On January 29, the US saw its worst aviation tragedy when a Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines plane over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan National Airport, killing everyone on both aircraft. Three months after the tragedy, New York Times investigation has now revealed that there was not one misstep that led to the mishap but a string of complicated failures was behind the fatal crash.
Black Hawk pilot failed to heed her co-pilot
The Army crew was conducting the annual evaluation of Captain Rebecca M Lobach to ensure that her helicopter piloting skills were up to par. Her assignment that night was to the conditions of a scenario in which members of Congress or other senior government officials might need to be carried out of the nation’s capital in the event of an attack, the NYT report said.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves was her instructor. In the final seconds before impact, Warrant Officer Eaves told Captain Lobach that the air traffic controller wanted her to turn left. But there was no indication that she turned left.
Black Hawk probably didn’t see the American Airlines flight
The air traffic controller flagged the American Airlines jet, but the Black Hawk crew probably did not detect it or could not pivot to a safer position.
Controller could have given a more urgent warning
The controller alerted the Black Hawk about the American Airlines plane but he did not issue clear, urgent instructions, the investigative report said, citing aviation experts. As the two aircraft moved closer to each other, the controller issued an instruction to the helicopter crew: Pass behind the airplane. He could have told the Black Hawk crew where Flight 5342 was positioned and which way it was bound.
Also, the controller did not alert the pilots of American Airlines.
Radio communications broke down
The report said some of the controller’s instructions got cut out and probably the Black Hawk pilots did not hear what the controller said.
Controller pulled off a complicated combination
The NYT report said the controller was nearing the end of his shift and pulled off a very complicated and risky combination. The route the helicopter was flying and the runway the jet was using to land formed a dangerous combination.
The landing of Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan., was supposed to be a part of that maneuver. In order to pull it off, the controller evidently decided to land that flight not on the commonly used Runway 1, but the little-used Runway 33, which is a narrow vertical space between the landing slope for a jet and the maximum altitude at which helicopters using a certain route, called Route 4, could fly.
