The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the independent federal agency tasked with investigating civil transportation accidents, said just after midnightthat it had launched a "go team" for the D.C. incident.
Investigators would arrive on the scene overnight, it added.
The NTSB defines a "go team" as a group of technical experts needed to solve complex transportation safety problems, led by a senior investigator. Agency specialists have a "rotational duty assignment" to respond as fast as possible to the scene of an accident, it says.
"During their time on the duty rotation, members must be reachable 24 hours a day," its website reads. "Most Go Team members do not have a suitcase pre-packed because there's no way of knowing whether the accident scene will be in Florida or Alaska, but they do have tools of their trade and necessary safety equipment such as hard hats, goggles, steel toed shoes."
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