According to a new report, the Army Black Hawk pilot involved in Washington, D.C., did not take note of the flight instructor’s warning just 15 seconds before the fatal crash that killed 67 people in the plane crash crash.
At the moment of the fatal crash on January 29th near Reagan International Airport, Colonel Rebecca Robach missed an order from co-pilot Andrew Eeves to oversee the training mission, change courses and avoid the descending American air jet. The New York Times reported.
In addition to the error, officials discovered that the pilot had “stepped” some of the air traffic controller’s instructions. This means that you most likely missed important information by pressing a button to discuss it on the radio.
A critical moment occurred around 8:46pm when Eves requested the helicopter pilots to use their visuals to avoid other air traffic and received approval. This move is a common practice to speed things up, but of course there is a risk of more human error.
At that moment, investigators believe that Echie and Robach have not heard that American Airlines’ planes are “turning.” Because one of them had pressed the microphone key to speak air traffic control as the words passed.
Just 20 seconds before the crash occurred, the air transport controller asked the helicopter if it had discovered American Airlines’ FLT. 5342, it had appeared on runway 33, where Chopper approached.
“Do you see the CRJ twice?” he asked using the abbreviation for the FLT model. 5342 aircraft.
It was the last communication between the plane and the air traffic controller.
It turns out that Blackhawk’s technology, which allows air traffic controls to better track helicopters, will also turn off common protocols that day if the training mission actually existed.
However, it was a practical mission that included Lobach’s annual flight assessment. Lobach was trained as if he needed to fly from the Capitol under the siege.
Brig. General Matthew Braman, the Army’s Aviation Director, said it was clear that multiple factors contributed to the fatal conflict.
“I think what we’re going to find in the end is that if any of those were changed, there were multiple things that could have changed enough that night out,” he said.
Aviation experts have long lamented the practice of allowing pilots to navigate on their own, especially in extremely busy situations around Reagan Airport, as human error can lead to tragedy.
Since then, Transport Department Secretary Sean Duffy has publicly criticised the long-standing practice and vowed to remove it as he likened it to “twist the needle.”
Investigators said that two of the three Army pilots were riding on the Chopper of Destiny, and there was a clear contradiction while riding on the Chopper of Destiny.
At one point before the collision, the helicopter pilots announced they were 300 feet, but the instructor pilot also heard that the helicopter was 400 feet, according to the recording.
At the time of the fiery collision, the Black Hawk was flying 278 feet, adding that “that doesn’t mean the Black Hawk crew were watching on the barometric ultimate in the cockpit.”
The Black Hawk collided with FLT. 5342, on the way from Wichita, Kansas to Reagan National Airport, at 8:47 59pm, officials said.
The fiery collision forced both aircraft into the Potomac River, marking the deadliest US disaster since 2001.
