Wednesday’s fatal collision and two other incidents dramatically illustrate the challenges pilots and air traffic controllers face in the complex, security-sensitive skies above the nation’s capital.

Several of the passengers and crew aboard an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter were identified and a black box was recovered on Thursday.

The president at points acknowledged that it was too soon to draw conclusions as he encouraged the nation to pray for the victims. But he moved nonetheless to assign blame.

Federal authorities are asking questions as to how the collision between an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter could have occurred.

The Potomac River is running around 42 degrees. While search crews may don suits to help with the cold temperatures, passengers from Flight 5342 may only have 30-40 minutes. According to the flight manifest, American Eagle Flight 5342 had 60 passengers and four crew members on board.

There was a mid-air collision between a commercial airliner and a Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopter Wednesday night over the Capital Region. “The FAA and NTSB will investigate,” the statement added.

Search efforts continue after an American Airlines plane from Wichita, with 64 people on board, collided with an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C., and crashed into the Potomac River.

Multiple people are dead after passenger jet collides with a military helicopter midair near Reagan National Airport.

The deadly plane crash into Washington, D.C.’s Potomac River on Wednesday night has raised questions about aviation safety, even as federal agencies say the United States has some of the strictest airline regulations in the world.

We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital.

A jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., sending the two aircraft plummeting into the Potomac River.