New clues from American Airlines crash reveals grim details of how the horrific tragedy may have happened

A preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has suggested there could be clues that possibly point towards a probable cause of the American Airlines crash.

American Airlines flight 5342 was headed into Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington DC on Wednesday (January 29), when it collided with a US BlackHawk helicopter in a horrific crash.

64 passengers and four crew members were onboard the plane, while the helicopter was said to be carrying three soldiers on a training flight - with President Donald Trump confirming there were no survivors (via CBS News).

Both aircrafts ended up landing in the Potomac River in Washington DC and an immediate search for survivors got underway, with 40 bodies having be recovered.

Part of the wreckage is seen as rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Authorities have also begun conducting investigations into finding out what exactly happened to cause the collision, however, a full investigation will take months to conduct as the plane's black boxes and flight data will need to be analysed, as well as interviewing Air Traffic Control employees.

However, a preliminary report from the FAA has been published by The New York Times, which has brought some of details to light.

According to the publication, a person briefed on the staffing in the air traffic controllers at Reagan National said that workers were allegedly not operating under optimal conditions as the duties of handling air traffic control for helicopters and for planes at Reagan National were combined before the crash happened on Wednesday at 9pm.

According to the individual, this meant an air controller handler had to manage dual roles, with one person typically handling both helicopter and plane duties after 9:30 p.m. as traffic begins to lessen at the airport.

However, those roles were supposedly combined by the supervisor sometime before 9:30, which allowed one air traffic controller to leave.

The FAA report went on to say that while there were no instances of anything that could distract the controllers, staffing was 'not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic', with five current and four ex-controllers saying whoever was in the control room should have been proactively directing the aircrafts to keep their distance from one another.

UNILAD has contacted the FAA for comment.

Divers are still attempting to retrieve the bodies of all involved in the crash(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

As rescuers are attempting to retrieve bodies from the river, 'tough' conditions are making their job harder, Washington Fire and EMS (Emergency Medical Services) Chief John Donnelly says.

Speaking about the difficulties, he said: “The challenges are access. The water that we’re operating in is about 8ft deep.

"There is wind, there is pieces of ice out there. So it’s just dangerous and hard to work in.

"And because there’s not a lot of lights, you’re out there searching every square inch of space to see if you can find anybody.

"Divers are doing the same thing in the water. The water is dark, it is murky, and that is a very tough condition for them to dive in."