Washington air tragedy opens the black box of many problems

Rescue surveys. All occupants both on the plane and helicopter are considered dead and divers are trying to locate 67 bodies.

So far, three of whom belong to the helicopter occupants have managed to retrieve 41. Now, all interest has focused on verifying the causes of the tragedy.

The human mistake is the dominant scenario, with them. To give the answers, all black boxes must be found.

Those on the aircraft have been identified, and investigations on that of the helicopter are continuing. In fact, experts have been recruited for this reason to be able to remove the black box of the helicopter without altering its contents.

However, what is evident from the new videos of the collision is that the helicopter was flying over the 200 -foot threshold.

Questions asking for answers to black boxes

Flight Voice and Data Recorders from American Airlines flight 5342 are already analyzed. As the researchers begin to compose the pieces that led to the conflict on Wednesday night, they follow some of the questions and issues that have arisen:

1. The request for a change of landing corridor? Air traffic control asked Flight 5342 to land on a different, smaller runway before the crash, changing the flight route of the aircraft to cross-check with that of the H-60 ​​helicopter.
2. The helicopter height? The skies around Reagan National Airport have specific routes designed to prevent clashes. The H-60 ​​followed a route along the Potomac River that restricts helicopters to a maximum height of 200 feet. During the moments when the pilots confirmed that the CRJ aircraft was visible and would take avoidance measures, the H-60 ​​climbed about 100 feet, meeting the CRJ700 as it approached the landing corridor.
3. How did air traffic control transmit warnings and warning time? After the auditors confirmed the change of route by flight 5342, the helicopter crew was informed. The aircraft abstained just over 5 miles between them at the time. Then, about 20 seconds before the crash – with the two aircraft now less than 1.4 miles – the ATC received a warning of a possible collision. The auditor again informed the H-60 ​​crew, asking if they had the regional aircraft in visual contact and called on the helicopter to cross the plane. The H-60 ​​crew said he had the aircraft on the horizon. A few minutes later the aircraft collided.
4. What could the helicopter crew see? At night and with the corner of the jet, it may have been difficult for the H-60 ​​crew to distinguish the aircraft’s lights from the city’s horizon behind him. Experts also study whether the crew may have mistakenly recognized another aircraft following the CRJ.
5. Did night vision glasses play a role? The Ministry of Defense confirmed that the helicopter crew was wearing night vision glasses. It is likely that the glasses have been a relevant factor, either making it difficult to distinguish the lighting of the aircraft from the city behind it, or possibly affecting the peripheral vision of the crew.
6. What was the role, if it existed, of the collision technology on the boat? Aircraft are usually equipped with technology that helps pilots to find out if they are at risk of collision. It is not clear whether the H-60 ​​was equipped with the system that could have warned the crew earlier. This technology, however, is limited to lower heights. In a scenario at higher parts of the sky, the system warns the pilots and gives a clear direction to which the aircraft must turn. This direction feature turns off below 1,000 feet to prevent pilots from turning accidentally close to the ground.

The tragedy that was avoided 24 hours before

It is revealed, 24 hours before the tragedy was avoided at the last minute collision between a second plane and a second helicopter.
Specifically, on the third aircraft coming in forced to leave the last minute landing when he realized the presence of helicopter.

As the Wall Street Journal reveals, the control tower asked why the plane made this move, with the operator replying that the plane system alerted him to a possible collision with the helicopter.

There have been a lot of conflict in the last 3 years, according to research.

Investigations into the accident are continuing and after the tragedy the airspace around the airports for helicopters will be closed while only police helicopters and medical helicopters will fly in the area.

The complaints of pilots left in the drawers

Army pilots have been involved in a series of air accidents last year, including some involving Black Hawk. In the financial year 2024, at least nine soldiers, a contractor and a citizen died in clashes involving army aircraft, according to a January 2025 report.

Last April, a pilot said he had dangerously approached a military helicopter while coming for landing. “Proposal: There must be a better separation for the DCA circulation on the river with visual contact with the helicopter circulation flying above and under the river,” the pilot wrote.

Such warnings are nothing new. “Why does the control tower allow such nonsense from the army in such a critical area?” He wrote another pilot in 2006, according to records examined. “This is a matter of security and must be corrected,” he said but was not heard.

Flights exceed airport design

Indeed, despite the complaints of the pilots officially recorded in their reports, there were many senators who demanded that direct flights from the airport to their states increase. Senator John McCain (Arizona), for example, pressed for a direct flight from Rigan to Phoenix, though he personally avoided throwing it to avoid the impression that he sought the flight for his own service.

Here, however, there is another problem. The “Ragan” was designed for about 15 million passengers a year, but by 2023 the volume of its visitors exceeded 25 million per year and reached 820 take -offs and landing on average daily. To increase the number of flights, there was a steady “clipping” of a rule of the Ministry of Transport banning airlines from flying from Rigan to destinations beyond 1,250 miles, Senator Mark Warner said.

While this led to complaints about the growing number of flight delays, there were underlying security concerns. “I am grateful that there is no loss of life, but it is simply unacceptable,” Warner said from the Senate step in April, one day after a short accident between two flights, when Southwest and JetBlue planes are almost falling to fall. on top of each other as they crossed the same landing corridor.

The latest developments in tragedy

• Research on 26 bodies are ongoing: Rescue crews have retrieved at least 41 corpses. The death of all 67 passengers on both aircraft makes the crash the most deadly air destruction on US territory in the last 23 years.
• Black boxes and the report: Researchers considering the black box data recovered by the aircraft plan to publish a preliminary report within 30 days. At the same time, investigations into the black box of the helicopter continue.
• Political controversy over the accident: Trump accused the diversity programs for the crash, a claim that was quickly repulsed by former Transport Minister Pitt Batiging. GAP’s legislators warned not to make hasty conclusions. The President later stated that the helicopter was flying very high.
• The almost tragedy: The day before the fateful collision, another plane canceled his first landing to avoid a helicopter on his way.

The largest air tragedies on American territory