Last conversation between Army helicopter pilot and instructor revealed before fatal American Airlines crash

Independent

6 days ago

New details have been disclosed about the final moments before an Army helicopter collided in mid-air with an American Airlines passenger jet in January over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.
Thousands of pages of records have been released publicly as part of the government's ongoing investigation into the crash, which resulted in 67 deaths.
The information raises further questions about whether the crew of the Black Hawk helicopter was aware of its actual altitude and whether it was on a collision course with the Bombardier CRJ700 jet.
Included in the newly released records are the final words spoken by two members of the Army helicopter crew, Capt. Rebecca Lobach and her instructor, Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eaves.
The National Transportation Safety Board started a three-day hearing on Wednesday (July 30) about the January 29 crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
There were emotional moments as family members of the victims broke down upon hearing some of the details.
All 64 people on American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, were killed along with the three crew members on the military aircraft.
Culpability for the accident remains unclear, with questions about whether the collision was due to a mistake by the helicopter crew or if other factors contributed to the incident.
Air traffic controllers have also come under scrutiny for their decisions amid reports of staffing issues at Reagan National Airport that day. Helicopters have long flown near the airport, which is known for its notorious congestion.
An 11-minute presentation and animation by the NTSB illustrated the circumstances that led to the crash and confirmed details already released by the authorities.
The American Airlines pilots were instructed to switch runways approximately five minutes before landing, which they did. Reagan has three runways, the longest (the busiest in the nation) runs parallel to the river, with two shorter runways intersecting it at angles. The pilots were instructed to realign with the northern of the two shorter strips.
Meanwhile, the helicopter was flying back to Fort Belvoir in Virginia as part of a night evaluation of Capt. Lobach under the instruction of Eaves. Staff Sgt. Ryan O'Hara was also on board.
According to the NTSB presentation, the route down the river on which the helicopter was flying has a maximum altitude of 200 feet near the airport.
However, the aircraft continued to fly above that level, reaching heights of more than 300 feet.
Officials stated that the crew appeared to believe they were much lower than that, at times claiming they were about 100 feet below their actual altitude. One reason could be because of an error with their altimeter.
About three minutes before the crash, Eaves told Lobach to 'come down for me' and fly at 200 feet because they were at 300 feet, the presentation revealed.
Two minutes before the crash, an air traffic controller warned them about the approaching passenger plane. Another warning followed 90 seconds later.
Both times, the helicopter crew confirmed they could see the plane. They requested 'visual separation,' allowing them to navigate around the incoming flight.
The second time, the controller instructed the helicopter to pass behind the passenger plane, but the helicopter crew had keyed its microphone — pushed the button to talk — at the same time as the controller and never heard the instruction, according to the flight recorder.
Twenty seconds before the crash, Eaves told Lobach: 'Alright, kinda come left for me ma'am, I think that's why he's asking.'
She replied: 'Sure.'
Eaves said: 'We're kinda out towards the middle.'
Lobach responded: 'Okay fine.'
The Black Hawk was at 270 feet above the river, and the American Airlines plane continued its landing approach, passing through 320 feet in altitude.
They collided at 8:48 p.m. in a fiery explosion, shown in newly released security camera footage.
Investigators stated in the hearing that the helicopter crew had no prior knowledge of the impending crash.
In the cockpit of the American Airlines jet, the pilots used expletives and tried to pull the plane up in the seconds before.
Part of the investigation focused on testing the helicopter altimeter, a report on which indicated potential discrepancies between the barometric altitude and the radio altitude.
A test flight over the Potomac revealed that the barometric altitude was consistently about 100 feet lower than the radio and geometric altitudes over the water. Additionally, the barometric altimeter was obscured during the helicopter flight.
To address this, Senator Ted Cruz has introduced legislation called 'The Rotor Act,' which requires all aircraft to transmit their location to other aircraft and air traffic controllers — a system known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B).
This is currently only required on aircraft that fly above 18,000 feet, though some aircraft, including those operated by the military, are exempt from ADS-B for security reasons.
The NTSB recommended that the FAA require ADS-B on all aircraft as long ago as 2008.
'The mistake was that this was not unforeseen. We had 84 near misses in the three years before in the D.C. airspace, and no one did anything,' Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters. 'Someone was asleep at the wheel. Someone should have seen that.'
The three-day hearing will also include an examination of FAA oversight of Washington airspace.