The Trump administration on Wednesday provided a vital update regarding the mid-air collision of American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter last week that left more than 60 people dead.
National Transportation Safety Board said that the chopper, crewed by two pilots and a crew chief, was flying at around 300 feet, or about 100 feet higher than the ceiling of 200 feet for helicopters in the National Capital Region, according to Fox News.
The agency cited air traffic control data to make its determination. There were no survivors either from the Army copter or the commercial jet.
The report confirms an earlier analysis of the crash, including from President Donald Trump, who wrote in a post on Truth Social that the “helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200 foot limit.”
The NTSB said that the agency will need more information to verify data points regarding the Black Hawk. That will happen after the remains of the chopper are removed from the Potomac River sometime this week, Fox reported.
Preliminary information indicated a change in the aircraft’s pitch, suggesting the plane ascended before the crash.
NTSB investigators are continuing to transcribe the cockpit voice recorders for both aircraft. Work to synchronize the Black Hawk flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder is still underway.
Wreckage from the passenger plane is still being retrieved from the Potomac River, with recent discoveries including the right wing, center fuselage, parts of the left wing and left fuselage, significant sections of the forward cabin and cockpit, vertical and horizontal stabilizers, tail cone, rudder, elevators, TCAS computer, and quick access recorder.
The recovered wreckage will be transported to a secure location for a detailed layout examination. “The aircraft systems group continues to review maintenance paperwork for the CRJ700 and the helicopter airworthiness group continues to review maintenance records for the Black Hawk,” according to the NTSB.
The chopper crew were conducting a training exercise for a potential attack on the capital, CBS News confirmed last weekend.
Officials reported that the crew was rehearsing a plan to evacuate the White House when their Black Hawk collided with the American Airlines flight.
Defense sources confirmed the details of the training exercise to CBS News after internet sleuths had speculated online that it was, in fact, focused on that very scenario.
Theorists flooded social media with claims that the helicopter was carrying out an emergency evacuation route for the president as part of a Continuity of Government (COG) contingency plan, DailyMail.com reported.
A Continuity of Government mission in the U.S. refers to a series of policies and procedures designed to ensure that essential government functions continue during and after catastrophic events, such as a nuclear attack, natural disaster, cyberattack, or terrorist incident. One key component of a COG mission is the protection of critical personnel and infrastructure.
On Friday, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, the pilot in charge, and Staff Sergeant Ryan O’Hara, the crew chief, were named as the two soldiers on board the helicopter.
After some delay, the Army finally identified the third soldier, Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, N.C., who “served as an aviation officer in the Army since July 2019 and had around 500 hours of flying time in the Black Hawk,” Fox News reported. Her family had initially asked the Army to keep her identity a secret following initial unsubstantiated claims that DEI was a factor in the crash.
The delay in identifying Lobach was a violation of Army protocol, experts noted, which does not take into account the wishes of surviving family members.
Lobach was also a former White House social media aide during the Biden administration, reports said.
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