DEVASTATING details have come to light about the midair collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines flight that killed 67 people in January.
New evidence from the National Transportation Safety Board’s six-month probe into the deadly crash included surveillance footage that left audience members in tears at a hearing on Wednesday.
This week, NTSB began three days of hearings to help determine what caused the collision near Washington’s Reagan National Airport on January 29.
The agency released thousands of pages of documents about the incidents suggesting the Army helicopter pilots never heard an air traffic controller’s command to pass behind the plane, the NTSB said.
NTSB also said there were major “discrepancies” in the altitude readouts on the Black Hawk helicopter, leading the crew to think they were flying lower than they actually were over the Potomac River.
At the beginning of the 10-hour hearing, officials showed an 11-minute animation showing the minutes leading up to the crash.
They also displayed new video from the end of the runway showing the crash, pausing to allow family members at the hearing the option to leave the room or look away from the haunting clip.
Families of the crash victims sitting in the audience broke down sobbing as officials played the newly released footage.
Some of the family members in attendance wore pictures of their loved ones on buttons or in lanyards around their necks.
The crash killed 60 passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines plane and three soldiers on the helicopter.
Transcripts of audio from the cockpit and air traffic control tower revealed what was said inside the aircraft before the crash.
About 15 seconds before the collision, the air traffic controller asked the Black Hawk if it could see the passenger plane.
Three seconds later, the controller told the helicopter to pass behind the passenger plane.
However, the Black Hawk crew pressed its microphone at the same time as the controller’s instruction and they didn’t hear the message, according to the transcript.
In the helicopter, the instructor told the pilot to change course, but it was too late.
Less than a second later, sounds of the crash were captured in the recordings as the plane fell into the icy river.
The crew members in the Black Hawk had problems understanding air traffic control transmissions, according to cockpit recordings.
Investigators also said the crew pointed out the bright lights of the Washington DC area during their flight.
The hearing also revealed more information about Captain Rebecca Lobach, one of the Black Hawk pilots.
Investigators said in 2022, Lobach failed a night vision goggle exam.
However, she passed other night vision goggle examinations since failing once.
During the three days of hearings, the NTSB will likely question the Army, PSA Airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration and more.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14870544/washington-dc-crash-american-airlines-black-hawk-video/