The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) urged the public not to “speculate” about the cause of the deadly mid-air collision near Reagan Washington National Airport in a Thursday press briefing.
The agency said it is still reviewing information on factors that might have caused the crash.
“Our investigators are continuing to pull all that information, their personnel records, their files, where they were at, whether they were fatigued. All that information will be part of that investigative process,” Brice Banning, a senior aviation accident investigator, told reporters.
“But right now, we can’t speculate on anything that may have been reported in the media until we get the opportunity to validate and understand how it impacts the investigation.”
Banning shared that the NTSB received a variety of information from the Wednesday crash including a packet from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
“We have substantial amounts of information. We need to verify information. We need to take our time to make sure it is accurate,” he stated earlier in the briefing.
“That’s best for you. That’s important for the families. It’s important for legislators who are seeking answers to try to figure out what they’re going to do about this. And so it will take time.”
The agency said it has not concluded if human or mechanical error contributed to the collision but hopes to release a detailed report within 30 days of the incident.
“We do not know enough facts to be able to rule in or out human factor, mechanical factors that is part of the NTSB investigative process,” Banning shared.
Officials have recovered 28 bodies from the crash. Over 60 passengers were onboard the American Airlines flight that dove into the Potomac River Wednesday evening.
Investigators do not expect to rescue any survivors.
