New Trump Transportation Secretary Responds to Horrific Plane Crash: 'Obviously It Is Not Standard to Have Aircraft Collide'

The Trump administration's new Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, has acknowledged the collision of a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines domestic flight mid-air, calling the accident "absolutely" preventable.

Duffy spoke to journalists at a press conference on Thursday, expressing his concern at what caused the deadly crash.

"I don't want to go into too much detail about the information we have from the FAA. but obviously it is not standard to have aircraft collide," said Duffy.

"Whether it was air traffic control, whether it was military aircraft, helicopters or the American flight, everything was standard in the lead up to the crash ... Something happened here," Duffy continued.

Duffy confirmed that both aircraft had been located and are being investigated by federal officers.

"We are going to wait for all the information to come in from, from this vantage point, but to back up what the president said, what I've seen so far, do I think this was preventable? Absolutely," Duffy said.

A multi-agency search and rescue operation was conducted by the Potomac River following the collision, which occurred on Wednesday night. Duffy continued to indicate that both the American Airlines flight and the helicopter had been traveling on flight paths that were considered to be standard for them, making the incident of collision even more confusing.

"This was a clear night last night; the helicopter was in the standard pattern. If you live in the DC area, you will see helicopters up and down the river," Duffy said during a news conference.

"This was a standard fight pattern last night as well."

"The American Airline flight coming in to land was in a standard flight pattern as it was coming into DCA, so this was not unusual with a military aircraft flying the river and aircraft landing at DCA," he continued.

The collision is believed to have resulted in the deaths of everyone on board both aircraft, a total of 67 people, according to DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly.

"We are now at a point where we're switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident," said Donnelly in a Thursday morning news conference.