"Investigators laid out their findings in a meeting at the NTSB's headquarters, compiling a long list of factors that likely contributed to the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in decades. The board did not identify a single cause for the collision on January 29th, 2025. Instead, investigators placed the blame on multiple overlapping problems including the location of a helicopter route in some of the nation's most congested airspace, along with critical equipment failures and human errors."
"Investigators identified an instrument failure in the Army helicopter, which likely made the pilots think they were flying 100 feet lower than they were. The NTSB report also described a chaotic situation in the air traffic control tower, and incomplete communications between the local controller and the helicopter pilots. But the chair of the NTSB reserved her harshest criticism for regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration."
The NTSB found multiple systemwide failures led to a midair collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that killed 67 people. No single cause was identified; overlapping problems included placement of a helicopter route in congested airspace, an instrument failure that likely made pilots believe they were flying about 100 feet lower than actual altitude, a chaotic local air traffic control tower, and incomplete communications between the local controller and helicopter pilots. The NTSB criticized FAA oversight, noting more than 80 reported close calls and a lack of evidence the FAA evaluated helicopter routes annually.
Read at www.npr.org
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