The National Transportation Safety Board will question witnesses Thursday about air traffic control training and collision avoidance technology, two key parts of the investigation into January’s deadly midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. It’s the second of three days of investigative hearings into what happened in the accident that killed 67 people.
On Wednesday, the day began with an overview of the incident, including an 11-minute detailed timeline of the moments before the Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines regional jet, operated by PSA Airlines, collided midair. NTSB members later questioned witness for the Army and Federal Aviation Administration.
The NTSB also released thousands of pages of information gathered during the investigation, including cockpit voice recorder transcripts that detail the final moments before the collision that show one second before the collision, the helicopter’s instructor had told the pilot to change course.
The helicopter route at the time of the collision allowed the Black Hawk to fly as close as 75 feet below planes descending to land on runway 33 at Reagan National Airport, according to the NTSB.
In 10 hours of questioning Wednesday, the NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy grew frustrated with some of the answers given by representatives of the FAA and Army. After the hearing concluded for the day, she told reporters she has “concerns” there is a “safety culture” problem in both Army aviation and the air traffic organization of the FAA.
The hearing also uncovered that Army helicopters would regularly fly below aircraft that were descending to land at Reagan National Airport and they sometimes used civilian heliports without authorization.
“I don’t have concerns about the leadership, but I think they have issues below the leadership, with respect to flying underneath aircraft,” Homendy told reporters Wednesday night. “At no point should there ever be helicopters flying underneath civilian aircraft that are departing and landing on any runway, any runway in the national airspace. I’m concerned that if it’s happening here, that it’s happening somewhere else.”
Sixty-seven people died in the accident over the Potomac River, including 60 passengers and four crew members on the plane and three soldiers on the helicopter.
The NTSB will meet again on Friday. A determination of what caused the crash will come in January.
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