A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The National Transportation Safety Board has launched its investigation into Wednesday night's mid-air collision near Washington's Reagan National Airport. Here's board member Todd Inman at a briefing yesterday.
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TODD INMAN: We will not be determining the probable cause of the accident while we are here on scene, nor will we speculate about what may have caused this accident.
MARTÍNEZ: President Trump, meanwhile, blamed diversity and inclusion programs. NPR's Frank Morris reports on the reaction from the flight's city of origin, Wichita, Kansas.
FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: Just as President Trump was offering an ideological explanation for the worst U.S. air traffic disaster in decades, hundreds of people were gathering at City Hall in Wichita to mourn.
MAGEN EMORY: I just feel like even just being in this town, you can kind of feel, like, heartbreak, just all around you. It's just very sad.
MORRIS: Magen Emory drove 2 hours from Manhattan, Kansas.
EMORY: I know a lot of people from around the state who have come to show their support. I think it's beautiful.
MORRIS: J. Tanui and Gita Reddy turned out for their neighbors.
J TANUI: I don't know any of the victims, but, you know, they come from here. We've got to pray with them.
GITA REDDY: It's amazing. We're all a family together is what I feel.
MORRIS: The feeling seems pretty widespread in Wichita. Mayor Lily Wu says the big, diverse interfaith prayer service in and outside city hall is a good example.
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LILY WU: All faiths came together to offer prayers, thoughts and truly comforting words for families who right now are still in a moment of distress and uncertainty. So it made me proud because, in Wichita, we are united.
MORRIS: American Airlines flight 5342 was important here before Wednesday night's tragedy. It's Wichita's only nonstop flight to D.C., literally celebrated in this city of 396,000. Bombardier, the company that made the airliner, recently moved its U.S. headquarters to Wichita. Leaders here are loath to assign a reason for the crash. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly says this is no time for speculation.
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LAURA KELLY: I think all of our attention ought to be focused right now on the families and the victims and leave the system issues and the causes to the folks who are trained very well to do this and then come up with those answers and figure out exactly what went wrong.
MORRIS: And fix it so that something like Wednesday night's crash can't happen again.
For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris in Wichita. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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