The National Transportation Safety Board identified a few key factors that may have contributed to last month’s midair collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet over the Potomac River.
Although the investigation is far from concluded, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy briefed the media Friday and suggested that two factors may have been key elements of the crash sequence.
First, she said, the Black Hawk pilots may not have received a key radio transmission from air traffic control at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
“Seventeen seconds before impact, a radio transmission from the tower was audible on both (cockpit voice recorders), directing the Black Hawk to pass behind the (regional jet),” Homendy said. “CVR data from the Black Hawk indicated that the portion of the transmission that stated ‘pass behind the’ may not have been received by the Black Hawk crew. Transmission was stepped on by a .8-second mike key from the Black Hawk. The Black Hawk was keying the mike to communicate with ATC.”
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Homendy also said that the Black Hawk was flying at an altitude of 278 feet at the time of the collision. That is, 78 feet above the maximum altitude for its designated flight path. However, she added, the NTSB team is investigating whether faulty data was causing an inaccurate altitude to be displayed on the helicopter’s instruments.
“We’re confident with the radio altitude of the Black Hawk at the time of the collision, that was 278 feet, but I want to caution that does not mean that’s what the Black Hawk crew was seeing on the barometric altimeters in the cockpit,” she said. “We are seeing conflicting information in the data, which is why we aren’t releasing altitude for the Black Hawk’s entire route.”
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During the briefing, Homendy also said that the Black Hawk pilot at the controls at the time of the crash was undergoing a check ride or practical qualification exam. Homendy said the flight was a combined annual check ride and night vision goggle check ride. She said that evidence suggests both Black Hawk pilots were wearing night vision goggles at the time of the crash.
Other factors that Homendy mentioned were that the regional jet pilots appear to have received a warning from an onboard collision avoidance system. However, it’s unclear to investigators if that warning was flagging the helicopter. In the final seconds before the collision, Homendy said, the regional jet appeared to pitch up and bank to the left while the Black Hawk was flying virtually level with a slight left bank.
NTSB does not yet have any evidence that the Black Hawk crew had a visual indication of an impending collision.
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Homendy said that the NTSB is not yet prepared to make recommendations related to this accident, but the agency does not hesitate to do so, even if the investigation hasn’t concluded, if an urgent finding arises during the process that can be addressed.
Meanwhile, she said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the right move by quickly closing airspace to most helicopter flights in the vicinity of DCA.
“They took the right safety action. We will have to, as we go through our investigation, look at the accident sequence and take our investigative information, and determine what next steps should be done. It’s too early for us to say whether it should be permanent. However, that’s certainly something that the secretary and the (Federal Aviation Administration) can do on their own,” she said.
(This story was updated to correct a misspelling/typo.)
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.
