Newsman: Federal accident investigators on Saturday said the commercial plane involved in Wednesday’s deadly crash in Washington appears to have tried to pull up a second before it collided with a U.S. Army helicopter.
“Sounds of impact were audible about one second later,” National Transportation Safety Board investigator Brice Banning told reporters at a news conference. Banning said the
aircraft’s flight data recorder showed that the plane had started to increase its pitch.
The independent agency also said it had been able to verify based on initial data that the impact occurred as the airplane was flying at roughly 325 feet when a Black Hawk helicopter slammed into it.
Other preliminary data appear to indicate that air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were operating with radar scope data showing that the helicopter was flying at an altitude of 200 feet at the time of impact, Banning said. That radar data has “less fidelity,” he said.
“Our team is looking into that,” he said. When asked what would explain the apparent discrepancy between the two reported altitudes, NTSB board member Todd Inman said: “That’s what our job is — is to figure that out.”
The agency wouldn’t say what altitude the helicopter was flying at but the air route it was using should have limited it to no higher than 200 feet.
The data recorder from the Army helicopter has been retrieved, but investigators are in the process of removing some water that seeped into it, said Inman, who added the agency is “confident” they’ll be able to get data from it.
Todd Inman said the helicopter flight was approved to use night vision goggles but could not yet confirm whether the pilots were wearing them. The goggles could have limited their field of view.
