D.C. crash investigators focus on altitude and vision quality of helicopter crew

Three days after the midair collision of an Army helicopter and an American Airlines passenger plane near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, air safety investigators said on Saturday that they are still working to fill in some key details that could point to the cause of the crash.

They are looking into whether the pilots from the Army’s Black Hawk helicopter experienced vision impairment while flying in the dark skies and whether the copter deviated from its normal route.

The Black Hawk may have been flying higher than it should have been, said representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency leading the investigation, during a briefing on Saturday evening.

But investigators stopped short of confirming multiple media reports, based on publicly available flight data, that the helicopter breached aviation rules that require helicopters on that route to stay below 200 feet.

The Wednesday night impact sent passengers into the icy waters of the Potomac River. All 67 people aboard both aircraft were killed. It’s the deadliest air crash to occur in the U.S. in 20 years.

J. Todd Inman, a member of the NTSB, said that the helicopter was on a training mission. The aircraft would typically use night vision in such an event. Investigators are still working to confirm whether crew members were wearing night vision goggles at the time of the crash, Inman said, a factor that could play a role in the cause of the accident.

“We do not know at this time if the night vision goggles were actively being worn,” he said.

Preliminary data shows the Black Hawk was flying at an altitude of 325 feet at the time of the crash, according to Inman. Reagan National is one of the most congested airports in the country. Aviation rules require helicopters on that route above the Potomac to stay below 200 feet. AA Flight 5342’s last transmitted altitude was about 300 feet.

Data downloaded from the two recording devices recovered from the passenger plane is under analysis, investigators said. The cockpit recorder from the Black Hawk, commonly known as a black box, was recovered in good condition, Inman said. Data from the devices could be key for investigators in determining what led to the crash.

The NTSB is leading the investigation as it probes another plane crash. Two days after the D.C.-area collision, a small plane plummeted near a Philadelphia shopping center, killing all six people aboard and one person on the ground.