On January 29th, at 8:43pm, an air traffic controller at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington raised questions about the 5342 American Airlines pilot. Can they land on another runway?
There was nothing unusual about requests or pilot consent. However, the decision to switch the runway is fateful, bringing the plane closer to the Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashing in a crash that killed 67 people.
What exactly happened is still tied together. The National Transportation Safety Board is recovering and investigating the remains from the Icy Potomac River. The safety agency plans to release a preliminary report in the coming weeks, but more thorough accounting will probably not arrive for a year or two.
However, based on the details that have appeared so far, it appears that pilots of the US Regional Jets have acted as expected, according to aviation safety experts and half a dozen airline pilots who have come and go from Reagan Airport. These experts told the New York Times.
“There was nothing to do. Sean Pruknicki, a former Ohio State airline pilot and assistant professor at the Center for Aviation Research, said he has piloted aircraft to Reagan National more than 100 times.
Investigators may focus on understanding why helicopters went into the plane's flight path and whether air traffic controllers that handle both aircraft that night should do more to pull them apart There is.
Airports are one of the busiest and toughest countries for airline pilots. To fly there, pilots usually need additional training, booked at airports near mountainous areas. That's because they have to diligently avoid the skies above the White House, Capitol, the National Mall and the Vice President's residences, especially since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Dulles International Airport is a large airport with hundreds of domestic and international flights a day, about 25 miles away, filling the area's skies with even more planes.
Of course, there are no mountains in Washington. However, the limitations on where planes can be effectively flew is just as challenging as flying to, say, Alaska. The senior airline pilot, who spoke anonymously because he was not allowed to speak to reporters, said.
That night, one of the pilots of American Flights, Sam Lilly, was also an airplane pilot, according to his father, Tim Lilly, and early in his career he flew a Black Hawk helicopter for the army. Lily said he and his son discussed the challenges in Washington's airspace. Sam Lily was proud that he flew there regularly.
“When you conquered that challenge, you feel accomplished, and that's how we both saw it,” Lily said.
Sam Lilly, 28, is a first mate of PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, and joined the company more than two years ago, his father said. He hoped to accumulate enough time to graduate to a larger plane to international destinations. Lily, who was engaged in getting married this fall, has already used corporate perks to visit Japan, Ireland and Iceland, and his father said he wants to continue traveling the world. .
On the night of the crash, flight attendant Lily and pilot Colonel Jonathan Campos departed Wichita, Kansas, on a small area jet with 60 passengers and two other crew members. Around 8:15pm, they began to descend from 37,000 feet towards Reagan Airport, the NTSB said over the weekend, citing Black Box data. That data also includes audio from the cockpit, and NTSB said the time it provided was preliminary.
After about 25 minutes, the pilot was cleared due to a standard approach to runway 1 at the airport. A few minutes later they were asked to switch to Runway 33 and agreed.
Its runway is shorter and therefore not suitable for larger jets. This requires a longer stop distance. However, it is considered long enough for regional jets like the CRJ700, created by the Canadian company Bombardier, where pilots are flying. Pilot and safety experts said detouring small planes to runway 33 would allow air traffic controllers to improve aircraft space during busy times. The pilot can reject such a request, but after a brief discussion, Lily and Campos agreed to the change.
According to the NTSB, around 8:46pm, air traffic control informed the helicopter of the presence of the plane of about 1,200 feet, and a radio transmission was heard circling on runway 33.
After almost two minutes, after the plane drops below 500 feet above sea level, you can hear the controller ask the helicopter pilot if the plane is visible. The pilots of the plane were able to hear the communications from the air traffic control, although not from the response from the helicopter, as the two aircraft were transmitting at different frequencies. The controllers were communicating with both.
At that point, the plane was a moment from landing and the pilot would have focused on safely reaching the ground, experts and other pilots said. One of the pilots would have flew and led the aircraft towards the runway, while the other would have played a supportive role, including a surveillance system. The landing gear would have been deployed.
“Usually one pilot moves straight outside and the other focuses on the inside,” said Professor at Embry -riddle Aeronautical University, a former advisor and test pilot at the Federal Aviation Administration. said Robert E. Joslin. “They need to focus on landing.”
Neither pilot was expected to scan the area of other aircraft. Even if they had it, the helicopter might have easily blended into the light of the city behind it, or it could have been completely invisible, experts said.
However, shortly after the plane fell below 500 feet, the pilot received an automated message. “Traffic, traffic.” The alert is not unusual, but it would have caught their attention, experts said. This message is intended as a warning that there is another aircraft nearby. These alerts may be confusing that they are close to the airport, but there is no need to take any immediate action other than trying to identify the source.
This warning was generated by a traffic collision avoidance system known as TCAS. This has been widely praised for its substantial reduction in air collisions over the past 40 years or so, experts say.
At low altitudes, one of the most important features of the system would have been suppressed. This is the ability to instruct the pilot how to separate two dangerously close aircraft by instructing one to descend, and another aircraft, to climb. This is because at low altitudes, false warnings that prompt warnings instruct rapid changes can be dangerous. Even if that feature was on, it only worked if the helicopter had TCAs as well, but that probably wasn't the case.
And while the traffic alerts may be about Lily and Campos, they may have felt a little relieved right away. A few seconds later, another transmission occurred: Air traffic control used the nickname of the type of plane the pilot was flying in, and according to the NTSB, he instructed the helicopter to pass behind the “CRJ.” I did.
At that moment, it may not be clear, and never quite clear what the airline pilot was thinking. However, experts said it could have been offered to pilots who were focused on plane landings, but reassured that air traffic control appears to be helping to resolve the cause of traffic alerts. He said he had a feeling.
About 16 seconds later, just before 8:48pm, the airline pilot can hear verbally respond to something. At that moment, the plane's nose began to be pulled up. After that, I heard a crash and the recording was finished.
