Black box recovered from military helicopter involved in US mid-air collision

​​​​​​​By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The black box of a military helicopter involved in a deadly US mid-air collision earlier this week was recovered, an official said Friday.

"The Sikorsky has a combined cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data receipt reporter. It's in one box.

"I can report to you now we have recovered the Sikorsky black box," an official with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) told reporters.

The official said the black box is "safely" at NTSB headquarters.

A total of 67 people were killed after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet, near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and plunged into the Potomac River late Wednesday.

"It will begin an evaluation, just as the other two recorders did last night, to determine when and how to take action. I can tell you from a visual inspection, we saw no exterior damage that would indicate that it was compromised at this time," said the official.

The NTSB has a "high level of confidence" that it will be able to have a full extraction from that as well, he added.