Overview of A teddy bear, an ice skate: What remains from last year's deadly D.C. plane crash
This episode (The Washington Post, reported by Emma Uber and hosted by Martine Powers) marks the one-year anniversary of the January 29, 2025 collision over the Potomac between an Army Black Hawk and an American Airlines passenger jet leaving Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). Sixty‑seven people died — many returning from a figure‑skating event — and the piece focuses on the aftermath: recovery operations, identification of victims, the personal items that reached families, the emotional toll on responders, and lingering questions about air‑traffic safety.
Key events and timeline
- Crash: January 29, 2025, about 8:48 p.m. local time over the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport.
- Response: Over 300 first responders from D.C., Baltimore, and the Eastern Shore converged on the scene that night.
- Recovery and identification: Officials announced recovery of remains for all 67 victims by February 4; identifications completed by February 5.
- Ongoing search: Divers continued to scour the river for months afterward for belongings and any remaining human remains.
Response and recovery efforts
- Immediate scene: Airboats, fire/EMS, police divers, and federal partners worked amid oil sheens and wreckage; AirTag notifications from passengers’ luggage appeared on responders’ phones.
- Priority shift: Commanders quickly realized there were no survivors; rescue mission shifted to supporting families and recovering remains. DC Fire & EMS Chief John Donnelly described reframing operational goals to serve grieving families.
- Identification process: Medical examiner used fingerprints, dental records, and DNA. D.C. Chief Medical Examiner Francisco Diaz coordinated identifications and fielded intense family interactions.
- Mental‑health support: The International Association of Firefighters set up a peer‑support hub; roughly 75% of local responders engaged counselors. First responders repeatedly described the work as haunting and emotionally heavy.
Human stories and artifacts recovered
- Personal items surfaced as important touchstones for families:
- A brown teddy bear from 11‑year‑old Alidia Livingston’s pink backpack (smelled of oil/jet fuel).
- A child’s ice skate found by a diver — a moment that particularly affected rescuers.
- A wedding ring recovered from river sand.
- A phone that showed Asra (Astra) Hussain planning a dinner party in her last messages.
- A note Jessie Pitcher’s wife placed in his suitcase before a hunting trip.
- Families reclaimed many items; some used them to memorialize loved ones (e.g., Alidia’s grandparents wrote a children’s story told from the teddy bear’s perspective to help siblings and cousins process the loss).
Impact on families and first responders
- Families: Described “the year of firsts” — holidays, storms, and routine tasks that suddenly became sources of grief and absence. Officials and volunteers provided meeting spaces, hotel accommodations, and sustained support as families made funeral and legal arrangements.
- First responders: Reported persistent trauma — divers and officers said the scene and discoveries (especially children’s items) remained haunting. Many used peer counseling; commanders emphasized directness and clear promises to families about recovery.
Official findings and questions raised
- Prevention: The NTSB chair publicly called the accident “100% preventable,” prompting questions about crowded airspace, controller staffing, and prior near‑misses at DCA and other airports.
- Accountability and safety policy: The crash renewed scrutiny of airspace procedures and interagency coordination; families and officials have pressed for answers about how such a collision could occur.
Notable quotes
- NTSB chair: the accident was “100% preventable.”
- DC Fire & EMS Chief John Donnelly: “Who are our victims now? … It was the families of those people.”
- On promising families: Donnelly — “I was like, no, I am sure… Nobody is going to be lost.”
- D.C. police diver Robert Varga: “I can still feel it in the back of my throat, the smell of jet fuel.”
- A diver on confronting child death: in 13 years of law enforcement “he’d never been confronted with the death of a child.”
Main takeaways
- The episode centers less on technical investigation and more on human aftermath: recovery work, identification, and how personal artifacts helped families grieve and find closure.
- Recovery was intensive, highly coordinated, and emotionally wrenching; officials prioritized returning remains and belongings to families even when federal partners advised caution.
- The crash rekindled larger safety questions about DCA’s airspace; the NTSB deemed the accident preventable, underscoring policy and oversight issues that remain unresolved.
- Trauma affected both families and first responders; sustained counseling and community support were crucial parts of the response.
Credits and context
- Reported by Emma Uber (The Washington Post Metro), read on Post Reports by Martine Powers. Production credits included Sabby Robinson (producer), Sean Carter (mixing), and Ariel Plotnick (editing).
- To read the full reporting or support the journalism, The Washington Post is the publisher and episode points listeners to subscribing via WashingtonPost.com/subscribe.