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The president of the National Board of Transportation and Security (NTSB) said Thursday that, based on “preliminary information”, it seems that crew members of a Black Hawk helicopter weed night view glasses before a fatal collision with a plane of American airlines last week near Washington, DC
The president of NTSB, Jennifer Homendy, spoke with the journalists in Capitol Hill after informing the members of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee of the House of Representatives about the accident that killed at 67 people aboard the two planes.
Homendy was asked if Black Hawk pilots wore night vision glasses.
“We believe, given the mission and given what we have heard or not heard in the CVR (cabin voice recorder) that wearing night vision glasses,” said Homandy, and said he based his response on “preliminary information.”
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The teams recover the remains of American Airlines flight 5342 on the Potomac River, near Washington, DC (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
He explained that if crew members did not wear night vision glasses, the policy would require that they fly without help.
“That was not in the CVR (cabin voice recorder),” said Homandy. “We did not find any indication of that in the CVR, which means that they would not have had positions. But, again, it is preliminary.”
Homendy told journalists more about Black Hawk’s mission that night, which called a “control trip.”
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A black hawk helicopter of the army, surrounded the left, crashed in the air with an American Airlines plane near the Reagan Washington National Airport. (Camba de Earth)
She said there are three check -up trips that the Army performs, one of which includes instruments such as night vision glasses and an annual check to determine the competition of a pilot on the flight.
This particular flight, he said, was an annual walk of combined night view glasses.
The president of the Senate Committee, Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, told journalists on Thursday that the Black Hawk helicopter had turned off its dependent automatic surveillance transmission (ADS-B), which is allowed for military airplanes.
“This was a training mission, so there was no convincing reason for ADS-B to be off,” Cruz said after sitting in an informative session of the Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB (FAA).
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The researchers examine the remains of a Black Hawk helicopter on the Potomac River after a fatal accident with an American Airlines plane. (NTSB)
ADS-B is an advanced surveillance technology used to track the location of the aircraft. Although Black Hawk had a transpondor to appear on the radar, ADS-B is significantly more precise.
Last week, Senator Maria Cantwell, Wash Democrat., Asked the FAA about why she has allowed military flights to fly with the ADS-B disabled since 2018.
During Thursday’s informative session, FAA said it has begun to review airports with high volumes of mixed helicopters and airplane traffic after Cruz said he had sought a security review on the matter.
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Even so, after the accident, FAA imposed significant restrictions on nearby helicopter flights Reagan National Airport In Arlington, Virginia, until at least at the end of February, with two of the less used clues closed.
When the police, medical or presidential transport helicopters must use airspace, civil planes are not allowed to be in the same area, says a FAA Advisory.
Reuters contributed to this report.
