Helicopter in DC plane crash was flying twice as high as it should have, lacked new tech as FAA nixes all chopper traffic near collision site
The military helicopter that collided with an American Airlines flight over Washington, DC, was flying nearly twice as high as it should have been — but the Black Hawk was not equipped with a new technology that would have alerted air traffic control to its dangerously deviated path, The Post can reveal.
It comes as questions plague the Pentagon over why the Army would allow its pilots to train in an area home to the most densely trafficked air path convergences in the country — and as the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited most helicopter traffic in the area as the deadly midair collision continues to be investigated.
The Black Hawk chopper was flying more than 300 feet above the Potomac River Wednesday night when it smashed into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport-bound Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan., as the plane was landing, killing 67 people aboard both aircraft.
Aviation guidelines require helicopters on that route to stay below 200 feet.
President Trump on Friday blasted critics for casting blame on his administration’s recent firing of aviation officials since taking office, pointing out that the issue clearly rested with the Army helicopter’s fatal deviation from the required altitude.
“The Black Hawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200-foot limit,” an exasperated Trump wrote on Truth Social. “That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???”
The collision may have been avoided if the Army had outfitted the Black Hawk with an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast device, a relatively new technology that allows air traffic control operators to see an aircraft’s altitude, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Friday’s episode of his podcast, “The Verdict.”
“The Black Hawk helicopter had a transponder, so it was appearing on radar. It did not have technology called ADS-B, which is technology that pings the location of an aircraft, and it does so using GPS rather than radar,” the Texas Republican said. “ADS-B is more accurate and more reliable than simply a transponder that is pinging on radar.”
Without an ADS-B, the ATC operator could see where the helicopter was — but not how high it was flying. That’s because the helicopter was only equipped with a transponder, which can only provide locational data, according to Federal Aviation Administration guidance.
Still, pilot and aviation attorney Steven Marks said the ATC operator — who constantly watches helicopters and aircraft — should have been able to identify that the chopper was far above the required altitude just by looking at it.
“The tower not only looks at their radar screen, but you have people in the tower, particularly at very low altitudes, that are visually separating aircraft, as well,” he told The Post.
“It just makes no sense to any type of Americans. It’s a common-sense issue. I’m calling on the military to stop. I don’t want your helicopters where my people are landing. I think it’s that simple.”
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.)
“And so even if they didn’t know the exact altitude, they should have seen roughly what altitude the helicopter was at, and that it looked higher than it should have been and it was in a flight path of an approaching aircraft.”
It was the first time in modern US history that two aircraft collided in the air, Marks said.
While federal aviation rules do not allow pilots to vary from their required ceilings up to 75 feet, a skilled pilot would not have deviated so far from their required altitude, Marks said.
“Helicopter precision pilots should not be 75 feet off assigned altitude,” he said. “Yeah, there’s room [for deviation] but that’s for the general aviation weekend pilots — not for commercial jets or military aircraft. They should be right on.”
Marks said that begs the question: why would the Army allow Black Hawk training to occur near one of the United States’ most congested airports?
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) was among lawmakers calling on the Army to cease flying its helicopters within such close range of Reagan Airport where commercial flights frequently land.
“Why are we allowing these type of helicopters into the busiest airport runway in the nation?” he told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Friday.
“It just makes no sense to any type of Americans. It’s a common-sense issue. I’m calling on the military to stop. I don’t want your helicopters where my people are landing. I think it’s that simple.”
It comes as investigators continue to probe how an American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter managed to crash and plunge into the Potomac River on Wednesday, killing 67 people in the country’s deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.
In the wake of the tragedy, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, said it was time the military reconsidered the significant helicopter flights near the heavily congested airport.
“The big question I have is why do you have a military training flight so close to the route that people are supposed to land … Why is that corridor right on top of the [civilian] flight corridor?,” she asked.
Army Secretary nominee Dan Driscoll also said the military should rethink training in congested areas.
“I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk, and it may not be near an airport like Reagan,” Driscoll said during his Thursday confirmation hearing.
The FAA on Friday nixed all chopper traffic in the area near the crash site and busy airport.
“Today’s decision will immediately help secure the airspace near Reagan Airport, ensuring the safety of airplane and helicopter traffic,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
The ban does not include helicopters flying in for life-saving medical support, active law enforcement, air defense or presidential transport, according to the DOT. The restrictions will remain in place until the National Transportation Safety Board finishes its investigation of Wednesday’s collision.
Still, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed earlier in the day to continue the training flights — despite the mounting calls to limit them.
“The military trains, and it trains robustly, and we’re not going to stop training,” he said during an appearance on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
Follow the NYP’s coverage of the deadly DC plane collision
“… You need to train as you fight. You need to rehearse in ways that would reflect a real-world scenario,” Hegseth said, arguing such exercises were needed in case of an emergency — including government continuity and protection of President Trump.
Meanwhile, the crash has also cast a harsh spotlight on questions regarding air safety after it emerged the military chopper may have been flying at a higher altitude than permitted at the time of the collision.
The helicopter collided with the passenger jet at an altitude of around 300 feet, according to flight tracking data. The military, though, has said the maximum altitude for such flights is capped at 200 feet due to safety reasons.
“There is a ceiling for all helicopters at 200 feet, so why was that particular helicopter above 200 feet?” Marshall said. “Why didn’t air traffic control pick that up?”
Cantwell, too, questioned the safety of military and commercial flights separated by such small margins.
“I can’t imagine you can have visual separation that close … That makes no sense,” she said.
Hegseth said investigators were looking into the elevation issue.
“Someone was at the wrong altitude. The investigation will help us understand that,” he said. “Was the Black Hawk too high? Was it on course? Right now, we don’t quite know.”
The Post has reached out to the US Army for comment.
