Equipment malfunction, dropped messages looked at by NTSB in midair crash near D.C.
The National Transportation Safety Board is looking into flight data discrepancies, potential altimeter malfunctions and a possible miscommunication with air traffic control in the midair collision of an Army helicopter and a commercial airplane last month in the deadliest U.S. air crash in almost a quarter century.
The National Transportation Safety Board is looking into flight data discrepancies, potential altimeter malfunctions and a possible miscommunication with air traffic control in the midair collision of an Army helicopter and a commercial airplane last month in the deadliest U.S. air crash in almost a quarter century.
“We are looking at the possibility of there may be bad data,” NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said at a news conference on Friday. “We have a lot of work to do till we get to that.”
The Jan. 29 collision near Washington, D.C., that killed everyone aboard the plane and in the helicopter, 67 people in all, has prompted fears of flying in the busy airspace above the nation’s capital, which transports roughly 25 million people each year.
The deadly accident has raised questions about whether helicopters — in particular military training flights — should be allowed to share such a narrow and busy airspace with commercial airplanes. It was the first major fatal commercial plane crash in the U.S. since 2009.
Aircraft wreckage on the Potomac River, in Washington, DC., on Jan. 30.Brandon Giles / U.S. Coast Guard via Getty ImagesVideo captured the moment the UH 60 Black Hawk crashed into American Eagle Flight 5342, the explosion lighting up the night sky as the aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River.
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