
That includes Gunther Schulze, a consultant who flies to DC every week from Houston, Texas.
The father of two said it was heartbreaking and devastating, especially for the parents of the children who were on board.
I also spoke to a flight attendant about Donald Trump’s comments that the accident was a result of diversity hiring practices, without providing any evidence.
He disagreed strongly and said the tragedy shouldn’t be politically exploited. The focus, he felt, should be on the victims.
Image source, ReutersEarlier in the day, we brought you some comments from President Trump criticising predecessors in the Biden administration, specifically naming former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for allegedly hiring people with disabilities and psychological issues for air traffic controller positions.
Trump didn't provide any evidence to support this.
Buttigieg has since hit back at Trump, saying at this moment the president should be "leading" and "not lying".
In a post on X, Buttigieg says that during his time in office, the Department of Transportation "put safety first", "grew Air Traffic Control", and "had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch".
"President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration]. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe.
"Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again," Buttigieg says.
'We are going to leave no stone unturned' - National Transportation Safety Board