Knowing what happened inside helicopter moments before crash likely to be key to the investigation
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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.
‘They were my everything’: Man mourns death of cancer survivor daughter and his wife
Andy Beyer lost his wife, Justyna, and their daughter, Brielle, in Wednesday’s plane collision.
He remembers his 12-year-old daughter, who survived a rare cancer when she was just an infant, as “someone who was just meant to sparkle.”
“And she did,” Beyer said. “She was a beautiful singer, had a beautiful voice. She used to fill the house with just whatever was on her mind — Taylor Swift, and lately, ‘Wicked.’”
The 12-year-old and her mother Justyna were in Wichita where Brielle was completing ice skating training since last week.
“Six days was the longest we had ever been apart, and it was, it was hard,” Beyer said. “I really missed them. I was really looking forward to giving them a hug.”
FAA posts map of helicopter traffic restrictions around DCA
The Federal Aviation Administration will restrict helicopter traffic around Reagan International Airport effective today, according to Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Who was onboard the Army Black Hawk?
The Pentagon has launched its own investigation into how an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines passenger plane over the Potomac River near Reagan Washington Regional Airport.
Olympic champion Brian Boitano mourns loss of friends in D.C. crash
Like much of the skating community, Olympic champion Brian Boitano is mourning the loss of friends and colleagues who died in this week’s deadly midair plane collision.
“We are a tight-knit community, and we are all connected to each other,” he said, adding that his friends were not only champion skaters and elite athletes but also great representatives for the sport who were kind and caring.
Figure skaters, union workers and a law professor: What we know about the victims
They were minutes from landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., when their plane collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac River.
In a horrible flash captured on video and seen around the world, the fates of all 60 passengers and four crew members aboard American Eagle Flight 5342 and the three soldiers on the Black Hawk helicopter were sealed.
The plane’s passengers included more than a dozen people returning from a training camp following the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, where the flight originated.
In the aftermath of a tragic helicopter crash, investigators are hard at work trying to extract crucial data from the aircraft’s black boxes. The helicopter, which was carrying high-profile passengers, including a beloved sports icon, crashed under mysterious circumstances, leaving many questions unanswered.
The black boxes, which are designed to withstand extreme conditions and record vital flight data, are currently being analyzed by experts in hopes of uncovering the cause of the crash. The data extracted from these boxes could provide valuable insights into what went wrong and help prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
As investigators work tirelessly to download and analyze the data from the helicopter’s black boxes, the world waits anxiously for answers. The findings from this investigation could have far-reaching implications for the aviation industry and safety protocols moving forward.
Stay tuned for updates as the investigation progresses and more information is revealed about this tragic incident.
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