Helicopter in mid-air collision with flight 5342 may not have heard key instruction
WASHINGTON (KSNW) – The National Transportation Safety Board held a media briefing Friday on the mid-air collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last month.
On Jan. 29, an American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and a U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided midair over the Potomac River. Sixty-seven people were killed.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said the recording from the Black Hawk helicopter cockpit suggests the crew may have missed the key instruction just before the Jan. 29 collision.
'The instruction from ATC (Air Traffic Control) was to pass behind the CRJ (plane). That transmission was interrupted. It was stepped on. We do not have evidence on the CVR (Cockpot Voice Recorder) of the Black Hawk that they may have not received the 'pass behind the' because of the mic key. They were communicating with air traffic control at the time,' Homendy said.
Homendy said the helicopter was on a check flight that night when the pilot was being tested on the use of night vision goggles and flying by instruments. Investigators believe the crew was wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight.
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It was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001. Much of the attention since the collision has focused on the helicopter's altitude and whether it could have been flying too high.
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