A former Black Hawk pilot believes three key mistakes caused one of the US Army helicopters she used to fly to collide with a passenger jet and kill 67 people.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Elizabeth McCormick, who flew Black Hawks for seven years until an injury forced her to retire, believed the crash over DC was preventable.
First, only the minimum three crew were on board despite the training flight crossing through crowded airspace at night.
‘If you’re flying a visual flight plan and you’re flying in a crowded airspace like this, you really should have two crew chiefs to clear each side, as the pilots only have visibility straight ahead,’ she told CNN.
‘You only have visibility of the front 180 degrees, your crew chiefs clear the back. If you only have one crew chief, how much can you clear?
‘I think that was a major issue, as well as the altitude.’
However, CCTV footage of the collision showed the helicopter fly directly into the plane, which was in front of it as it approached.
Having a fourth crew member to watch each side of the rear of the plane, as she insisted should have happened, would not have helped in that situation.
Surveillance footage taken from inside the airport captured the moment the two collided in midair
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Elizabeth McCormick, who flew Black Hawks for seven years until an injury forced her to retire, believed the crash over DC was preventable
The helicopter was only supposed to be flying at 200ft, which would avoid the planes taking off and landing at DCA, but was as high was 400ft.
McCormick said the area was a cluttered airspace with a lot of lights that reflected on the river ‘so it’s easy to get a little disoriented as far as the height’.
Thirdly, she said air traffic control should have been more specific when it asked if the helicopter pilots had the plane in their sights, as there were two planes visible at the time.
McCormick said they should have said exactly where it was so the crew could look for it. The helicopter is agile enough to dodge a plane in time if pilots see it.
The helicopter smashed into an American Airlines plane as it came into land at Reagan National Airport just before 9pm on Wednesday.
Passengers aboard Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, included members of the US figure skating team who were returning from the US Figure Skating Championships.
Sixty passengers, four crew, and three US Army personnel died in the worst US air disaster in 23 years, which McCormick blamed on three errors.
McCormick blamed the worst US air disaster in 23 years on three errors
A blackened piece of the helicopter wreckage after being raised by recovery efforts
The CCTV footage from two angles showed the Bombardier CRJ700 airline slowly approaching the runway, its lights shining brightly against the night sky.
Suddenly the helicopter entered the frame, traveling much more quickly from the left, heading straight for the passenger plane.
Neither aircraft appeared to change course or have any time to attempt evasive action before a huge, violent explosion lit up the sky.
What was left of the helicopter appeared to continue straight through and crash straight into the water, while the plane splintered into pieces.
The largest piece of the plane flipped end over end, doing almost a full rotation before hitting the water and disappearing.
Smaller pieces of the wreckage slowly rained down, like the debris from a firework display.
