The Black Hawk Army helicopter which crashed into an American Airlines passenger plane as it was landing in Washington DC was flying 100 feet too high, authorities confirmed on Tuesday.
The official data came as questions mount over how the collision – which killed all 67 people involved – occurred, given that pilots follow strict protocol around the altitudes they can safely reach.
Now, information from an air traffic control radar has confirmed investigators’ fears that the military chopper was 100 feet above where it was meant to be flying at the time of the fiery crash.
The helicopter, flown by 28-year-old Captain Rebecca M. Lobach on a routine training exercise, was flying at 300 feet, but the maximum altitude permitted for choppers in the area is 200 feet.
Reagan National Airport is notoriously crowded, and the crossover in the air space between jets and helicopters is routine.
The black box data recovered from the wreckage in the Potomac River had indicated that this situation likely occurred, but the National Transport Safety Board was waiting on the air traffic control data to confirm the high altitude.
Radar data is rounded to the nearest 100 feet, which means the helicopter was flying anywhere between 251 feet and 349 feet of elevation, the NTSB said.
Meanwhile, the passenger plane was at 325 feet at the time of the crash and had been cleared to land.
Questions had been raised about how the collision – which killed all 67 people involved – occurred, given pilots follow strict protocol about the altitudes they can safely reach
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39 and Cpt. Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, were two of the three military personnel on board the helicopter
Ryan O’Hara was also on board the doomed helicopter when it plunged into the Potomac River on Wednesday night
In the split second before the crash, the pilots made an effort to jerk the plane upwards in an effort to avoid the oncoming helicopter.
‘At one point very close to the impact, there was a slight change in pitch, an increase in pitch,’ NTSB’s Todd Inman said in a press conference Saturday night.
There were no survivors on either flight, and as of Tuesday, all 67 bodies have now been retrieved from the water.
There were 60 passengers and four crew on board the American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, while three soldiers were on the helicopter.
‘This is a complex investigation,’ said Brice Banning, NTSB investigator in charge. ‘There are a lot of pieces here. Our team is working hard to gather this data.’
Banning also discussed the last moments from the jet’s two black boxes, which captured sound in the cockpit and flight data.
‘The crew had a verbal reaction,’ Banning said, with the data recorder showing ‘the airplane beginning to increase its pitch.
‘Sounds of impact were audible about one second later, followed by the end of the recording.’
A large portion of the damaged plane is lifted from the Potomac River during recovery efforts after the American Airlines crash on February 03, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia
A forensic team collects a piece of debris from the Potomac River
More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at a given time, officials said. Two Navy barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreckage.
An unidentified firefighter working the scene told reporter Brian Entin he and others are ’emotionally wiped out after seeing the horror up close.’
The firefighter explained that the water is ‘actually very clear’ and with their flashlights, ‘they saw horrible things when they arrived.’
Full investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.
Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since November 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport.
That crash killed all 260 people on board and five people on the ground.
