The sky on Wednesday night was clear. Pilots have been in contact with air traffic control, and officials have stated that the US Eagle flight 5342 has been standard down on a busy airspace runway on the capital of the country. However, for some reason, the passenger jet and the Army helicopter collided into the air, exploded in the flame in the CRASH drop of the first major commercial airplane in the United States for the first time in 16 years, and entered the Potmax River. did.
Federal investigators are currently looking for an answer that is expected to be a long process. Aviation experts, both technologies and human -led factors, may have been able to play a role in a fatal accident, the multilayer system designed to stop collisions properly. Whether it is designed like or not.
“Unfortunately, everything was lined up for the accident,” said Kenneth Burns, a pilot and chairman of the Embrey Riddle Aviation College.
The National Transport Safety Commission leads a survey of the Federal Aviation Bureau and the US Army. Bone broken process includes gathering evidence from the site, reviewing wireless transportation, data on aircraft flight routes, communication with air control officers, and interviews with those controllers. Such a survey can take more than a year to reach a conclusion, and NTSB is the only institution that has been allowed to provide the form of crash officials.
“We are looking at humans, machinery, and the environment,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy to the reporter on Thursday. “I will look at all the people involved in this accident. Look at the aircraft. I will look at the helicopter. We will look at the environment they are operating. That is the standard.”
Officials warned that it was too early to guess that it led to a collision that was estimated to have killed all 64 people with all three crew members of the US Army Black Hawk Helicopter.
Aviation experts say that the focus of the investigators is likely to focus on several factors, including an automated system that should be warned that another aircraft is near the airplane pilot. 。 Pilot communication with an air control officer. And visual disorders that can prevent pilots from seeing each other. They also investigate pilots failure, but they told NBC News that they had nothing to do with NBC News.
Disasters -The first major commercial airplane CRASH accident in the United States since 2009- The American Eagle Jet, a local aircraft owned by US Airlines, has arrived at Ronal Dragon Washington National Airport It occurred just before 9:00 pm at 9:00 pm. Navigate the tight and crowded airspace.
The commercial jet has a traffic alert and a collision avoidance system, or a safety system called TCA, but pilots give oral clues when they are in danger of colliding with another aircraft, but most military helicopters Jimmy Camings said that it is not equipped with the same technology. Spokesman at the US Army Battle Preparatory Center. He said that the crash dropped chopper did not.
Anyway, TCA has a limit. One is to reduce the number of alerts that cause problems when the plane descends to avoid incorrect alarms from other aircraft on the ground. According to Flightaware, the tracking website of the aircraft, the altitude recorded at the end of the American eagle was 375 feet.
John Halson, a veteran pilot, who said he had a wealth of experience at Reagan National Airport, pointed out that flightwear data appears to be a fluctuation and descent. He added that the pilot at the time of the landing process was focused on the runway and its instrument.
“They were in the slot. They were exactly the place they needed,” he said.
The communication between the aircraft and the air control officer was also common. Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters that both passenger jets and helicopters had experienced pilots and had “standard communication” when air traffic control tower and CRASH were dropped.
“Everything was standard until the crash,” he said. “Obviously something happened here.”
According to a preliminary FAA safety report on collisions, at the time of the collision, one controller in the tower focused on both helicopters and airplanes. Usually, the tower has an independent controller that only deals with chopper. In the FAA guideline, the combined position is possible.
FAA and NTSB’s former accident investigators Jeff Gutzetti said that dialogue with air traffic control would be a major focus in the investigation.
“Aviation traffic control communication can be confirmed to be scrutinized by NTSB and that controller will be interviewed. Thursday.” Many human factors will be involved. “
Officials emphasize that in the United States, empty journey is not as safe as ever, but Wednesday accidents have caused concerns, especially in areas with a lot of traffic like the capital of the country. Reagan National Airport offers unique issues -restrictions on places where commercial flights are allowed to fly, and when military aircraft and ground light are crowded, it is a pilot of a former airline and airlines. Sean Purknicky, assistant professor at the Research Center, said. Ohio State University.
“Reagan is very saturated with lights. It’s very easy to lose sight of an airplane in the flood of light,” he said.
Aviation experts said that aircraft could be at each other’s blind spot. Airplanes and helicopters are in the same way as cars. The fact that the two aircraft was very close to the ground would mean that they had limited time to control the blind spot.
“The helicopter pilot cannot always be forward or backward, because you may be misplaced,” said Purqunicky. “So, because they were trying to find this jet, they might have had a visual interruption for them, and they spent time.”
This month, a report by the U.S. Army Battle Preparatory Center revealed that the most serious accidents, including the death of the Army in 2024, were the most serious accidents. Of the 15 incidents, only one was related to Blackhawk. The report stated that the pilot could not have enough flight time.
Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman at the center, said it was difficult to explain spikes. But he refused to comment on the flight time problem. “We are not really doing different things. We do as much as possible to promote safety, but at the end of the day is dangerous.” Cumming said.
Aviation control shared raw audio before and after the collision outside of Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night.
Officials said that the American Eagle Jet, which had carried 60 passengers and four crew members from Wichita, Kansas, had a regular approach to Reagan. Chopper, a blackhawk of the U.S. Army, with three crew members from Fort Berboa, Virginia, was conducting a training flight, a common practice in a busy airspace on Reagan.
“This was not unusual for aircraft on a flying military aircraft and DCA aircraft on the river,” Duffy said to the airport. “If you live in this area, you will often see it when these two aircraft work together.”
Colonel with the retired Air Force and onboard doctor Dean Winslow said Black Hawks, “I can’t control it incredibly,” and said it was difficult to avoid passenger aircraft. “It would have been very difficult to see and avoid,” said Winslow.
The Army pilot on a helicopter had a night vision goggles, Pete Hegess, a US Secretary of Defense, said in X’s post. 。 “
Wireless transportation recording shows that one of the last communications is a controller that asks a helicopter pilot to see an airplane and instruct the chopper to pass behind.
A few seconds later, the helicopter hit the plane, illuminating the sky and hitting the fireball.
This story first appeared on nbcnews.com. Details from NBC News:
Source link
