An American Airlines passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, D.C., at roughly 9 p.m. on Wednesday night, sending both aircraft into the Potomac River. The jet reportedly had 64 people on board and the helicopter carried three military personnel. Authorities believe all 67 people died, among them a number of prominent American and Russian figure skaters who were returning from Wichita, Kansas.

Aviation experts tell Salon that while there is little concrete information yet about this specific crash, politicians like President Trump should not seek to exploit the crisis, and the fact that it happened points to deeper problems in U.S. aviation. According to an internal report reviewed by The New York Times, staffing at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal” during the fatal crash.

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“Various things could factor into this, but we also know that there are human beings flying these things and they can make mistakes,” Mike Boyd, aviation consultant and president of Boyd Group International, told Salon.........

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