Investigation into DC plane and helicopter collision looking at potential mistakes in 'no margin for error' si

Rescue personnel are working in cold waters and inclement weather to recover the wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter from the Potomac River. Meanwhile, investigators are intensifying their efforts to determine the cause of the accident, with initial focus on the flight paths of at least one of the aircraft.

Officials stated that the helicopter was on a training mission when it collided with a commercial plane approaching Washington Reagan National Airport on Wednesday evening, resulting in the deaths of all 64 people on board, including three soldiers on the helicopter. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the cause of the accident and is expected to release a preliminary report in about 30 days, while the final report identifying probable causes will take longer.

Nevertheless, details about the circumstances of the collision and potential avenues of investigation are emerging. One key question is whether the helicopter may have been flying too high. The Black Hawk was using a dedicated corridor used by law enforcement, medical, military, and government helicopters in the Washington area. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) charts, in the corridor where the Black Hawk was at the time of the collision (east of the airport, perpendicular to the airport runway approach), helicopters must maintain an altitude of 60 meters or below above sea level.

However, flight tracking data from the moments before the fatal mid-air collision on Wednesday indicates that the Black Hawk was flying 30 meters higher than permitted and deviated from its prescribed route along the east side of the Potomac River. The helicopter's turn would have placed the Black Hawk closer to the airport than the standard route. "Based on the data we can see, I think that’s a fair assessment," said Ian Petchenik, a spokesperson for flight tracking company FlightRadar24. Petchenik cautioned that the Black Hawk’s flight tracking data is not perfect. Military helicopters send Mode S signals, which transmit basic data about altitude and aircraft identification. American Airlines flights, on the other hand, broadcast ADS-B signals, which provide more information to air traffic control. "ADS-B far exceeds standard Mode S data. Mode S data only allows you to get a small amount of information," Petchenik told CNN.

A full analysis of the data recorders from the aircraft is needed to fully understand the moments before the mid-air collision, but even the incomplete picture suggests the helicopter was not where it should have been. Both President Donald Trump and the Secretary of Defense raised the issue of altitude on Friday morning. "The Black Hawk was flying too high, way too high. It was well over the 200-foot limit," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Friday. It is not clear whether the president obtained this information from official investigators or was reiterating what he saw in news reports. "Someone was flying at the wrong altitude," Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told Fox News on Friday morning. "Was the Black Hawk too high? Was it on the route? Right now, we just don't know enough."

CNN aviation analyst and pilot Miles O'Brien said on Thursday that there was only about a 90-meter separation between the approved flight paths of the jet and the helicopter at the time of the collision. "It’s a very tight, no-margin-for-error airspace arrangement that requires everybody in that area to be completely on their game and flying with perfect posture," he said. Investigators must now determine whether the 60-meter altitude difference could have been a factor in preventing the deadliest U.S. aviation accident in two decades. As the investigation proceeds, the FAA has indefinitely closed the low-altitude helicopter corridor that was in use at the time of the accident, an official told CNN on Friday. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, when asked on Thursday if diversity initiatives raised by Trump would be considered in the investigation, said the NTSB would look at the "people, the machine, and the environment" to determine the cause of the fatal collision.

The National Transportation Safety Board told CNN that it has recovered the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, commonly known as the "black boxes," from the American Airlines aircraft. NTSB member Todd Inman told CNN on Friday that the helicopter’s data recorder has not yet been recovered, but "we are comfortable with where it is." Video obtained exclusively by CNN shows that neither aircraft took evasive action and collided directly, crashing into the dark waters of the Potomac River. However, air traffic control audio obtained by CNN from LiveATC.net shows that air traffic controllers had instructed the helicopter to pass behind the passenger jet before the crash.

An air traffic controller can be heard saying to the helicopter, "PAT 2-5, do you see the CRJ?" CRJ refers to the American Airlines aircraft, a Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet. The controller then says, "PAT 2-5 pass behind the CRJ." In another piece of air traffic control audio from shortly before the collision, the helicopter pilot can be heard saying, "PAT 2-5 has the aircraft in sight, requesting visual separation." The crash has raised questions as to whether the helicopter crew was looking at a different aircraft, or whether the crew misjudged the aircraft’s position, mistaking other lights for the aircraft the helicopter crew was instructed to track. As seen in the video, aviation analyst and former Transportation Department Inspector General Mary Schiavo said, “We do see other lights in the area, particularly a bright light from another aircraft, at the time that air traffic control tower asked the helicopter, ‘Do you see the aircraft?’”

Questions are also being raised about whether the helicopter was adequately staffed in the congested airspace. The Army stated that the Black Hawk was on a routine training mission out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with an instructor, a pilot in training, and a crew chief on board. Former Black Hawk pilot Elizabeth McCormick told CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday that having three crew members on this ill-fated flight was not enough, asserting that such a crew cannot see in all directions. "You can only see 180 degrees in front of you. Your crew chief is responsible for the rear," McCormick said. "If you only have one crew chief, how much can you clear? I think that's a major issue." Even if the helicopter was at the appropriate altitude, the crew still needs to be able to maintain visual contact with all aircraft nearby. "Obviously, eventually the aircraft has to get through that 200-foot level to land," said former commercial pilot Jeff Huddleston.

On the night of the crash, one controller at Reagan National Airport was performing the duties that should have been handled by two separate air traffic controllers – managing both local aircraft and helicopter traffic at the same time, an air traffic control source told CNN. The source said it is not uncommon for one person to handle both local and helicopter traffic simultaneously. However, according to a New York Times report, a preliminary internal FAA report stated that staffing was "not normal for the time of day and traffic volume." The union representing air traffic controllers cautioned against assuming that the combined role made the situation unsafe. "It's an incredibly complex job, we do it every day, every day there are changes in weather, changes in traffic, changes in the airspace," National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels told CNN's Erin Burnett, "so a position being combined or not combined is not uncommon."

The FAA’s radar facilities have long struggled with staffing issues. It has been working to train and certify more controllers in the wake of the pandemic. The Trump administration offered buyouts to federal workers, including air traffic controllers, which may have led to further shortages. Even with more information coming to light, some officials briefed on the disaster say there is still a lot we do not know. U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, a former Black Hawk pilot, spoke with FAA and NTSB investigators on Thursday. "I asked them for more information—which they will provide—including the transcript of the air traffic controller's instructions to the pilots," she told CNN. The senator added that while flying around Washington D.C. is complex, this seemed like a routine situation at the outset. "I flew for more than a decade at (Chicago) Midway, where I routinely flew underneath commercial jets landing at Midway," Duckworth said. "This is not an unusual flight profile, although it is a very congested airspace."