Politics
Stunning New Details Emerge About Fatal Reagan National Airport Crash
Stunning new details about the moments leading up to January’s fatal crash outside Regan National Airport in Washington D.C., when a military Black Hawk helicopter collided with a civilian jetliner, have been released.
The crash took place on January 29, when an American Airlines flight coming from Kansas was making its landing. The two aircraft slammed into one another in a massive fireball that sent both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River, killing all 67 passengers and crew members onboard.
According to a new report, the Black Hawk and its three crew members were alerted to a regional jet in their vicinity by an air traffic controller at Reagan National. The crew acknowledged the alert and confirmed that they had eyes on the traffic.
One of the pilots then asked for permission to employ a practice called “visual separation,” which allows a pilot to take control of navigating around other aircraft rather than relying on the controller for guidance, the New York Times reported. “Visual separation approved,” the controller replied.
Requests to fly under these rules are routinely granted in airspace overseen by air traffic controllers. Most visual separation requests are executed without incident, though aviation experts have for years warned that one minor slip-up could prove costly.
This unfortunately proved true on January 29, when the Black Hawk crew was unable to perform visual separation effectively. “The pilots either did not detect the specific passenger jet the controller had flagged, or could not pivot to a safer position. Instead, one second before 8:48 p.m.,” The Times reported.
After speaking with more than 50 aviation experts and officials, some of whom have extensive knowledge of the investigation into the July 29 crash, it was determined that the Blackhawk pilots made more than one mistake before the fatal crash.
“Not only was the Black Hawk flying too high, but in the final seconds before the crash, its pilot failed to heed a directive from her co-pilot, an Army flight instructor, to change course,” the analysis continued.
“Radio communications, the tried-and-true means of interaction between controllers and pilots, also broke down. Some of the controller’s instructions were ‘stepped on’ — meaning that they cut out when the helicopter crew pressed a microphone to speak — and important information likely went unheard.”
Equipment on the Black Hawk that would have allowed air traffic controllers to more effectively track the aircraft were turned off that night. Doing so was Army protocol, as military helicopters are frequently used to discreetly transport sensitive and high-profile individuals around the D.C. area.
The analysis also found issues with air traffic control.
While the Black Hawk crew was alerted to the traffic in its vicinity and received approval for visual separation, the air traffic controller “did not issue clear, urgent instructions to the Black Hawk to avert the crash,” multiple aviation experts told the outlet.
“I think what we’ll find in the end is there were multiple things that, had any one of them changed, it could have well changed the outcome of that evening,” Brigadier General Matthew Braman, the Army’s director of aviation, said in a statement.
