Initial reports that people survived Potomac plane crash aren’t proof the ‘story isn’t adding up’

An early media report about the Jan. 29 midair collision that killed 67 people created some lingering confusion on social media.

"So what happened to the four survivors?" asked a man in a Facebook reel posted the day after a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines plane approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport over the Potomac River.

"It was reported last night that there were four survivors pulled out of the water," the man said. As he said this, he showed a screenshot of a Fox News chyron that read: "RPT: Four people pulled from Potomac river." Then, he said: "Yet, today, it’s being reported that there’s no survivors at all." 

The Facebook reel cut to a clip from WRC-TV, a Washington, D.C., NBC affiliate. "As we were saying, so far what we know is that there are four victims who were taken to North Boathouse Fire Station at Reagan National Airport, which is south of the airport," a reporter said. "And that’s going to be — kind of the gathering point as first responders try to find more people in the waters and any potential survivors."

The Facebook reel’s caption said the early reports of survivors proved "this DC plane crash story isn’t adding up" and included the hashtag "the world is a stage" — a phrase often used to claim that events were preordained or faked.

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(Screenshot from Facebook)

During breaking news events, details often emerge slowly and change as more information becomes available. That happened here, and it doesn’t mean the crash was preplanned or suspicious.

The crash happened at about 8:48 p.m. ET.

WRC-TV initially reported that four people had been "recovered," but the station’s subsequent reports confirmed there were no crash survivors. 

"We’ve got some good news here," a reporter said at 10:13 p.m., the earliest WRC-TV mention of survivors we found using the TV monitoring service TVEyes. "Our Julie Carey is reporting that at least four victims have been recovered, and they have been taken to the North Boat Firehouse Station at Reagan National Airport. Also, some — our Paul Wagner is being told — that they are being taken to the (Metropolitan Police Department) helipad off South Capitol Street. So, this is some good news that we know that those first responders are finding survivors there in those waters."

At 10:21 p.m. another WRC-TV reporter said that four people had been "rescued." 

The NBC clip from the Facebook reel aired at 10:32 p.m. ET on WRC-TV. Just before the comments shown in the Facebook reel, Eun Yang, a WRC-TV anchor, said that first responders on the scene were doing everything possible in cold, dark waters, "trying to find any survivors at this rate." 

Then, she mentioned the four victims taken to North Boathouse Fire Station. At that point, WRC-TV didn’t report that those people were alive.

Other news organizations referred to the WRC-TV reporting, which fed the impression that there were survivors even if they did not use those words. 

TVEyes searches for combinations of phrases including "four people," "rescued," "plane," and "survivors" on Jan. 29 revealed that some news outlets reported that four people had been rescued. In most cases, those outlets cited the local NBC affiliate’s reporting. 

NBC’s Washington, D.C. affiliate appeared to be the source of the Fox News chyron shown in the Facebook reel:

"We are now hearing, John, that from the NBC affiliate — and again, we have not independently verified this — that four people were pulled from the water after the collision near Washington Reagan Airport," Fox News host Trace Gallagher said at 10:29 p.m. ET. "And again we don’t know if those people were on the aircraft. We don’t know if they were on board the helicopter. Right now, it’s just unknown." 

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Gallagher said NBC’s reporting surprised him, though he emphasized that information was limited.

"That, in itself, to me — when you see a collision like this, midair — is fairly astounding," Gallagher said. "And we don’t know the conditions yet. We don’t know their condition. We don’t know if these people were, in fact, alive and pulled — and rescued. We’re still waiting for those details. But the fact that they are saying ‘four people pulled from the water’ versus ‘four bodies pulled from the water’ is somewhat significant and, at least to me, surprising."

The Fox News chyron shown in the Facebook reel said 10:32 p.m. ET.

(Internet Archive) 

We found no evidence that Fox News reported about survivors Jan. 29.

At a press conference the next morning, first responders announced the Potomac River search was a "recovery operation" and expected no survivors. WRC-TV aired the press conference and reported the information on its website by 9 a.m. Fox News reported the same. 

Our ruling

A Facebook reel claimed that early reports of four survivors shows "this DC plane crash story isn’t adding up."

During breaking news events, details often emerge slowly and can change as more information becomes available. News outlets that initially reported victims being rescued later reported that no one had survived the crash. Initial reports of survivors don’t prove the crash was suspicious or preplanned. 

We rate the claim False.