What is known about the deadly plane crash between a passenger jet and a helicopter of the American army

Congress Thursday morning he will hold an audition on what we know so far of the deadly collision in mid -air above the capital of the nation who killed 67 people in January and what could have caused him.

The head of the National Transportation Safety Board who is investigating the accident will appear together with the leaders of the Federal Aviation Administration and the division of the aviation of the army to answer the questions to the Senate.

There will almost certainly be questions about the 85 dangerous close calls between planes and helicopters near the Ronald Reagan national airport of Washington that the NTSB identified in the three years preceding the accident and because the officials have not done something about it. The legislators of the Commerce Committee who supervises the aviation have also questioned the reason why the army habitually managed helicopters through the area with a key safety system that should notify other planes and the tower on their deactivated position.

Both the best members of the Committee – Sen. del Texas Republican Ted Cross And the Democrat of Washington Maria Cantwell – sent letters asking for answers to the army on the frequency with which their black hawks operated around Washington DC without transmitting data on the position.

The president of the NTSB Jennifer Homendy said at the beginning of this month that the proximity of planes and helicopters to Washington, DC, represented an “intolerable risk for the safety of the aviation” that the FAA should have noticed before.

On Wednesday Homendy said that the FAA must do more to analyze the security data it has. “The next accident is in the data right now. And what are we doing to understand what it is?” he said.

Transport secretary Sean Duffy has promised to use artificial intelligence to review the data of other airports to identify any similar risks elsewhere, in particular in eight metropolitan areas with busy helicopters: Boston, New York, Baltimora-Washington, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles.

Investigators are still in the early stages to determine why the passenger jet of the American airlines and the army helicopter collided while the plane was preparing to land on January 29. Both dived into the Potomac river, killing everyone on board. It will probably take more than a year to complete the final relationship.

Previously investigators said that the helicopter may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the moments before the accident and that the crew may not have heard key instructions from the air traffic controllers.

The collision was the most fatal plane crash in the United States since 2001, when a jet slammed in a neighborhood in New York City immediately after take off, killing all 260 people on board and five more on the ground.

A series of accidents this year together with a lack has attracted attention to air travel, which remains overwhelmingly. On January 31, a medical transport jet crashed against a neighborhood of Philadelphia, killing seven. On February 6, a small commute plane went down from the western Alaska, killing 10 February. On February 17, a Delta plane crashed and launched himself to the landing in Toronto. Two small planes collided in mid -air in Arizona on February 19, killing two people. And there was a frightening moment on February 25 in Chicago when a Southwest Airlines plane reached 200 feet from crashing against another plane that crossed the catwalk before her landing was aborgging to avoid it.

Here is a look at the collapse of January 29 in Washington:

What happened?

American Airlines Flight 5342 of Wichita, Kansas, transported 60 passengers and four crew members while approaching to land in a clear night. Nearby, the Black Hawk army, with three soldiers on board, was practicing emergency evacuation routes that would have been used to transport the main government officials in an attack or a catastrophe.

Investigators said they believed that the helicopter crew wore night glasses that would have limited their peripheral vision.

A few minutes before the double engine jet should land, the air traffic controllers asked if it could use a shorter track. The pilots agreed and flight tracking sites show the plane transformed to adjust its approach. The NTSB now states that every time the track is used – the one in question represents about 5% of the airport flights – the helicopter route should be closed.

Shortly before the collision, a controller received a warning that said that the plane and the black hawk were converging and asked the helicopter if he had the jet in sight. The military pilot said yes and asked for the “visual separation” with the jet for the second time, allowing him to fly closer than if the pilots could not see the plane. The controllers approved the request.

About 20 seconds later, the plane collided.

The investigation

The NTSB recovered all the flight data recorders and extracted the wreck of both aircraft from the Potomac.

Homendy told journalists last month that the Black Hawk’s piloting cabin recorded suggested that an incomplete radio broadcast may have left the crew unable to hear them tell them the control of air traffic, just before the accident, to move behind the jet.

“That transmission was interrupted – was trampled,” he said in a briefing of February 14, leaving the helicopter crew unable to hear the words “pass behind the” because their microphone key was pressed.

The radio altitude of the helicopter was at the time of 278 feet (85 meters), which would have put it above its limit of 200 feet (61 meters) for that position.

The conversations of the piloting cabin a few minutes before the accident indicate that the crew may not have had accurate altitude readings, with the helicopter pilot who calls that they were 300 feet (91 meters) but the pilot of the instructor who said 400 feet (122 meters), said Homendy.

“We are looking at the possibility that there may be negative data,” he said.

That generation of Black Hawks generally has two types of altimeters: one that is based on the barometric pressure and the other on the radio frequency signals rebounded from the ground. Helicopter pilots in general are based on barometric readings while flying, but the black box of the helicopter captures its radio altitude.

Almost immediately after the accident, president Donald Trump He criticized the helicopter to fly too high. He also blamed federal efforts on diversity and inclusion, in particular as regards air traffic controllers. If pressed by journalists, the president was unable to back up these statements. A few days later, he blamed an “obsolete” air traffic control system that had to be replaced years ago.

The Black Hawk’s crew was composed of an instructor pilot with 968 hours of flight experience, a pilot with about 450 hours and a crew of the crew with almost 1.150 hours. Army officials said that the crew was familiar with the skies crowded around Washington.

The victims

The army identified the Black Hawk crew such as Captain Rebecca M. Lobach, 28 years old, from Durham, in the North Carolina; Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28 years old, from Lilburn, Georgia; And Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39 years old, from Great Mills, Maryland. O’hara was the head of the crew and Eaves and Lobach were pilots.

Among the passengers of the jet there were several members of the Boston skating club who were returning from a development field for the Junior elite skaters who followed the figure skating championships of the United States of 2025 in Wichita. A tribute event skating in Washington has collected $ 1.2 million for the families of the victims of accidents.

Others included a group of hunters who returned from a guided trip to Kansas: four members of a steamfitters union in suburban Maryland: nine students and parents of the schools in the County of Fairfax, Virginia: and two Chinese citizens.