Officials have recovered the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, known as the black boxes, from the American Airlines plane, a source confirmed to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

The black boxes can help offer clues about what may have gone wrong on the flight.

The recorders will be analysed at the National Transportation Safety Board lab, nearby the site of the crash, according to CBS.

Two lawmakers from Virginia, where Reagan airport is located, had campaigned for some time against increasing the number of flights, but last year a decision was taken to add five new slots.

Asked by the BBC if more should have been done about safety concerns with increased flights, Democratic congressman Don Beyer says: “I don’t want to do cause-and-effect, because it’s probably not fair," but adds: "We’d rather that there should be a less crowded airport."

Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine tells CNN he has been worried about higher safety risks in a more congested airspace.

"I’ve been praying that there... wouldn’t be something like last night, but kind of dreading in my heart that there would be.”

As a reminder, investigators have said they’re looking into several possible factors behind the deadly crash, and they don’t yet know the cause.

(Source: BBC)