The NTSB held a press conference to provide an update on Monday’s work and the deadly plane crash investigation.
The Federal Aviation Administration says a Cessna Citation jet took off from Elizabethton, Tennessee, on Sunday and was headed for Long Island’s MacArthur Airport. Inexplicably, the plane turned around over New York’s Long Island and flew a straight path down over D.C. before it crashed over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Virginia, around 3:30 p.m.
[Loss of oxygen in cabin may have led to Virginia plane crash, experts say]
No survivors were found at the crash site of the jet with an apparently unresponsive pilot at the controls and three passengers on board.
During their Monday evening news conference, Adam Gerhardt, senior air safety investigator with the NTSB, said crews had spent all day looking through the wreckage, which was completely destroyed – what remained was not even recognizable as an aircraft, he said.
Officials say the investigation will be a lengthy process and recovery of the aircraft will begin on Tuesday. From there, the wreckage will be bagged up and airlifted out via helicopter due to the tough, highly inaccessible terrain, the NTSB said.
Once the wreckage is recovered, it’ll be moved to a secure facility in Delaware.
Gerhardt said their team is looking at everything, no matter how big or small, to figure out not only what happened, but why it happened and hopefully prevent it from happening again in the future.