The collision was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five more on the ground.
Investigators also said that about a second before impact, the jet’s flight recorder showed a change in its angle, though they did not say whether that indicated the pilots were trying to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid the crash.
On Jan. 29, an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter collided as the plane prepared to land at Washington D.C.’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.
American Airlines Flight 5342 was coming in from Wichita, Kansas, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, as it approached Reagan National to land on a clear Wednesday night.
Air travel remains overwhelmingly safe in the U.S., but there have been a string of incidents in recent weeks, including a fiery explosion on Jan. 31 when a medical transport jet crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood, killing seven people.
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