An American Airlines plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter outside Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. Wednesday night. A D.C. fire official said Thursday that “we don't think there are any survivors from this accident" and "we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.

Understaffed and overworked air traffic control crews have long been an issue at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, lawmakers say — another potential cause of the midair collision between a commercial jet and military helicopter over the Potomac River that killed 67 people Wednesday night in the nation’s deadliest air crash since 2001.