A Black Hawk pilot who collided with an American Airlines plane last month may not have heard the important information that air traffic control will give to fly behind passenger jet seconds before the crash, and National Traffic Safety The committee (NTSB) announced on Friday.
17 seconds before the impact, a radio transmission from the control tower instructed the Blackhawk to pass behind the jet. However, data from the Army helicopter said “part of the communication that Black Hawk crews said they would “pass behind”” said at a press conference on Friday.
The Black Hawk pilot “stepped in” through communication in less than a second, she said, by pressing the microphone key to communicate to the Control Tower.
Additionally, the Black Hawk pilot may have had altitude “bad data” that he was flying outside of Washington, DC at the time of the January 29 crash.
Blackhawk collided with Flight 5342 just before 9pm as the jet headed out from Wichita, Kansas to Reagan National Airport.
“We see information that is inconsistent with the data,” Homendy said. He said it was flying 278 feet when the helicopter crashed.
But “That doesn't mean that's what the Black Hawk crew saw on the barometric altimeter in the cockpit,” she warned.
At one point, the pilots showed they were flying at 300 feet, but according to the recording, the instructor pilot said they were at 400 feet.
“We're thinking about the possibility that there may be bad data,” she said.
Investigators also believe the helicopter pilot was wearing night vision goggles and was the whole flight.
She said the scene-level phase of the disaster investigation has ended, but due to data inconsistent with Black Hawk altitudes, the NTSB has yet to release information on the entire helicopter route.
Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration ruled that helicopters and planes will no longer be able to share airspace above the Potomac River.
The accident also sparked widespread concern over the FAA staffing shortage as President Trand vowed to overhaul the agency and air traffic control.
