INVESTIGATORS are desperately searching for answers around the doomed Washington DC aircraft crash that is feared to have killed 67.
An aviation expert told The Sun he believes several scenarios could be behind the deadly helicopter and plane collision - from a training mishap to a disastrous tech failure.
The official reason is still a "mystery" with all the black box data from both the passenger plane and the Black Hawk military helicopter yet to be recovered and decoded.
Aviation security expert Julian Bray says the crash "defies explanation" with a number of concerning and tragic possibilities running through his head.
He gave his initial predictions on what may have caused the fatal crash - citing several likely causes.
He told The Sun: "This should not have happened and we don't know why [it happened].
"We're looking at something that defies explanation at the moment."
It was revealed after the collision that the packed plane was hit by a US Army Black Hawk helicopter as it was coming into land at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Three soldiers were inside the chopper, which was on a training flight at the time, a US official confirmed.
Horror CCTV from the Kennedy Center showed the moment the aircraft burst into flames after being hit in the air - before plunging into the Potomac River.
Radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk show that the helicopter crew were aware that the twin-engine passenger plane was in the nearby vicinity.
But they failed to avoid it as both aircraft flew on the same flight path.
Two potential causes of the crash was mechanical failure on the part of the helicopter or simply human error.
"You'd expect the pilot of the helicopter to actually see the incoming aircraft, because not only would it be landing, but it had landing lights on," Julian said.
"It's also got repeater lights along the fuselage and is presumably lit up as well. You actually see the lights coming from the side windows, so it's quite visible.
"They would know it's there and that is the mystery because we can see the helicopter just going straight on its course and it doesn't divert.
"It doesn't descend. It doesn't increase height. It just carries straight on."
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This lack of awareness of the surroundings points Julian towards believing the chopper might have been participating in an active training mission at the time.
He said: "The helicopter pilot might have been distracted or they might have been taking part in a training exercise where they deliberately turn off bits of kit and you have to do a workaround."
It is common for trainee soldiers to take part in specialised aviation journeys with an experienced leader at the helm, Julian added.
However, answers are still yet to be uncovered on how the helicopter was allowed to be in the same zone as the plane that near to the runway.
Officials refused to comment on the same flight paths at a press briefing earlier today but confirmed it was "not unusual" to see in the DC area.
Rescuers are said to have recovered just a single black box from the jet so far with a number still missing in the wreckage and under the Potomac River.
Officials are hoping to find the others soon with vital information from the moments before the collision set to help piece together the crash.
Julian says until the boxes are all decoded then people just have speculation over the tragic cause of the smash.
He said: "What is really confusing is that I've seen some video of it, and very clearly the aircraft is just coming into land, so it can't really do anything.
"It's got right a way, if you like, because the helicopter is flexible, and should be able to divert and not crash into the aircraft.
"The military aircraft has also got all sorts of transponders and devices on board, not available on civil aviation, so they should have been able to see the incoming aircraft.
"We've got to wait for the black boxes."
The aviation expert also noted that investigators will be searching for answers as quickly as possible in case a potential issue exists within other military aircraft.
The number of deaths is yet to be confirmed but 28 bodies have been pulled out of the water since last night.
A total of 64 people were on board the passenger plane, including four crew members, and three inside the military chopper.
Officials are now expecting the death toll to continue to rise throughout the day with no one believed to have survived the crash.
Washington's emergency chief John Donnelly confirmed in a sombre press conference that the operations have gone from a rescue to recovery mission.
If all 67 passengers on both aircraft did die then it would make it the deadliest US air crash in nearly 24 years.
A "recovery centre" has even now been set up in the city to take in victims until they can be identified, reports local media.
A devastated Julian says based on his experiences and the harrowing crash footage the majority of passengers would have been killed instantaneously.
EVERY single day the Federal Aviation Administration oversees 45,000 flights with almost three million passengers on board.
This covers a huge 29 million square miles of airspace from all over the US.
At peak times there can even be up to 5,400 aircraft in the sky at any moment - creating a mammoth task for aviation experts and air traffic controllers to maintain safety amongst all of them.
This means that any wrong call or misstep from either flight crew or controllers can result in a fatal tragedy.
A shortage of air traffic controllers in the past has caused delayed flights and raised a number of safety concerns.
Washington DC's airspace in particular is extremely busy at peak times.
There have been several near-miss incidents at Reagan National Airport in recent years including a near-collision in May 2024 between an American Airlines jet and a small plane.
A similar catastrophe almost occurred a month earlier between a Southwest and JetBlue flight.
Reagan National also features a much shorter runway than many others with over 90 per cent of outgoing and in-going flights using the main one.
This makes it the busiest single runway in the US with over 800 takeoffs and landings each day - or one every minute for much of the day.
"It's a terrible thing, but it's a complete fireball, and you can see the debris exploding apart," he added.
"When you combine the fuel on board the helicopter and fuel on board the aircraft then when the two collide that is quite an impact.
"So I don't think there are any survivors from the initial collision and a lot of ambulances have now left the scene which is a bad sign.
"It's moving from a search and rescue into a recovery operation and unfortunately we expect the death toll to be quite high."
Julian also noted that the shallow river - which was only around 7.5ft in depth - would have acted as a brutal landing spot.
A sheet of ice was also believed to be sat on top which showed how bitterly cold the water was overnight.
This has led to fears that any miraculous survivors from the initial crash may have died from hypothermia.
One of the most shocking parts of the collision stemmed from the suddenness of it all for those on board the plane.
Passengers wouldn't have known they were about to be hit due to the Americans Airline jet coming in to land meaning it was angled downwards.
Julian even predicted that the pilot and crew would have been unaware with their vision obscured.
He says this due to the distinct lack on panic on board.
No emergency information was reported with family and friends of the victims not sending any concerning texts either.
Julian believes those on board would have been simply sat in their seats with their seat belts on expecting to land.
Due to the landing process already underway he also feels the stewards would have done their routine safety checks and have sat down as well "waiting for a nice, gentle landing".
PRESIDENT Donald Trump said the American Airlines plane that crashed in Washington DC was on "a perfect approach".
Posting on Truth Social, he said: "The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport.
"The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time.
"It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn.
"Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane.
"This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!"
