A flight flies over legislation enforcement boats and the partially submerged fuselage of American Airways Flight 5342 within the Potomac River on Saturday in Washington, D.C.
Samuel Corum/Getty Pictures
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Samuel Corum/Getty Pictures
Three days after the midair collision of an Military helicopter and an American Airways passenger airplane close to Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport, air security investigators mentioned on Saturday that they’re nonetheless working to fill in some key particulars that would level to the reason for the crash.
They’re trying into whether or not the pilots from the Military’s Black Hawk helicopter skilled imaginative and prescient impairment whereas flying at nighttime skies and whether or not the copter deviated from its regular route.
The Black Hawk could have been flying larger than it ought to have been, mentioned representatives from the Nationwide Transportation Security Board, an unbiased federal company main the investigation, throughout a briefing on Saturday night.
However investigators stopped wanting confirming a number of media reviews, based mostly on publicly out there flight knowledge, that the helicopter breached aviation guidelines that require helicopters on that route to remain under 200 toes.
The Wednesday evening affect despatched passengers into the icy waters of the Potomac River. All 67 individuals aboard each plane have been killed. It is the deadliest air crash to happen within the U.S. in 20 years.
J. Todd Inman, a member of the NTSB, mentioned that the helicopter was on a coaching mission. The plane would sometimes use evening imaginative and prescient in such an occasion. Investigators are nonetheless working to substantiate whether or not crew members have been sporting evening imaginative and prescient goggles on the time of the crash, Inman mentioned, an element that would play a task in the reason for the accident.
“We have no idea at the moment if the evening imaginative and prescient goggles have been actively being worn,” he mentioned.
Preliminary knowledge exhibits the Black Hawk was flying at an altitude of 325 toes on the time of the crash, in keeping with Inman. Reagan Nationwide is one of the most congested airports in the country. Aviation guidelines require helicopters on that route above the Potomac to remain under 200 toes. AA Flight 5342’s final transmitted altitude was about 300 toes.
Knowledge downloaded from the 2 recording units recovered from the passenger airplane is beneath evaluation, investigators mentioned. The cockpit recorder from the Black Hawk, generally generally known as a black field, was recovered in good situation, Inman mentioned. Knowledge from the units may very well be key for investigators in figuring out what led to the crash.
The NTSB is main the investigation as it probes another plane crash. Two days after the D.C.-area collision, a small airplane plummeted close to a Philadelphia buying heart, killing all six individuals aboard and one individual on the bottom.
