According to investigators, the crew of the three Army Black Hawk helicopter received accurate altitude measurements in the cockpit and important communications from air traffic control prior to a fatal collision through Washington, DC later last month. It may not be.
At a press conference Friday afternoon, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jennifer Homendy told reporters that the Black Hawk helicopter, who was on a training qualification flight, was about 278 feet tall at the time of the crash, but crashed. , the crew's instruments may have shown something different.
“We're thinking about the possibility that there might be bad data,” Homedy said. “It's possible, but there's a lot to do until we get to that.”
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Details are some of those revealed by the National Road Safety Board since the crash between the American Eagle Flight 5342, Bombardier CRJ and the Black Hawk helicopter of the Bravo Company's Bravo Company's Black Hawk helicopter in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. On January 29th, three soldiers and all 64 were on the plane.
Colonel Rebecca Robach, 28, of Durham, North Carolina. Andrew Eves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; Commander-in-Chief; Andrew Eves; and Staff Sergeant. Ryan O'Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, was killed when he all crashed.
News flight crews may have encountered about technical issues with Defense Secretary Pete Hegses and said that government diversity, equity and inclusion policies could potentially be linked to crashes. This is in stark contrast to President Donald Trump's comments. Lobach's family previously reported in an attempt to delay publicly release the child's name amid fears of feeding a frenzy of misinformation.
“After personal sadness, the family realized that waiting for her name to be revealed was to feed Rebecca a distracted story from incredible people and pilots.” , a person familiar with family decisions spoke military after crash.
Homedy spoke to reporters about cockpit audio recorder data detailing the potential contradictions the pilot is experiencing.
“The pilot's flight showed that they were 300 feet. The instructor's pilots showed that they were 400 feet. Neither pilot made any comments discussing the altitude contradictions. Hmm,” Homendy said. “At this point, I don't know why there is a conflict between the two. That's what the research team is analyzing.”
Sean Payne, the branch chief of NTSB's Vehicle Recorder Division, told reporters the group is working to figure out what the Black Hawk helicopter's internal gauge reads. This includes contacting the Army, Sikorsky Aircraft and Collins Airlines. This is a company that builds and manufactures components for choppers.
“We are working to determine whether this bad data at pressure altitude only affected (flight data records) or whether it is more extensive across other systems in the helicopter. Pilots look at it on the gauge. There's an answer to the altitude. It was flying,” Payne said.
In addition to the potential issues with the gauge, NTSB officials detailed that the crew may not have received it just 17 seconds before the collision.
“The radio transmission from the tower was heard on both (cockpit audio recorder) that told the Black Hawk to pass behind the CRJ,” Homendy said. “(Cockpit Audio Recorder) Data from Black Hawk “indicates that the portion of the transmission that the Black Hawk crew said would “pass behind” may not have been received. ”
Homedy explained that part of the transmission was “stepping down” in response to the tower, one-eighth of the Blackhawk's second microphone key.
NTSB officials also told reporters that the crew is likely to be wearing night vision goggles as part of the pilot's flight assessment. If the crew had planned to remove them, they would have had to discuss the decision. This is a conversation that was not heard in audio recording data.
“If they were removed, the crew had to discuss not having any help. There is no evidence on the cockpit audio recorder or CVR for such discussion,” Homendi added.
A preliminary report on the crash by the NTSB will be expected later this month, with the final, more thorough report likely to take a year to two years, according to the board's website.
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