The father of the first officer onboard an American Airlines jet that collided with a military helicopter is speaking to FOX 35 News about the tragic crash over Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night.

An expert believes that because a civilian aircraft and military chopper were involved in the air tragedy, the investigation may be as comprehensive as any in history.

The deadly crash in the Potomac after an American Eagle jet collided with a military helicopter has stirred memories of a long-ago tragedy in Washington, D.C. An Air Florida flight taking off en route to Fort Lauderdale crashed into a bridge and tumbled into the icy Potomac in January 1982.

The midair collision at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night has presented Sean Duffy with a major crisis just hours after he was sworn in as secretary of transportation.

I don’t know of any other accident that has had this amount of impact on aviation but also in other industries,” one expert said of the 1982 crash.

The midair collision over the Potomac River on Wednesday brings back chilling memories of another tragedy in the same waters more than four decades ago—when Air Florida Flight 90, bound for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport,

Before Wednesday's crash between a passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, the last fatal crash involving a U.S. commercial airline occurred in 2009 in New York.

National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said Thursday at a press conference that “we look at facts on our investigation and that will take some time.”

CBS News confirmed only one air traffic control worker was managing the helicopters when the crash between a military helicopter and passenger plane occurred in Washington D.C. That is a job normally done by two people.

Residents in Wichita, Kansas, came together Thursday to mourn the lives of those lost on board a passenger jet that was involved in a deadly mid-air collision overnight at Reagan National Airport.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Hommendy described the investigation into the crash Wednesday night as an “all-hands-on-deck event” for the agency during a news conference Thursday in which she appeared with members of the board and a senior investigator overseeing the probe.

Divers return to the Potomac River as part of the recovery after the United States’ deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century