In a harrowing collision over the Potomac River, an American Airlines passenger plane attempted a final maneuver to evade a US Army Black Hawk helicopter, but both aircraft disastrously crashed.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the incident, including the pilot’s desperate last-second efforts to prevent the tragedy according to The New York Post.
The fatal encounter occurred on a clear Wednesday night when the American Airlines flight and a US Army helicopter unexpectedly collided.
The impact was devastating, sending both the plane and helicopter breaking apart and scattering debris across the river.
According to the NTSB, the commercial plane was flying at approximately 325 feet altitude, though there's a recorded discrepancy, as air traffic control had the aircraft at only 200 feet. This critical difference in altitude readings is now a significant aspect of the ongoing investigation.
Immediately after the collision, rescue teams launched a swift operation, managing to recover the flight data recorder from the American Airlines jet by Friday.
This black box, crucial for unraveling the sequence of events leading up to the crash, showed a last-second increase in the pitch of the plane's nose, suggesting a final attempt to avoid the collision.
NTSB member Todd Inman commented on the data, noting the change in pitch right before the collision, indicating a possible evasive action by the pilot. "At one point, very close to the impact, there was a slight change in pitch, an increase in pitch," Inman explained.
This discrepancy in altitude measurements between the control tower and the flight data is puzzling to investigators. "That is something we will get you more detail on," said Inman, emphasizing the preliminary nature of the data and the need for further analysis.
The footage obtained by CNN from the incident offers new perspectives on the crash, showing how quickly the situation escalated.
Meanwhile, the investigators are also examining the communications from both aircraft, which were in contact with the tower on different channels.
The military personnel aboard the Black Hawk were on a training flight, requiring the use of night vision goggles, which the NTSB believes might have played a role in the tragic event. The complexity of coordinating airspace usage during such training operations has become a focal point in the investigation.
Meanwhile, the emotional toll of the incident on air traffic control staff has not gone unnoticed. With five controllers on duty at the time, including a local controller overseeing both the helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft, the psychological impact has been profound. All air traffic personnel involved have undergone interviews, revealing the emotional strain the crash has inflicted.
As the investigation continues, the NTSB awaits more data, particularly from the Black Hawk’s flight recorder, which has yet to be analyzed.
"Again, this data is preliminary, and we currently don't have the readout of the Black Hawk," Inman stated, stressing the importance of obtaining detailed information to clarify the circumstances of the crash.
Details from the recovered data will hopefully provide a clearer picture of both pilots' actions in the seconds before the collision, and whether any measures could have been taken to prevent it.
The next steps for the NTSB involve resolving these discrepancies in data and fleshing out the moments that led up to the collision, which will be critical in understanding how such a tragic event could happen and in devising strategies to prevent similar occurrences in the future.