The U.S. Army found many systemic breakdowns that led to last year's midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C., and recommended numerous steps the military should take to prevent future tragedies.
Families of some of the 67 people who died have been pressuring the Army for months to release the report, which was completed in May. The Associated Press obtained a copy from them Thursday morning, a few hours before the Army made it public.
The deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil in over two decades happened when the helicopter collided with the descending airliner as it approached the runway, sending both plummeting into the icy Potomac River.
The Army report highlighted how the air traffic controller at Reagan National Airport could have prevented the crash, but also acknowledged the military’s own failings and other contributing factors.
The Army and victims' families both say they want transparency
Former Army Black Hawk pilot Tim Lilley, whose son Sam Lilley was the first officer on the American Airlines jet, said he needs more details from the military. Some information in the report was redacted and the military assigned responsibility for its shortcomings broadly across the Army.
“The Army owes the families and the American public a full accounting of how these risks were allowed to persist, who was responsible for the decisions that allowed them to persist and what will be done to make sure this never happens again,” said Lilley, who is a commercial jet captain today.
The Army acknowledged that in a statement Thursday afternoon.
“We recognize the families’ need for answers and remain committed to transparency regarding the Army’s review,” the Army said.
The report identifies key factors in the crash
While the report largely reinforces the National Transportation Safety Board's conclusions, the civilian investigation was more broad and emphasized years of warning signs missed by the Federal Aviation Administration along with a weak military safety culture.
The Army report recommended that the military look beyond Washington make sure similar risks aren’t present in every major city where its helicopters operate. An Army official said the review of helicopter flights in other cities, including Los Angeles and the Seattle-Tacoma region, is ongoing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the situation.
The lieutenant general who authored the report said “breakdowns across all layers of conflict management caused this accident” but “the most salient contributing factor was the two broken radio transmissions” that contributed to the helicopter crew not identifying Flight 5342 as it was circling to land on the airport's alternate runway. The military pilots were wearing night-vision goggles that limited their field of vision and made it difficult to spot the plane amid the lights of the city.
The poorly designed helicopter route in use at the time of the crash provided only a scant 75 feet (23 meters) of vertical separation between a helicopter and a plane landing on Reagan's secondary runway, and that was only true if the helicopter stuck to the riverbank. This did not allow enough separation to account for the accepted level of error in a Black Hawk's altimeter, and the NTSB found the helicopter was flying nearly 100 feet (30 meters) higher than its instruments read.
NTSB says the Army is making progress on safety
The NTSB said in a letter to the Army last week that the agency is pleased with the progress being made on seven of the eight recommendations to the Army. That contrasts with the FAA, which the NTSB has faulted for failing to implement roughly one-third of the recommendations to that safety regulator.
The Army report said the controller should have provided the helicopter crew with more details about exactly where the plane was to help the pilots spot it, and the controller should have warned the plane about the helicopter headed toward it. The FAA has prohibited controllers from relying on pilots to maintain visual separation in busy airspace since this crash.
The Army said it strengthened its training for helicopter crews after the crash. Once it became apparent that the ADS-B Out system on the Black Hawk that can broadcast its location was inoperable, all 3,585 affected Army helicopters were inspected and reconfigured. The Army is also working to improve the way it monitors safety concerns and reach an agreement with the FAA to share information about close calls.
Victims' families push for aviation safety reform bill
The main group of families of passengers on the plane, who were flying from Wichita, Kansas, said the report reinforces their call for Congress to pass aviation safety reforms and require aircraft to be equipped with systems that will help pilots know where traffic in the air is.
“It’s a simple concept anyone can understand: aircraft should be able to see each other in the sky. The technology is proven. All that’s required is the political will to do the right thing,” the Families of Flight 5342 group said in a statement Thursday.
“We have waited long enough. We waited for the NTSB. We waited for the Army. Both investigations are complete, and both make clear that collision avoidance technology must be part of the solution. There is nothing left for Congress to wait for,” they said.
Both the House and Senate passed different aviation safety bills, but lawmakers are still working on a compromise piece of legislation to bring up for a vote in both houses of Congress.
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Associated Press Writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed.