It is unknown what the two Black Hawk pilots saw or didn't see before the crash crash along the Potomac River on January 29th, but what led to a fatal collision between a Washington passenger jet and a helicopter It is important to understand.
The cause of the crash is unknown, but the New York Times built a 3D model to replicate what the pilot saw a few minutes before the accident. The analysis is based on information from publicly available audio recordings, flight path data and video footage.
Black Hawk helicopters often fly these routes as a pair, doubling the number of eyes scanning the sky for safe passages. But there was only one that night. The two pilots cooperated to navigate busy airspace along the Potomac, with the crew chief – the third soldier – as an additional watchdog.
While complex flight conditions may have contributed to the accident, the uncertainty about what the pilot saw boils down to the three big questions we investigated.
How much did the helicopter altitude affect your vision?
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said Army Blackhawk and American Airlines passenger rock (300 feet above Potomac when Flight 5342 collided, causing 67 people to die. That's Ronald Reagan Place the Blackhawk 100 feet above the permitted altitude of a helicopter near the national airport. (According to investigators, this altitude data was rounded to the nearest 100.)
Investigators said the two aircraft collided 300 feet above Potomac. Video from a live webcam run by the Kennedy Center appears to show a collision.
Earthcam
Above 100 mph, the helicopter could have risen from 200 feet to 300 feet in seconds due to wind and other factors. Such anomalies are not uncommon and can be quickly corrected.
The Times 3D analysis confirms what several aviation experts told reporters in interviews. The 100-foot difference in altitude would not have made a significant difference in what helicopter pilots could see. Distant light.
Views within 200-300 feet altitude range are almost unchanged.
The Times analysis also dramatically alters the views of the ground and river pilots below to provide visual clues that the helicopter drifted into a temporary unsafe road above the approved altitudes of this area. It indicates that it was not done. Whether it is unknown whether Blackhawk instruments show pilots that they are flying higher than they are allowed.
When flying at low altitudes, such as in the 200-300-foot range, the helicopter pilot constantly adjusts controls by hand for engine speed and rotor blade pitch.
On the helicopter, two pilots would have been constantly evaluating the airspace. Their crew chiefs would have scanned the sides and rear of the helicopter.
Has another aircraft confused the pilot?
Many aircraft were in the area at two moments when air traffic control and helicopter pilots communicated based on publicly available data.
At 8:46pm, two minutes before the collision, air traffic controllers tracking both the Blackhawk and the incoming jets on the helicopter landhouse south of Woodrow Wilson Bridge, where American Airlines Flight 5342 extends to Potomac Yes, I told them it was cleared. Landed at Runway 33 at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
The north flight 5342 along Potomac was located near the approved corridor of a helicopter in strictly restricted airspace called the exact route 4 that Black Hawk was planning to go.
Just as the helicopter was supposed to be looking for Flight 5342 south of Wilson Bridge, another flight came to the heels of a crashed jet. There were two other flights near the airport. One flight had landed and another was taking off.
2 minutes before crash
Note: Only airborne flights in the map view and timestamp are displayed.
Twenty seconds before the crash, Flight 5342 was closed by helicopter, with two other flights moving backwards. Another nearby flight was air and climbing.
At this time, the air controller asked if flight 5342 was visible on the helicopter. The Black Hawk pilot said it was radio.
20 seconds before crash
Note: Only airborne flights in the map view and timestamp are displayed.
But soon the tower received the final signal from the helicopter. By 8:48pm, Blackhawk and Flight 5342 had collided.
Some aviation experts told the Times that Blackhawk may have mistook another commercial plane for flight 5342.
Can night vision goggles help or hurt your vision?
The Pentagon admitted that three soldiers on the Black Hawk carried Night Vision goggles while flying, but investigators are trying to determine if they were wearing them at the time of crash. According to NTSB
Military helicopter pilots should fly a certain number of hours at night with night goggles each year and train with them on a daily basis. According to aviation experts, the goggles are attached to the pilot's helmet and usually turn the goggles up and down while flying.
Pilot's Night Vision Goggles
The view through these goggles is monochromatic. Therefore, pilots can often look into the side of the goggles and see the red and green lights that can indicate the direction of flight of another aircraft.
Goggles can also strictly limit your field of view to an arc of about 40 degrees, as opposed to the roughly 180 degrees seen with the naked eye.
Pilots mitigate it by constantly rotating their heads to scan the environment looking for other aircraft, as well as looking downwards to see their instrument's readings.
Pilot's views using night vision goggles
Nighttime flying through metropolitan areas is inherently challenging. The stars in the sky and the light from nearby buildings may have caused even more difficulties. Because pilots need to look for one bright spot in the sky from the sea of potential light that appears to float when the helicopter moves.
To observers on the ground in lightly contaminated areas, the sky may appear to be almost starless. This is not the case for those wearing standard night vision goggles for use by military helicopter pilots in the dark. They enhance the ambient light to help you see in the darkness. Goggles can also brighten the sky, and it can be harder to find a 5342 flight, as the stars are too thin to be visible to the naked eye.
Approximately 12 hours after the crash, the FAA restricted access to the final part of the Black Hawk trail along Potomac, except for medical evacuation and national security missions flying it. The change created an inherently safe bubble in the north and south airspaces of Reagan National Airport, in the hopes of avoiding another collision.
