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Investigators uncover numerous factors that led to collision between an Army helicopter and a passenger plane washingtonLast January, Washington, D.C., suffered the worst air crash in the United States since 2001, killing 67 people.
this National Transportation Safety Board The findings will be discussed on Tuesday and changes recommended to prevent similar tragedies from happening. Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of the accident.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the helicopter flew higher than expected and that the altimeter the pilot relied on was faulty. in addition, Federal Aviation Administration The U.S. government failed to act on warnings about risks around Washington that the NTSB said should have been clear years ago, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
The FAA is making permanent changes to temporary changes implemented after the crash. The rule states that helicopters and aircraft cannot share the same airspace around Reagan National Airport and prohibits air traffic controllers from relying on visual separation and requires all military aircraft to broadcast their positions.
The following is a timeline of events related to the accident:
January 29
American Airlines Flight 5342, carrying 64 people, began its first landing at Reagan National Airport around 8:15 p.m.
At 8:43, the controller asked the aircraft to land from runway 1 to runway 33 at the airport tower. There is an army nearby blackhawk The helicopter, which air traffic control calls PAT25, was flying south over the river. The sky is clear.
As the helicopter approached the airport, the cockpit voice recorder captured the pilot saying it was flying at an altitude of 300 feet (91 meters) and the instructor pilot saying it was flying at an altitude of 400 feet (122 meters). This discrepancy was not explained and the helicopter continued its descent. The closer to the airport, the lower the altitude allowed for helicopter routes, up to a maximum of 200 feet (61 meters).
At 8:46, the controller radioed the Black Hawk crew that a passenger aircraft named CRJ was circling to Runway 33 at an altitude of 1,200 feet (365 meters). Helicopter pilots said they saw the aircraft and requested visual separation to fly closer than they would have if the pilots had not seen the aircraft. The controller approves the request.
At 8:47, 20 seconds before impact, the controller radioed: “PAT25, do you see CRJ?” as the conflict alert sounded. Then, again: “PAT25, pass behind CRJ.” But the National Transportation Safety Board said the helicopter’s recorders showed the pilot may have never heard that instruction.
A second later, the flight crew received a collision warning, announcing “Traffic jam! Traffic jam!”
Seconds later, a crew member on the helicopter responded that the aircraft was “in visual range” and again requested “visual separation.”
Just after the plane descended to its last recorded altitude of 313 feet (95 meters), the pilot sharply pulled up the nose of the plane in an evasive maneuver one second before impact.
Then there was a commotion over the tower audio. There was a flash of light in the sky and both planes fell into the river. After a while, someone came over the radio and said, “Tower, do you see it?”
Over the next hours and days, crews searched the frigid Potomac River for survivors.
January 30
In the morning, Trump told reporters there were no survivors. By noon, the bodies of all three soldiers aboard the helicopter had been recovered.
About 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) downstream, Dean Naujoks, who patrols the Potomac River on behalf of Waterkeeper Alliance, found flight manuals, a piece of airplane cabin wall and dozens of sugar packets emblazoned with the American Airlines logo.
At night, the plane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders were sent to the NTSB laboratory.
January 31
Officials announced that the Black Hawk’s black box had been recovered and that flight data and the actions of military pilots and air traffic control were being reviewed.
As of that afternoon, 41 bodies had been recovered.
The Army released the names of the two fallen soldiers: Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, serves as crew chief; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland.
February 1
Investigators said they were trying to resolve differences in altitude data between the helicopter and the airliner. They hope the helicopter’s black boxes will help bridge the gap. The box was flooded, causing delays in data retrieval.
The Army identified the third soldier: Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach. Friends described her as “brilliant and fearless.”
February 2
Officials said 55 bodies of the victims had been recovered. Salvage crews prepare to recover the wreckage from the USS Potomac.
February 3
Crews were recycling parts of the airliner as families gathered along the Potomac River.
February 4
Crews working in rough conditions lifted many large parts of the jetliner.
Authorities said the bodies of all 67 victims of the accident have been recovered.
February 5
Commemorative services for the victims begin. In North Carolina, a flight attendant is considered a caring family member who loves his or her career.
February 6
Crews have finished removing major parts of the helicopter and jet from the river. National Transportation Safety Board investigators inspected the wreckage in a secure hangar.
Republican Senator from Texas. Ted Cruz NTSB officials told senators that the helicopter’s ADS-B system, an automatic dependent surveillance broadcast system that transmits location and other data to traffic controllers and other aircraft, was shut down.
February 14
The National Transportation Safety Board provided another update that casts doubt on whether the helicopter pilots had accurate altitude information.
Investigators have completed their work on the crash but continue to interview, test and examine the wreckage of both planes.
March 2
Figure skating superstars raised $1.2 million in Washington for the families of the victims. The victims included 28 members of the figure skating community, some of whom lived and trained in the Washington area. They died on their way home from a training camp for elite junior skaters after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas’ largest city.
March 11
Federal investigators have recommended banning some helicopter flights near Reagan National Airport, saying the setup “poses an intolerable risk.” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy adopted the recommendations.
Helicopters will no longer fly “threading the needle” beneath landing aircraft, Duffy said.
The FAA will also use artificial intelligence to analyze airport data to spot similar hazards elsewhere. Duffy said the FAA should have recognized the dangers at Reagan Airport sooner.
March 27
The acting head of the FAA told Congress the agency must do a better job of addressing safety risks.
The head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and members of Congress are once again questioning why the FAA failed to address an alarming number of near-misses near Reagan Airport before the crash.
“We have to identify trends, we have to use data more wisely, and when we take corrective actions, we have to execute them,” said Chris Rocheleau, the agency’s acting administrator at the time.
April 22
A federal review triggered by the Washington collision revealed dangerous flying conditions at the Las Vegas airport and led the FAA to impose new restrictions on helicopter flights around Harry Reid International Airport.
The agency said the changes resulted in a 30% reduction in the number of collision alerts in Las Vegas. Rochelo promised more action in Las Vegas and at any other airport where the FAA finds problems.
May 5
The Army suspended helicopter flights near Reagan after an Army Black Hawk helicopter headed to the Pentagon and two commercial planes aborted their landings.
The 12th Aviation Battalion suspended helicopter flights near the airport.
The unit has just begun resuming flights and plans to gradually increase them.
Air traffic control directed two aircraft from different airlines to “conduct a go-around” due to a “priority air transport” helicopter.
May 8
Duffy has announced plans to overhaul the aging system used by air traffic controllers. Parts still rely on floppy disks and are no longer made by the manufacturer.
The plan calls for the establishment of six new air traffic control centers by 2029 and technical and communications upgrades to U.S. air traffic facilities. Congress approved a down payment of $12.5 billion. Duffy said another $20 billion is needed.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has committed more than $6 billion to the project. The agency upgraded some of its systems to more modern connections. Pellaton will oversee the remainder of the overhaul.
July 30 to August 1
The National Transportation Safety Board questioned Federal Aviation Administration, Army and airline officials over three days.
The hearing highlighted the fact that the helicopter’s altimeter was faulty and the pilot’s night vision goggles made spotting the aircraft more difficult.
Apparently, controllers warned the FAA years ago about the dangers of helicopters flying in congested airspace around the U.S. Capitol, but nothing changed.
NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy rebuked the FAA.
“Are you kidding me? Sixty-seven people died! How do you explain that? Our bureaucratic process?” she said. “Fix it. Do better.”