Updated with flight recorder and other details
An intense investigation began early Thursday into the cause of a deadly mid-air collision that killed 67 people over the Potomac River next to Reagan National Airport between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet.
Part of the focus of the investigation is expected to look into the Black Hawk’s operation and behavior moments before the crash and how its pilot performed. Ironically, Black Hawks are equipped with sophisticated sensors, including infrared, to help with situational awareness needed in rescue attempts in demanding wartime situations.
Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board are expected to focus on communications between the National Airport control tower and what the pilots of the two aircraft knew in the moments before the crash occurred just before 9 p.m. Wednesday. Recovery efforts began immediately and are expected to continue for days. Early Thursday, hundreds of rescue personnel had recovered 28 bodies from the icy Potomac River, a number that grew to 40 by nightfall.
RELATED: As NTSB pores over fatal crash, Trump says Black Hawk flew too high
Transportation officials said the Black Hawk crew of three knew about the American jet on approach to Reagan, based on radio communications with airport air traffic control officials. Hours after being sworn in, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters at a news conference that both aircraft were both following “standard” pathways through the area east of the airport and above the Potomac. Blackhawk flights and commercial jets frequent the busy airspace. The crash, however, was “absolutely” not standard, and will be the focus of the investigation, Duffy said. “We will not rest until we have answers.”
Air space at National Airport is "busting at the seams"
“We are busting at the seams at National,” said Virginia US Senator Mark Warner, D, referring to the number of jets using the airport while Army helicopters and other craft frequent the skies and nearby landing areas. However, he joined Duffy in saying air travel in the US is the safest in the world.
Hours before Duffy spoke, President Trump posted his concerns about the cause of the crash on Truth Social: “This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!” His comments included, ”Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane.”
Trump raises DEI hiring concerns at FAA
Mid-day Thursday, President Trump told reporters that several factors will be investigated that could have led to the crash, including why the Black Hawk and the commercial plane were flying at the same height before the crash. The helicopter "obviously was in the wrong place at the wrong time." He said a better air traffic control computer system could have helped, including a new system that he backed in his first term as president that was not pursued under President Biden.
The president also went on a lengthy criticism of DEI hiring policies in effect at the Federal Aviation Administration before he took office, and said DEI could have led to hiring of air traffic controllers not up to the rigors of tracking many planes at the nation's busy airports. "This is a major chess game at the highest levels," he said. Later he added, "I'm not blaming the controller, but question the height" of the two aircraft.
Warner noted that nationally, there is a shortage of “thousands” of air traffic controllers,but refused to speculate whether that shortage contributed to the crash. Transportation analyst Peter Goelz, senior vice president of O’Neill and Associates, called the crash “inexplicable” in a short interview on CNN. “The attention is going to be on the Blackhawk,” he said, and what the Blackhawk pilot knew about the location of the commercial flight. A recording of the communications between the Black Hawk and the tower at Reagan indicated the pilot knew of the American flight and was asked to stay at a distance. The Black Hawk pilot responded to the tower of seeing the commercial jet, but 13 second later, the crash occurred.l
Black Hawk pilots had night vision and full range of sensors
Black Hawk helicopters are in wide use by the US Army and commonly seen in the Washington area, often ferrying officials from the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, to nearby air bases. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Black Hawk was based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, adding that the crew was fairly experienced and wore night vision goggles at the time of the crash.
Black Hawks are also equipped with sophisticated navigation equipment and a variety of sensors for situational awareness. These sensors include fiber optic systems, forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensors, and multi-function displays. There can be thousands of FLIR sensors on a single craft to perform automatic electronic examinations constantly. They are used to warn of component failures and improve situational awareness regarding height.
It isn't clear how many, if any, of the sensors available on Black Hawks were in use by the crew before this crash, as the US Army Black Hawk pilot was operating under visual flight rules, according to US Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois. A former Black Hawk pilot who operated near Midway Airport in Chicago, she said she was accustomed to traveling below commercial aircraft landing and taking off from Midway. Black Hawk pilots and crew chief in the rear of the helicopter can make visual observations through a series of windows to look up, down and to either side.
FLIR sensors are usually mounted in the nose of the Black Hawk and often are used to boost visibility for search and rescue missions. They are used in MEDEVAC Mission Sensors, contained in a sensor turret. Other sensors aboard a Black Hawk are the Degraded Visual Environment Pilotage System (DVEPS) to help pilots fly through clouds, dust, sand and fog. The conditions on Wednesday night of the crash were a dark moonless night, but skies were clear with wind gusts up to 25 mph and air temperatures in the mid-30s.
Other sensors aboard typical Black Hawks include the Pilotage Distributed Aperture Sensor (PDAS) for generating high-resolution, 360-degree imagery around the aircraft and the Integrated Vehicle Health Management System (IVHMS) for collecting information about the aicraft’s health, including vibrations, rotations and gyrations, according to the Army.
DVEPS was the focus of a report in The Warzone in 2022, which described it as a new sensor “that
sees what pilots can’t…It helps rescue pilots stay aware of their surroundings even when flying blind.” The HH-60M version of the Black Hawk that was the focus of the article described it as a forward-facing sensor on the nose of the aircraft. It works in tandem with the FLIR sensor turret.
The Black Hawk involved in the crash was on a training mission, but that does not mean the the pilot was inexperienced, Duffy said. American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said the crew of Flight 5342 were both experienced flyers, with six years’ experience for the pilot and two years for the first officer.
American Airlines Flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines, was traveling from Wichita, Kansas, and on final
approach into Reagan National when the mid-air collision occurred, followed by a huge explosion with both craft breaking apart and falling in the river. Rescue crews found the American craft in waste deep water, inverted, and broken into three parts.
NTSB still seeking second black box for review
The NTSB held a news conference Thursday afternoon in which officials disclosed the black boxes for both aircraft had dot been recovered but one of the two was actually recovered by nightfall. Operations to recover human remains continued with 40 bodies recovered. Officials also said the early review of the scene showed escape chutes had not been deployed from the commercial craft because it was involved in such a sudden impact and explosion. The aircraft were identified as a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 airplane and a Sikorsky H-60 military helicopter.
The NTSB will seek probable cause for the crash, "not what only, but why," said board member Todd Inman, spokesman for the board. A preliminary finding is expected within 30 days.