The National Transport Security Board is investigating flight data discrepancies, possible altimeter malfunction and a possible lack of communication with air traffic control in the air collision of an army helicopter and a commercial plane past in the most American air shock in almost a quarter of a century.
“We are seeing the possibility that there is bad data,” said NTSB president Jennifer Homendy, at a press conference on Friday. “We have a lot of work to do to that.”
The January 29 collision near Washington, DC, which killed everyone aboard the plane and in the helicopter, 67 people in total, has caused fears of flying in the airspace occupied on the capital of the nation, which transports approximately 25 million people each year.
The fatal accident has raised doubts about whether helicopters should be allowed, in particular military training flights, share such a narrow and busy airspace with commercial airplanes. It was the first important commercial plane accident in the United States since 2009.
The video captured at the time when the UH 60 Black Hawk crashed into the 5342 flight of the American eagle, the explosion illuminated the night sky while the plane collapsed on the Potomac River.
More than two dozen people connected with the sport of artistic skating, including many young Olympic aspiring, were on the flight of the American eagle traveling from Wichita, Kansas. Among the three army soldiers who died in Black Hawk was a 28 -year -old helicopter reparator who leaves an 18 -month -old son.
Homendy said Friday that the pilot flying in the helicopter was on a “combined trip of annual and nocturnal glasses of night vision.” Check trips are generally an exam that pilots must approve to perform specific aerial tasks or mission duties.
The researchers believe that the crew carried night vision glasses throughout the flight, he said. Homendy said that if the glasses had been eliminated, the crew should have a discussion about not going.
“There is no evidence in the voice recorder of the cabin (CVR) of such discussion,” he said at the press conference.
Homendy said there has been some discrepancy in the altitude of the helicopter. At 8:43 pm et, the flying pilot indicated that they were about 300 feet, but an instructor pilot indicated that they were about 400 feet.
“None of the pilot commented on an altitude discrepancy,” he said. “At this time, we don’t know why there was a discrepancy between the two. That is something that the research team is analyzing. ”
The helicopter may not have received crucial information about air traffic control before the collision, he said.
At 8:46 pm, a radio transmission was heard from the tower in the voice recorder of the cabin of the plane informing the helicopter that a 1,200 feet plane was spinning south of the Woodrow Wilson memorial bridge.
But the data recorder data of the helicopter cabin indicate that the part of the transition on the plane “may not have been received by the Black Hawk team,” said Homandy.
She said that “circular” words could be heard in air traffic control communications but not in the voice recorder of the helicopter cabin. The agency is investigating how that happened.
The American eagle plane was descending to land around 9 pm when the military helicopter was changing from a flight route to another, a common movement often made in the airspace.
Seconds before the accident, the air traffic control tower had asked Black Hawk if he had the plane in sight and advised him to pass directly behind the plane, the audio of the tower shows.
Homendy said that, based on the data of the voice recorder of the helicopter cabin, “a part of the transmission that declared behind the ‘may not have been received by the Black Hawk crew.”
“The transmission was stepped on a microphone key of eight seconds from Black Hawk,”
An air traffic control supervisor in the Reagan National Tower had allowed a controller to finish its early shift, a source familiar with the confirmed investigation to NBC News. That left a controller to handle plane and helicopter traffic in the area, which is allowed under the FAA regulations But it is not typical for that time of day in Reagan.
The authorities say that Black Hawk was equipped with an advanced surveillance technology that helps the aircraft share more precise data with air traffic controlle, known as a dependent automatic surveillance transmission, or ADS-B. Homendy said they couldn’t say if he was off.
“Many people ask if it went out, there are other things that we have to rule out first,” he said.
The three members of the Black Hawk crew were experienced aviators of the Army of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, who carried out a training flight, said Jonathan Koziol, an aviation advisor of the upper army who is helping with the investigation.
Captain Rebecca Lobach, the co -pilot of the flight, was experiencing the night part of an annual evaluation to prove the knowledge and dominance of a pilot in the cabin, Koziol said. The Lobach Unit in particular also has to be able to transport senior government officials outside the area without an instructor in case of emergency, Koziol added.
Lobach, an aviation officer since 2019, had around 500 hours of flight, what Koziol said he was “right in white.” NCO ANDREW LOYD Eaves was twice the amount, Koziol said.
It was also believed that Black Hawk crew members used night vision glasses, said Homendy, What does your field of vision mean It may have been restricted.
“We are going to have to do what was possible for them to see at the time before collision and accident sequence,” he said.
Night view glas involved in the investigation.
Koziol said the pilots would probably not needed to wear glasses while flying through areas well illuminated by the airport, but that they would probably have needed to use them while flying over the water.
Aviation experts say that accidents are rarely caused by a single problem.
“You must have a chain of events that lead to this,” said Joe Nadock, who was an air traffic controller at Reagan National Airport for approximately a dozen years.
Nadock, who worked in Reagan from 1988 to 2000, said he and other air traffic controls understood that the helicopter and airplanes track was narrow, but did not remember having heard concerns or complaints about the configuration of the route. “We knew it was close, but you knew you had to do your job,” he said.
Air traffic controllers have to act as soon as they see helicopters overcome an altitude of 200 feet, which sometimes happened, he said. “You tell them to verify your altitude,” Nadock said. “You tell you that you are at the wrong altitude. Descend now. “
From the accident, FAA said it has restricted helicopter traffic near Reagan National Airport until it can review the findings of NTSB research. The FAA also said that it began to review other airports with high volumes of mixed helicopters and airplane traffic, but insisted that “air trip is the safest mode of transport.”
The Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, said that FAA needed “increase” more air traffic controlle “in the system” and had a plan to do so. He also said that officials have to “rebuild our airspace”, including the update of obsolete technology.
Meanwhile, after legislators expressed concern about the suitability of carrying out military training missions near an occupied airport, Daniel Driscoll, nominated for President Donald Trump to direct the army, he said he planned to review the protocols.
The accident occurred immediately after the largest number of serious aviation accidents of the army, including deaths, in a decade.
