Black Hawk pilot’s final conversation with instructor before colliding with passenger jet revealed at hearing
The final words of the pilot who was steering a helicopter before it fatally crashed with a passenger jet have been revealed in a hearing about the case.
On January 29 this year, Washington DC watched on in horror as a Black Hawk military helicopter smashed into an American Airlines jet that had departed Wichita, Kansas, and was coming in to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Both aircrafts plunged into the Potomac River and a search and rescue mission quickly became a recovery operation as it transpired all 64 passengers on the commercial jet, and all three on the helicopter, died in the collision.
Now, new details are emerging about the doomed chopper which includes audio footage of the final conversation the pilot and the instructor shared on board the Black Hawk, just moments before impact.
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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched a hearing on Wednesday (July 30) to try to determine what happened, identifying Captain Rebecca Lobach, 28, as the pilot, as well as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, 39, as the instructor.
Staff Sergeant Ryan O'Hara, 28, was also on board the aircraft that was flying part of a night evaluation to Fort Belvoir in Virginia.
An animation showed in the hearing reveals American Airlines Flight 5342 last spoke to air traffic controllers when they were directed to change runways for landing, which they agreed to do.
Yet investigators heard how the service team aboard the helicopter may not have been aware of where and how high they were flying.
The Black Hawk had a maximum acceptable altitude of 200 feet near the airport, yet the presentation reveals it soared way higher than that, between the mid-200 feet range up to more than 300 feet as it came close to Reagan airport.
Officials said they believed the crew thought they were lower in the air than they were, possibly due to an altimeter error. For instance, the crew reported they were around 100 feet below their actual attitude at various times.
The NTSB has since conducted tests on other helicopters from the same unit and found discrepancies with their barometric altimeters, the hearing revealed.
Meanwhile, a transcript of the audio recording from the cockpit was also shared with some eerie details emerging.
During the 15-minute flight, Lobach and Eaves could be heard making small talk and laughing, possibly indicating they were unaware of the dangerous collision route they were on.
Eaves also assisted the pilot with advice on manoeuvring while Lobach reported transmissions from air traffic control sounded 'pretty muffled.'
The instructor also said it seemed the control tower appeared 'stacked up tonight' with traffic.
Then around two and a half minutes before the collision, Eaves told Lobach to 'come down for me' and fly at 200 feet as they were at 300 feet, the animation reveals.
Air traffic control then warned the helicopter twice about the passenger jet, the first time around two minutes before the collision and then 90 seconds later.
The chopper responded on both occasions that it could see the plane and requested a 'visual separation' to help them navigate around.
A controller approved that and around 20 seconds before the crash, instructed the team to 'pass behind' the jet.
However, a cockpit transcript reveals that command wasn't heard due to an audio interruption in the Black Hawk's microphone.
Five seconds after the final warning about the plane, Eaves could be heard saying to Lobach: "Alright, kinda come left for me ma'am, I think that's why he's asking."
She replied: "Sure."
The instructor then said: "We’re kinda out towards the middle," to which Lobach replied: "Oh-kay, fine," reportedly drawing out her 'okay.'
Their conversation lasted four seconds. It later transpired that the helicopter was 270 feet in the air while the American Airlines jet was descending toward the runaway at only 320 feet.
Scott Rosengren, chief engineer in the office that manages the Army's utility helicopters, said in the hearing if he was 'king for a day' he would immediately retire all the older Black Hawk choppers like the one involved in the crash for their alleged outdated altimeters.
The hearing continues.
Topics: American Airlines, Plane, Pilot, US News, Washington
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