Investigators are going on To find out why a military helicopter and a passenger aircraft collided and fell into the Potomac River in Washington at the end of Wednesday, the first vast air disaster in the US in 16 years.
Of the few, which is known, the human error probably played a role, asking questions about the chronic lack of air traffic controllers and pilots. The authorities may also look at the coordination of military and civil aviation.
Army UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter carrying three soldiers apparently plowed in the tail of the bombardier jet CRJ-700 from Wichita, because it was smaller than a mile than landing at the Reagan national airport. The burning remains of both aircraft fell several hundred feet in a tile, icy river.
A passenger jet, which was served by the regional carrier of the Airlines on behalf of American Airlines, had 64 people on board, and police boats have already regained 27 bodies. The last tragedy of the aircraft in the United States was the COLGAN Air accident, Fresh York in 2009.
The helicopter could start from the military base near the airport. In granular video From the valuable center, a smaller airy, probably a helicopter, you can overtake a lighter airy of the plane, they both fly low to the ground. They both collide in a massive explosion, dividing into several burning fragments.
A few minutes before arrival, air traffic control asked the american airlines if it could land on the catwalk 33, a compact runway. The pilots said “yes”, apparently changing the starting belts during their approach. Some wondered if this change on the flight path could catch Black Hawk from the guard.
But the general brigade general John Teichert said Newsnation Television That this should not cause failure. “I think that although they were told to change their starting belts, it is not this aggressive maneuver in the regional jet who would prompt them to change the position and the surprise of Black Hawk,” he said.
Eighty percent of air accidents around the world can be attributed to human errors, and in this case he is the main candidate, Marco Chan, a former pilot who currently directs pilot programs at Fresh University Buckinghamshire Fresh University.
“Perhaps security protocols, human factors,” he says. “I don’t like to draw conclusions early. In general, globally, after the pandemic, while the passenger number moved quite quite, I do not think that the number of employees came in every aspect of aviation. “
Air traffic control asked the helicopter if he saw the plane, and he was told to “go behind CRJ”, which would have priority, unless Black Hawk was on an urgent military mission. It is not known if the helicopter replied.
Military flights sometimes work at various radio frequencies than passenger flights, so the passenger jet crew may not hear how the Black Hawk radio tower. Or there could be a blocked transmission: if more than one page on the channel is at the same time radio, this may prevent others from hearing the entire conversation.