The crew of a US Army helicopter that fatally struck a commercial airliner near Ronald Reagan Washington National airport was performing an annual night proficiency flight, according to the Pentagon.
The Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk impacted a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet over the Potomac River during the airliner’s final approach into Reagan airport on the evening of 29 January.
Both aircraft fell into the river, with all 67 people involved now believed to be dead. The CRJ700, operating as American Airlines flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew, while the Black Hawk had three army personnel aboard.
Although an investigation into the incident is just beginning, details have begun to emerge regarding the nature of the military flight and what may have caused the collision.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth now says the rotorcraft and its crew were assigned to the US Army’s 12th Aviation Battalion – a VIP transport unit stationed at nearby Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
The battalion operates both the standard UH-60 Black Hawk and the more-specialised VH-60M “gold top” variant. Named for their distinctive black-and-gold livery, the VIP transport helicopters offer priority air transport to senior army and defence officials around the Washington area.
Hegseth notes the crew of the incident aircraft, which was a standard UH-60 model, was conducting a regular night proficiency flight as required under army regulations.
“It was a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation,” the newly-confirmed Pentagon chief said from his office in the Pentagon on 30 January.
He notes the aviators were operating with assistance of night vision goggles, a skill all army rotorcraft pilots are tested on in flight school. The crew of three included a Staff Sergeant crew chief and two aviators with the ranks of Captain and Chief Warrant Officer 2.
Warrant officers are specialised army personnel who maintain deep expertise in their assigned skill set, rather than managing personnel. The service’s most experienced pilots are drawn from the warrant officer ranks, who often serve as pilots-in-command and on-the-job mentors to commissioned officers such as captains and lieutenants, who technically outrank warrants.
An army captain would typically have at least five to six years of flight experience, with a warrant officer having even more.
The Pentagon has ordered a 48h operational pause for the 12th Aviation Battalion to help facilitate investigations by the army and National Transportation Safety Board.
While no fault has yet been determined in the 29 January crash, flight tracking data suggests the Black Hawk – operating with the call sign PAT25 – may have exceeded the maximum ceiling of 200ft imposed on rotorcraft traversing that section of the Potomac.
The last available tracking data reported by FlightRadar24 and FlightAware indicates the incident CRJ700 was descending through 375ft when it stopped transmitting.
Although those details have not yet been confirmed by investigators, Hegseth seems to imply the altitude factor is being given serious consideration.
“We anticipate that the investigation will quickly be able to determine whether the aircraft was in the corridor and at the right altitude at the time of the incident,” he says.
Speaking separately at the White House, President Donald Trump went further, concluding the army crew was out of position and seemingly blaming the aviators for not taking evasive manoeuvres on a clear night with unobstructed visibility.
“The helicopter was obviously in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Trump said on 30 January.
“You can stop a helicopter very quickly,” claimed the president. ”It had the ability to go up or down, it had the ability to turn and the turn it made was not the correct turn obviously.”
Trump and his advisers placed further blame for the deadly crash on what they nebulously describe as FAA hiring practices placing a greater importance on diversity in the air traffic control workforce than job performance and safety.
Without addressing the potential breach of altitude restrictions, Trump’s transportation secretary Sean Duffy has been clear it is normal procedure for military rotorcraft to be operating in close proximity to commercial traffic in the local airspace around Washington.
“The helicopter was in a standard flight pattern,” Duffy said at 30 January appearance alongside local District of Columbia emergency officials.
“The American Airlines flight coming in to land was in a standard flight pattern as it was coming into [Reagan National],” he adds. “So, this was not unusual.”
