US restricts helicopter flights after Washington crash, ‘black boxes’ recovered

U.S. authorities restricted helicopter flights near Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday, after a midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a military helicopter killed 67 people this week.

Investigators were able on Friday to recover the helicopter’s black box, which captures flight data and voices in the cockpit, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said at an afternoon briefing.

The information from the box, along with the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the CRJ700 airplane, could help authorities piece together what happened just before the two aircraft collided on Wednesday night and plunged into Washington’s freezing Potomac River in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in two decades.

The board has also conducted interviews with air traffic controllers, Inman said, including the lone controller working inside Reagan’s tower at the time of the crash on Wednesday.

Authorities have not identified a cause, and Inman said the board would not engage in speculation before completing its investigation.