An American Eagle and American Airways airplane taxi on the runway at Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport, on February 6, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. Investigators with the Nationwide Transportation Security Board says a mid-air collision between an American Airways flight and U.S. Military Black Hawk helicopter on January 29 might have been the results of a malfunctioning altimeter on the helicopter.
Al Drago/Getty Photos
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Al Drago/Getty Photos
Investigators with the Nationwide Transportation Security Board gave their first on-camera briefing in virtually two weeks for the reason that January 29 mid-air collision involving a U.S. Military Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airways regional jet that was trying to land at Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport. Each plane plunged into the Potomac River, killing all 67 people on board each plane.
NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy mentioned the collision between the helicopter and the “CRJ” airplane occurred at 278 ft above the river. The helicopter was alleged to be no larger than 200 ft.
Nonetheless, Homenedy says it is unclear whether or not the altimeters within the helicopter had been displaying the pilots the proper altitude above the bottom. She says investigators are “seeing conflicting data within the information” and are persevering with their evaluation.
Homendy says some radio transmissions between the air site visitors controller and the Black Hawk crew weren’t totally heard by the pilots of the helicopter both.
She says no less than one transmission — the one 17 seconds earlier than impression when the controller instructed the helicopter to “go behind the CRJ” — might not have been acquired by the Black Hawk. That is as a result of the helicopter crew was already making a radio transmission and a part of what the controller mentioned was, “stepped on.”
The crew of the American Airways regional jet noticed the helicopter a few second or two earlier than impression. Homendy says the airplane’s pilots totally pulled the nostril of the plane up about 9 levels simply earlier than impression. The crew of the helicopter, she mentioned, continued flying largely in the identical path and velocity till the collision.
She says it seems the helicopter crew was sporting night-vision goggles that are restrictive within the views of what pilots can see. She says the NTSB is planning to place collectively a full visible simulation of what the Black Hawk pilots would have been in a position to witness earlier than the accident.
The full NTSB investigation is anticipated to take no less than a yr.
