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An Army helicopter crashed into an American Airlines plane killing 67 people in DC last week.
The Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport was flying about 100 feet higher than what was authorized but it was also dealing with a set of complex flying conditions, reports based on the new revelations of the investigation into the
DC plane crash
said. The Blackhawk crashed into an American Airlines plane killing 67 people leaving no survivor.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in an update Tuesday that it obtained data clearing showing that the helicopter was flying at roughly 300 feet at the time of the collision. But what prompted the helicopter to change its altitude is not yet known.
According to experts, 200 feet is a low altitude for the bust airspace, in proximity to other aircraft. The lighting conditions around the Potomac River are tough and there's not many place in the world where all these conditions are present all at once.
Older-model Blackhawk lacked certain safety technologies
The Army crew was flying an older-model aircraft that lacked certain safety technologies in its cockpit. The Blackhawk left its home base, Fort Belvoir in Virginia, after dark last Wednesday to conduct a training mission to allow co-pilot Captain Rebecca Lobach to perform a required annual evaluation flight.
It was a moonless night at a busy airspace which might have compounded the complex situation that the helicopter found it self in, experts told the New York Times.
"Captain Lobach was most likely in the right-hand seat, said a senior Army official who has flown the National Airport helicopter routes repeatedly but requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly," the NYT report said.
"This is significant, the official said, because if the instructor pilot was busy or distracted with something, Captain Lobach’s seat on the right side of the aircraft might have put her in poor position to view the descending American Airlines flight on her left."
"Still, other experienced military pilots said they were puzzled at the crash, given that military pilots are trained to be ready for such hazards," the report said.
