The army Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into a passenger plane close to Reagan Nationwide Airport Wednesday seems to had been flying above the authorized altitude, publicly to be had flight information analyzed by way of CBS Information presentations.
This knowledge level is one among a number of key mysteries investigators are exploring as they search to give an explanation for what brought about the nation’s worst air disaster in additional than a decade, aviation professionals stated.
“That is the $64 million query that must be spoke back,” stated Greg Feith, a former senior air protection investigator with the Nationwide Transportation Protection Board, in an interview with CBS Information.
The permitted flight ceiling at the Potomac River close to Reagan Nationwide Airport is 200 ft – a an important ceiling for preserving the heavy drift of army helicopters safely transparent of the secure business plane visitors into and out of the country’s capital.
CBS Information
Information from FlightRadar24, which tracks and information plane information for many flights around the U.S., confirmed the helicopter’s remaining estimated altitude used to be about 400 ft when it crashed. The jet’s altitude used to be about 375 to 400 ft, in keeping with information from FlightAware and FlightRadar24.
“They are army pilots; they are accustomed to the routes,” Feith stated. “Why is it on at the present time, on that flight, they had been [as much as] 150 to 200 ft upper than they knew they must be?”
Steven B. Wallace, a former director of twist of fate investigations for the Federal Aviation Management, advised CBS Information he believes investigators will direct consideration to the altitude of the Black Hawk.
“I do not need to speculate at the motive, however I will speculate what is going on throughout the thoughts of the investigators,” Wallace stated. “I feel this is very most probably going to be the focal point.”
Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth stated the investigation is analyzing if the plane used to be on the proper altitude on the time. NTSB investigators have now not to this point disclosed the helicopter’s altitude of their briefings, and stated their operating teams will evaluation “pre-impact path and altitude.”
Andrew Harnik / Getty Pictures
The Military helicopter’s deviation above the flight ceiling is one among a number of equivalent close to collisions involving helicopters at Reagan Nationwide that date again greater than a decade.
A close to midair collision between an plane and a helicopter in July 2015 took place 400 ft off the bottom on method to the similar runway being utilized in Wednesday’s crash – Runway 33 — in keeping with a CBS Information Information Group evaluate of nameless stories to NASA’s Aviation Protection Reporting Device.
The pilot’s record stated the plane “got here inside very shut touch of every other plane.”
“This took place about 400 ft off the bottom to the purpose the place the pilot tracking needed to take the controls to make a correction as a way to save you it from changing into a midair collision,” the 2015 record stated.
Two years previous, in Would possibly of 2013, a pilot reported issues of a helicopter whilst circling to land on Runway 33. That may be a shorter runway meant for smaller plane, like American Airways 5342. Pilots who land there advised CBS Information they need to be on the “ground,” or lowest altitude throughout their manner as a result of they want to hit the start of the runway to have most distance to forestall.
“As we persevered our manner; Tower prompt the helicopter to ‘make a proper 360 for a jet on a 2 mile ultimate for Runway 33; and to record him in sight,” the pilot wrote.
“The Tower then requested the helicopter if he had us in sight. He answered ‘sure’; and the Tower advised him to care for visible separation,” the record stated. “As we started our flip from base to ultimate; the helicopter made what seemed like a proper flip immediately into our flight trail.”
The pilot reported having to execute a troublesome proper flip and abort the method to keep away from a collision. “I am not certain how shut we got here to the helicopter because it used to be at the left facet of the plane; however I’d bet it used to be just a few hundred ft,” the record stated.
CBS Information’ evaluate of the NASA protection information recognized a minimum of 9 close to midair collisions on the airport since 2005, together with 3 involving helicopters.
Feith stated he believes investigators from the NTSB and the army can be analyzing the altimeters within the helicopter to look in the event that they malfunctioned, checking for any wind affect that will have hindered the pilot’s skill to carry the helicopter at 200 ft, and exploring whether or not or now not the workforce must had been the use of evening imaginative and prescient goggles.
He stated the flight recorders on each plane can be useful in figuring out what came about. Government reported that they’d been recovered from the Potomac River on Thursday.
“If they’d been at 200 ft, there do not need been a topic since the airplane most often would’ve been 400 to 500 ft off the bottom,” Feith stated. “The ones two RJ [regional jet] pilots did not know what hit them till the helicopter hit them.”
