WASHINGTON—Recovery efforts continue as authorities seek to recover wreckage and human remains from the Potomac river after a Jan. 29 midair collision near Ronald Reagan National Airport.
The recovery effort is being coordinated by the Army Corps of Engineers, with support from the Coast Guard and the Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage Dive Operations.
Lt. Col. Frank Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers said the salvage procedure emphasizes the “dignified recovery” of any human remains.
Pera said the Feb. 3 recovery efforts were “very successful” and that the plane’s fuselage, wing, and engine have been removed from the riverbed.
The team hoped to complete its work in the next 24 hours, he said.
Divers have located and identified the remains of 55 of the 67 victims of the crash. John Donnelly, chief of Fire and Emergency Medical Services for Washington, told reporters on Feb. 2 that he believed other victims’ remains would still be found.
Black Box Data Reveal Audio Just Before Crash
Analysis is ongoing of the flight data recorders—also known as the black box—that were recovered from both the plane and helicopter.The black box contains both audio and technical data.
Although some audio data from the Black Hawk helicopter have been recovered, the technical readout has not yet been salvaged, as it became waterlogged in the salvage process.
“This is not uncommon,” National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said, pointing out that the same thing happened during analysis of the black box from the passenger jet.
“It is going through the same process of ionized water until it’s put into a vacuum oven. We still are very confident we will have that data.”
Inman said the jet’s black box data showed that it was flying at an altitude of 325 feet, “give or take 25 feet,” at the time of the collision.
Preliminary analysis of control tower data, which recorded the helicopter at an altitude of 200 feet, show there may have been a discrepancy between the control tower’s radar reading and the helicopter’s actual altitude.
Inman said authorities are still working to confirm this.
An altitude of 200 feet is the maximum allowed altitude on the helicopter’s flight path.
At 8:47 p.m., air traffic controllers directed the helicopter to pass behind the jet as it descended for landing. Seconds later, flight data recorders picked up a “verbal response” from the jet crew.
The flight data showed that the plane tried to increase its altitude just before audio picked up the sounds of the collision.
Previous investigations indicated that there was no time to deploy emergency measures between the impact and the plane’s immediate descent into the river.
The jet and the helicopter were in communication with air traffic control but were operating on different frequencies and could not hear each other.
Protocol Investigations Underway
Inman also told reporters that interviews had been conducted with three of the five personnel working at the control tower at the time of the crash and that he was hopeful that the remaining two individuals would be interviewed by the evening of Feb. 3.“These interviews take a long time, not because that’s there’s that much talking, but there’s several breaks that occur for emotions, just to be able to compose themselves to talk about what happened,” Inman said.
He also said authorities are still determining whether having five control personnel was typical.
The Associated Press reported on Jan. 30 that a preliminary FAA investigation found that staffing that day was “not normal” and that one worker may have been doing the job of two people.
Inman also confirmed that the day before the crash, there had been another incident between a helicopter and plane but that the plane’s pilot in that case had chosen to alter his flight path.
The two aircraft were 1,000 feet apart in that incident, which Inman described as a “good safety barrier.”
When asked why the Black Hawk may have been outside its designated flight path, Col. Mark Ott, deputy director of aviation for the Army, was hesitant to give a definite answer.
“I think it’s important for us to not speculate, because there are all kinds of reasons that you could deviate from an altitude,“ he said. ”You know, something as simple as a flock of birds is in front of you, or you may deviate if you see something that’s an obstacle or other threat to your flight.”
An inquiry about the soldiers’ use of night vision goggles at the time of the crash is still ongoing.
