VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The National Transportation Safety Board says it has recovered two black boxes that will help provide investigators with answers as to what caused a deadly collision near Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Airport Wednesday night.
The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the plane are both crucial pieces of evidence, along with air traffic control recordings, witness interviews, aircraft altitudes and more which will be used to find out what went wrong when the American Airlines regional jet and Army helicopter collided in midair.
Both aircrafts plunged into the Potomac River. All 64 people on the plane and three soldiers on the helicopter were killed.
Audio recordings from air traffic control indicate the helicopter crew was asked if they could see the plane before the crash.
“PAT 25, do you have the CRJ in sight?” can be heard in the audio recording.
“It’s the control tower reaffirming, ‘I need you to tell me you see this airplane. I need you to tell me you’re going to avoid it,’” said Dr. Michael McCormick.
Dr. Michael McCormick is an associate professor of Air Traffic Management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He also spent 33 years with the Federal Aviation Administration where he retired as the vice president of the air traffic organization.
“This is a rare event, a tragic event, but it is a confluence of factors that go into something like this,” said McCormick.
John Mica, a former Republican congressman for Central Florida and former chairman of aviation and transportation, has said outdated aircraft control technology may have played a role in the crash.
Mica, who is currently visiting the Middle East, spoke with our News 6 Team remotely Friday.
“We need to move to the next generation of technology,” said Mica. “It should be space-based, not 1950′s radar-based. They’re still using paper strips to track aircraft. It’s unbelievable.”
Mica said he advocated for upgrades while in Congress. He believes the crash could have been prevented.
“The air traffic controller saw it and tried to warn them, but the technology I’m talking about would have warned both of them and given them plenty of time to get out of the way,” said Mica.
Mica said he also worked with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to bring in NextGen air traffic control.
McCormick showed us a lab on campus where he said NextGen technologies are simulated.
“This is a laboratory that utilizes the En Route Automation Modernization tool, and with ERAM decision support tools to assist controllers,” he explained.
He told News 6 it “would not have prevented this unfortunate event.”
The FAA says NextGen capabilities are active and expanding across the country. A 2024 report touted $12.3 billion worth of benefits from about 20 NextGen capabilities through more than 200 implementations across the country.
“Accidents like this can be prevented and need to be prevented,” said McCormick. “But they need to be fully investigated so they can find out casual factors and attributing factors that led to it, and then from that information they can prevent this from happening again.”
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