According to reports based on the most recent revelations from the DC helicopter crash investigation, the Army aircraft was able to fly about 100 feet higher than was permitted and even had a number of challenging flying conditions. 67 people were killed when the Blackhawk crashed into an American Airlines aircraft, leaving no survivors.
The plane was flying at a height of about 300 ft at the time of the incident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board in an upgrade released on Tuesday. However, it is not yet known what caused the plane to shift its level.
According to specialists, 200 feet is a lower level for the knock aircraft, in proximity to other plane. There are difficult lighting situations around the Potomac River, and there aren’t many places in the world where all of these problems are present all at once.
Older-model Blackhawk lacked selected health systems
The Army team was operating an older-model aeroplane that lacked certain protection features in its cockpit. Last Wednesday after dark, the Blackhawk left its house center, Fort Belvoir in Virginia, to go on a training objective to help co-pilot Captain Rebecca Lobach to fly the expected annual evaluation flight.
According to experts, the moonlight night at a busy airspace may have contributed to the complicated situation in which the helicopter found itself in.
A top Army official who has flown the National Airport aircraft roads numerous times but who requested anonymity because he was never authorized to speak publicly, said that Captain Lobach was most likely in the right-hand chair.
The official cited the significance of this because Captain Lobach’s chair on the right part of the plane might have prevented her from seeing the descenting American Airlines flight on her left if the instructor pilot had been distracted or preoccupied with something.
Given that military planes are trained to be prepared for such risks, another expert defense pilots said they were perplexed by the accident.
