The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has revealed that the pilots of a Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet near Washington Reagan National Airport in January never heard an air traffic controller’s instruction to pass behind the jet. The crash killed all 64 passengers and crew on the airliner and all three in the helicopter. The NTSB released thousands of pages of documents, including new video from the end of the runway showing the crash. The altimeter testing report in the docket showed that there were likely discrepancies between the barometric altitude and the radio altitude. A test flight over the Potomac River found that the barometric altitude was consistently lower by about 100 feet than its radio and geometric position. The NTSB is expected to question the Army, Federal Aviation Administration officials, and others during the three-day hearings. The NTSB recommended to the FAA to require ADSB location on all aircraft nearly two decades ago.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has stated that helicopter pilots were not instructed to pass behind a jet during a DC crash hearing.
