Black Hawk helicopter involved in DC mid-air collision may not have heard key instruction, investigators say
The crew of the Army helicopter that collided in midair with an American Airlines jet near Washington, DC’s Ronald Reagan National Airport may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the moments before the crash, and also may not have heard key instructions from air traffic controllers to move behind the plane, investigators said yesterday.
National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters that the recording from the Black Hawk helicopter cockpit suggested an incomplete radio transmission may have left the crew without understanding how it should shift position just before the January 29 crash, in which all 67 aboard the two aircraft were killed.
“That transmission was interrupted -– it was stepped on,” she said, leaving them unable to hea...