What is the next step in the DC jet crash investigation?

Air Traffic Control and the American Airlines Plane Crash: Why Did the Black Hawks Land on a Shorter Runway? A Few Minutes Before Arrival

A few minutes before arrival, air traffic control asked the American Airlines flight if it could land on runway 33, a shorter runway. The pilots said yes and then switched runways. The Black Hawks could have been caught off guard by the change in flight path.

The shortage of air traffic controllers and pilots is raising questions about whether human error may have played a role. Authorities may also be looking at coordination between military and civilian aviation.

“Perhaps safety protocols, human factors were at play,” he says. “I don’t like to draw conclusions early on. The workforce number has not caught up in every aspect of aviation since the Pandemic, and the passenger number has rebounded quite a bit.

Source: Washington, DC, Plane Crash: Everything We Know So Far

The Pentagon is preparing to investigate the incident of a military-relativistic black-hawk plane crash into the Potomac River

An Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers apparently plowed into the tail of a Bombardier CRJ-700 jet out of Wichita as it was less than a mile from landing at Reagan National Airport. The flaming remains of both aircraft tumbled a few hundred feet into the shallow, icy river.

The passenger jet may not have heard the tower radioing the Black Hawks because military flights operate on different radio frequencies. Or there may have been a jammed transmission: If more than one party on a channel are radioing at the same time, that can prevent others from hearing the whole conversation.

The helicopter might have taken off from a military base. In a grainy video from the Kennedy Center, a smaller light, presumably the helicopter, can be seen overtaking the brighter light of the plane, both of them flying low to the ground. The two collide in a massive explosion, splitting into several burning fragments.

The last major commercial airplane accident involving a U.S. passenger plane was in 2009 when a Colgan Air flight crashed near Buffalo, N.Y., killing 50 people.

Investigators are scrambling to figure out why a military helicopter and a passenger airplane collided and plunged into the Potomac River in Washington DC late Wednesday, the first major US air crash in 16 years.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump appeared to blame the previous administration for the midair collision that killed 67 people. But experts and investigators involved with the crash, which also involved a military helicopter, say the next few weeks will see investigators pore over every element of the crash, and the moments leading up to it, to determine the causes.

“You need to give us time,” Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a press conference Thursday. The investigation into the crash is being conducted by the independent US federal watchdog agency. We have a lot of data and information, she said. We need to verify information.

In a White House briefing Thursday morning, Trump pointed to a program that also existed through his first administration aimed at expanding the talent pool for the US Federal Aviation Administration to individuals with disabilities. There was no proof that the crash was linked to the FAA attempts to improve diversity within its workforce. But he made the connection, he said, “because I have common sense and unfortunately some people don’t.”

In a press briefing, NTSB board member J. Todd Inman said at least seven different working groups will focus on different elements of the flights, made up of federal investigators as well as representatives from the military, aircraft manufacturers, and organizations representing aviation professionals.

An operations group will look into the history of the accident and the crew involved. Another group will focus on the body of the aircraft, examining the wreckage and accident scenes to determine what course the aircraft traveled before the collision, including the altitude. Another will zoom in on the engines involved. Others will examine onboard hydraulic, electrical, and pneumatic systems, as well as flight control instruments. The group is going to look at the role air traffic control plays at the National Airport in regards to the incident. One will take a look at the first responders’ reactions and the other will look at the helicopter. The group will be focused on what role crew fatigue, workload, medication, equipment, and training may have played in the collision.

A regional American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members was about to land in Kansas when it collided with a military helicopter with three service members on board.

The footage shows the plane flying at a low altitude before the explosion. Aviation expert John Cox told NPR the airspace around Reagan National Airport is particularly challenging for pilots and air traffic controllers because of the amount of air traffic.

Inman’s remarks on skater and skaters in a plane colliding with a man in an 18-year-old skater

“We won’t speculate about what may have caused the accident while we are here on scene, nor will we determine the probable cause of the accident when we get there,” Inman said.

The agency said it retrieved the black boxes from the plane. Black boxes record conversations and sounds in the cockpit, as well as data about the plane and flight. The National Transportation Safety Board will use them to figure out what went wrong in the moments before the wreck.

The skaters, coaches and family members from the Skating Club of Boston were on the train and were going to the U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Kansas.

He made his supposition in remarks to the press without offering any evidence that policies for equity and inclusion could have played a part in the collision.

When the reporter asked how a conclusion about the relevance of DEI could be reached so early on in the investigation, the president said he had common sense. And unfortunately, a lot of people don’t. We want people who do brilliant things.

“This is something that — it’s been many years since something like this has happened, and the collision is just something that we don’t expect it to happen ever again,” he said.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to all of the families and loved ones impacted by this collision, as well as the first responders,” said the Mayor of Washington. DC’s first responders and the rest of the region’s are very proud of their work.

“This is a time when we will have to help each other out, and that’s what we are going to do,” Sen. Roger Marshall said. “We’ve gone through tornadoes, floods, and things, but it’s really difficult when you lose over 60 Kansans at the same time.”