As federal officials continue investigating what caused the deadliest U.S. air crash in almost a quarter century, understanding what happened inside the Army Black Hawk helicopter — and exactly what altitude it was flying at when it collided with a passenger jet — will likely be key to unraveling the disaster, aviation experts say.
A pair of seasoned Army pilots were at the controls, with a third aviator seated behind them for a routine mission in clear weather on Wednesday — part of an annual evaluation to test a pilot’s knowledge and proficiency in the cockpit, officials said. The flight path, too, was a familiar one: The buzz of military helicopters is a constant above Washington, D.C.
And yet the training flight ended in a fireball in the night sky as the UH-60 Black Hawk slammed into a commercial airliner carrying 64 people, leaving no survivors.
Publicly available data reviewed by NBC News suggests the Army helicopter may have been flying too high at the time of the crash, but investigators cautioned against drawing conclusions before they’re able to analyze official flight data.
Investigators have recovered flight data recorders, or black boxes, from the American Eagle jet and the helicopter, which should provide the exact altitude at impact and other details.
“There’s a lot of experts out there, but until we get the data from the black boxes, that’s the only truth, and we won’t know that for a little bit,” said Jonathan Koziol, a senior Army aviation adviser who’s helping with the investigation.
Prior to the collision, both aircraft were in transition, according to officials with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation. American Eagle Flight 5342 was descending to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport; the Army helicopter was shifting from one flight path to another, a common move often performed in the busy airspace above the nation’s capital. The passenger jet’s last known altitude was logged at about 375 feet, according to the aircraft tracking website FlightAware. But helicopters generally are not permitted to fly above 200 feet near Reagan, under Federal Aviation Administration rules.
Tim Loranger, an aviation attorney and former U.S. Marine Corps aircraft mechanic, said the publicly available data suggests the passenger jet was “exactly where it was supposed to be, at the altitude that it was supposed to be” and that the Army helicopter was not. If those findings are confirmed by the official flight data, Loranger said, it will open a host of additional questions.
Investigators, he said, will want to know if a mechanical problem with the helicopter’s instruments provided the pilots with incorrect altitude data. They’ll be asking whether the air traffic controller noticed a problem with the helicopter’s altitude and gave clear instructions to correct the issue. And they’ll be scrutinizing whether the Army pilots had logged sufficient flight hours in recent months to stay proficient.
“Flying aircraft, it’s not like riding a bicycle,” said Loranger, who has represented family members of service members killed in military aircraft crashes. “You have to continuously do it in order to maintain your sharpness and your skills as a pilot.”
Koziol, the Army aviation adviser, said the instructor pilot had about 1,000 flying hours and the co-pilot, who was undergoing the evaluation, had about 500 hours.
“That is an experienced crew,” he said. “That is right on target.” When asked when either of them had last flown, Koziol said he did not know.
The Army on Friday identified two out of the three Black Hawk crew members as Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland.
The Army said O’Hara is believed to be dead, pending positive identification of his body, and that the remains of the two other soldiers have not yet been recovered. No one on the passenger jet survived. Local officials said Friday that 41 sets of remains have been recovered and that 28 victims have been identified so far.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation into the fatal collision, is also probing the passenger jet, flight paths and air traffic control operations.
An air traffic control supervisor in the tower at Reagan National let a controller end their shift early, a source familiar with the investigation confirmed to NBC News. That left one controller to handle both plane and helicopter traffic in the area, which is allowed under FAA regulations but not typical for that time of day at Reagan.
And they’re looking into whether the airspace above Washington, D.C., could be too crowded.
Reagan airport was designed for 15 million passengers annually, but now handles roughly 25 million people each year, according to airport officials. There has been a discussion for years between airport officials and elected leaders about whether air traffic safety is impacted by this dramatic increase.
Danger is inherent in military aviation. During combat and rescue operations, pilots often must navigate treacherous conditions under intense pressure; training flights designed to prepare them for those missions carry their own hazards, and some experts warn the risks have been growing in recent years. In fiscal year 2024, the Army recorded the highest number of serious aviation accidents in a decade, including one involving a Black Hawk.
Another open question is whether the Army aviators were wearing night-vision goggles at the time of the crash. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a video posted to X that the Black Hawk pilots “did have night vision goggles.” However, it is not clear whether the aviators were using them. The devices can aid pilots as they navigate dark terrain, but some experts say they could limit a pilot’s vision in a brightly lit, congested airspace.
“It would just be a bright mass of light, and it would be very distracting, and it would be very dangerous to fly in that with the night-vision goggles in that area,” Loranger said.
Rodney Sangsland, an Army veteran who spent 20 years training new pilots on Black Hawks after his retirement from the military, disagreed. Sangsland said he’s logged over 5,000 hours of flying with night-vision goggles, including in illuminated areas. Although the goggles can limit a pilot’s range of vision, he said pilots are trained to continuously scan their surroundings.
“I believe in them,” he said. “They’re a lifesaver.”
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