NOTE: The above video is of the NTSB investigative listening to on the Jan. 29 mid-air collision.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WAVY) — Wednesday, the Nationwide Transportation Security Board will start a three-day investigative listening to on the Jan. 29 mid-air collision between an American Airways regional jet and an Military helicopter that killed 67 folks. (To observe the NTSB listening to, click on here. For extra data on the listening to, click on here.)
“I believe it will be a intestine punch,” mentioned Rachel Feres, whose member of the family was killed on Flight 5342 alongside along with his spouse and two daughters.
The NTSB launched its preliminary investigative report March 7, unearthing key particulars relating to the moments main as much as the collision above the Potomac River. Aviation legal professional Justin Inexperienced, a accomplice with the agency Kreindler and Kreindler, has filed 25 notices of claims in opposition to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Military on behalf of 31 decedents from the American Airways flight.
He mentioned the airspace round Ronald Reagan Nationwide Airport is “a freeway for helicopters.”
“However the freeway requires the helicopters to do two issues,” Inexperienced mentioned. “One is to remain low. Part of the freeway this Black Hawk was on was most altitude of 200 toes. Quantity two, they must steer clear of the airplanes coming out and in.”
In accordance with the preliminary NTSB report, the Military helicopter, which was working beneath the callsign PAT25, failed to satisfy these necessities and was at an altitude of 278 toes on the time of the collision.
The Mission of PAT25
To higher perceive what led to the crash, it is vital to establish why every plane was flying its respective course. For Flight 5342, it is easy; the regional industrial jetliner was on method to land at DCA following its departure from Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower Nationwide Airport (ICT).
For PAT25, the Black Hawk was flying from Davison Military Airfield (DAA), Fort Belvoir, Virginia, “for the aim of the pilot’s annual standardization analysis with the usage of evening imaginative and prescient goggles (NVGs),” the NTSB report states.
“Evening visions goggles are primarily gadgets that seem like small binoculars and what they do is improve ambient mild,” mentioned Inexperienced, who was a pilot in the US Marine Corps earlier than turning into an legal professional. “I’ve tons of of hours flying with evening imaginative and prescient goggles. In layman’s phrases it turns nighttime into the day, however it actually does not. Every thing you see by way of there may be sort of inexperienced, and it does not have the identical readability that your eyes do.”
In accordance with Inexperienced, with the bare eye, you’ll be able to see nearly 110 levels on both facet of your head, however with evening imaginative and prescient goggles, you’ll be able to solely see a couple of 40-degree view. This requires pilots to bodily flip their head to see, scan and listen to different plane.
“The opposite factor about evening imaginative and prescient goggles is that they work by amplifying ambient mild,” Inexperienced mentioned. “That is a problem as a result of within the metropolis, all these lights are going to look very, very vibrant, and relying on what you are taking a look at, can really be blinding if you’re sporting evening imaginative and prescient goggles.”
Inexperienced mentioned flying with NVGs in a metropolis atmosphere can be rather more tough to pick airplanes, particularly the anti-collision lights the airplanes have when flying low.
Visible Separation
In accordance with the NTSB preliminary report, the Black Hawk’s crew included an teacher pilot, a pilot and a crew chief. The report states that roughly two-and-a-half minutes earlier than the collision, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) “revealed that the teacher pilot informed the pilot that they have been at 300 toes and wanted to descend.”
Lower than a minute later, the crew of PAT25 reported that they’d “site visitors in sight,” presumably Flight 5342, and requested approval from the Air Site visitors Management tower to keep up “visible separation.” Shortly after the request was made, ATC authorized visible separation.
“What that meant was the air site visitors controller was going to let the Black Hawk fly by way of the airspace on this helicopter route, and that the Black Hawk would then visually be sure that it did not come close to any of the airplanes coming into and leaving DCA,” Inexperienced mentioned.
The NTSB report states that, “presently, the space between the 2 plane was about 6.5 nautical miles.”
About 20 seconds earlier than the collision, the DCA air site visitors controller requested PAT25 by way of radio if it had Flight 5342 in sight. This occurred at about the identical time that the crew of Flight 5342 acquired a site visitors advisory from the plane’s TCAS stating, “site visitors, site visitors.”
In accordance with the report, a “TCAS” is a tool outfitted on the plane that “supplies collision avoidance safety for a broad spectrum of plane sorts.”
At 8:47:42 p.m., or 16 seconds earlier than the collision, the air site visitors controller instructed PAT25 to move behind Flight 5342. Two seconds later, PAT25 indicated that the site visitors was in sight and once more requested visible separation, which was authorized by the DCA tower.
At 8:47:58, Flight 5342 made a last-minute pitch as much as keep away from PAT25, however a mid-air collision occurred.
“That is going to be one thing that I believe might be a spotlight of the investigation,” Inexperienced mentioned. “The Black Hawk helicopter clearly didn’t ever establish Flight 5342 and continued its flight and flew immediately into it.”
Inexperienced mentioned the accident occurred for a number of causes, however some questions nonetheless should be answered to find out the foundation explanation for the failure.
“Why did the Black Hawk pilots not establish Flight 5342? Why did Flight 5342 pilots by no means see the Black Hawk helicopter flying immediately in direction of them? Why did the air site visitors controller, primary,” Inexperienced mentioned, “give this clearance to a helicopter flying by way of the airspace with a lot site visitors, given the lengthy historical past of close to mid-air collisions at that airport, and why was the helicopter on the mistaken altitude?”
Close to-miss knowledge at DCA
Included within the NTSB preliminary report was a assessment of the 944,179 industrial operations at DCA between October 2021 and December 2024.
The report says, “throughout that point, there have been 15,214 occurrences between industrial airplanes and helicopters by which there was a lateral separation distance of lower than 1 nm (nautical mile) and vertical separation of lower than 400 toes. There have been 85 recorded occasions that concerned a lateral separation lower than 1,500 toes and vertical separation lower than 200 toes.”
Shortly following the accident, the FAA issued a “discover to airmen,” limiting helicopter site visitors from working over the Potomac River close to DCA till March 31, 2025.
The near-miss knowledge paints an unsightly image, portraying these shut calls as accidents ready to occur. Even when PAT25 was flying on the most altitude of 200 toes, the NTSB report states that “it could have about 75 toes of vertical separation from an airplane approaching runway 33.”
Why was PAT25 flying above 200 toes?
In accordance with the NTSB preliminary report, PAT25 was touring alongside Route 1 of the Baltimore-Washington Helicopter Route Chart, which is proven beneath.
The report states that when helicopters move Memorial Bridge, “the utmost allowable altitude on Route 1 is 200 toes above imply sea stage.” However how does an Military helicopter decide its altitude to start with?
“The helicopter has two completely different devices that present its altitude,” Inexperienced mentioned. “One is the barometric altimeter that provides the pilots their altitude above sea stage, so that’s the major instrument that pilots use to find out altitude.”
Inexperienced mentioned the barometric altimeter is calibrated earlier than takeoff for a mission, and it’s even set whereas the pilots are in-flight. He mentioned it supplies correct readings.
“The second altimeter on a Black Hawk known as a radar altimeter, and that provides the altitude above the bottom,” Inexperienced mentioned. “It primarily sends out a radar sign and, primarily based on the time it takes to sort of come again, it determines how far down the bottom is.”
If neither the barometric nor the radar altimeter is in working order, Inexperienced mentioned the crew has their imaginative and prescient to gauge altitude. However the NTSB report contains cockpit voice recorder knowledge indicating that the teacher pilot and pilot have been observing completely different altitudes.
“At 2:043:48, PAT25 was about 1.1 nm (nautical miles) west of the Key Bridge. In accordance with the helicopter’s CVR, the pilot indicated that they have been at 300 toes. The IP indicated they have been at 400 toes. Neither pilot made a remark discussing an altitude discrepancy.”
“If that occurred, they need to have had a dialog,” Inexperienced mentioned. “That is an issue that they didn’t have that dialog. After the accident, the FAA and the NTSB have been unable to get good knowledge on what the precise strain altitude was from the altimeter system.”
However what appears definitive is that PAT25 was flying nicely above the 200 foot most threshold, placing the Black Hawk on a collision course with Flight 5342.
Watch the NTSB listening to
To observe the NTSB listening to, click on here. For extra data on the listening to, click on here.