The deadly midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., which claimed 67 lives on January 29, captured the attention of the nation.
The New York Times recently concluded an extensive investigation into the crash, drawing on a thorough review of official documents, cockpit audio recordings from the moments before the collision, and interviews with scores of experts — including pilots, government officials, and current and former air traffic controllers. The paper published its disturbing findings on Sunday.
The article emphasized that the crash was not caused by “one error,” but rather by a convergence of several contributing factors. However, it ultimately concludes that the fatal error was made by helicopter pilot Rebecca Lobach, who allegedly failed to follow a direct order from her co-pilot, an Army flight instructor, to turn away from the approaching jet. She also disregarded multiple warnings about her altitude.
Katie Thomson, the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration during the Biden administration, told the Times, “Multiple layers of safety precautions failed that night.”
The report states that, shortly before the collision, an air traffic controller at Ronald Reagan National Airport warned the helicopter crew about a regional passenger jet in their vicinity. The crew confirmed “seeing traffic nearby.”
Next, one of the pilots requested permission to conduct an exercise known as “visual separation,” which allows pilots “to take control of navigating around other aircraft, rather than relying on the controller for guidance.”
The controller responded, “Visual separation approved.”
The article says that air traffic controllers routinely grant permission for this practice.
According to the Times:
The pilots either did not detect the specific passenger jet the controller had flagged, or could not pivot to a safer position.The helicopter crew appeared to have made more than one mistake. Not only was the Black Hawk flying too high, but in the final seconds before the crash, its pilot failed to heed a directive from her co-pilot, an Army flight instructor, to change course.Radio communications, the tried-and-true means of interaction between controllers and pilots, also broke down. Some of the controller’s instructions were “stepped on” — meaning that they cut out when the helicopter crew pressed a microphone to speak — and important information likely went unheard.Technology on the Black Hawk that would have allowed controllers to better track the helicopter was turned off. Doing so was Army protocol, meant to allow the pilots to practice secretly whisking away a senior government official in an emergency. But at least some experts believe that turning off the system deprived everyone involved of another safeguard.The controller also could have done more.Though he had delegated the prime responsibility for evading other air traffic to the Black Hawk crew under visual separation, he continued to monitor the helicopter, as his job required. Yet he did not issue clear, urgent instructions to the Black Hawk to avert the crash, aviation experts say.
The Times reached out to the FAA for a comment. A spokesman for the agency replied that they could not comment on “any aspect” of the National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation.
In the days following the crash, attention was focused on both the altitude of the helicopter and staffing issues at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport’s air traffic control tower. The Black Hawk was flying above the FAA’s maximum allowed altitude limit of 200 feet. According to agency rules, “helicopters, which regularly cross through and around Washington, between military bases, the Pentagon and other locations, must fly in the area close to the airport at a maximum of 200 feet.”
During a press conference that was held two days after the crash, NTSB member Todd Inman announced that his team had successfully downloaded data from the flight data recorder, also known as the black box, of the passenger jet. The data showed the jet was flying at approximately 325 feet at the time of impact “plus or minus 25 feet.” This would indicate that the helicopter had exceeded its altitude limit of 200 feet.
And NTSB safety investigator Brice Banning said that “on the tower’s radar data scope that was available to the controller, initial data indicates that he may have seen” the helicopter flying at 200 feet. Banning emphasized that these were only “preliminary data.”
Also, an internal preliminary report from the FAA and reviewed by the New York Times (at that time) suggested that staffing levels at the air traffic control tower on the night of the crash were “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.”
Specifically, the FAA had determined that a single air traffic controller was performing the duties of two people at the time of the incident, communicating with both the helicopter and the plane.
According to the Times, during the busiest hours of the day, from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., “those jobs are typically assigned to two people, not one.” However, after 9:30 p.m., “those duties may be combined.” The collision occurred at 8:48 p.m.
Worse, on that fateful night, one air traffic controller reportedly left work early, as per the report. That may have resulted in a single controller managing both aircraft.
Speaking to reporters the day after the crash, Trump suggested that the FAA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion program was partly to blame for the tower being understaffed. In his eyes, that would make DEI a factor in the crash — not the sole cause, but a contributing factor nonetheless.
Trump was widely criticized for this remark. But given the FAA’s well-documented emphasis on diversity in its hiring process, his concern was legitimate.
Although the results of the Times’ investigation can hardly be considered definitive, it does shed some light on what went wrong on that tragic night. Management at American Airlines must be tremendously relieved by these findings. The Army, not so much.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
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