The two pilots on the doomed American Airlines flight heroically made a last ditch effort to save the plane just before colliding with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over Ronald Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C., preliminary data from the plane’s flight recorder revealed via the Daily Mail.
Captain Jonathan Campos, 34, and First Officer Samuel Lilley, 28, attempted to pull the plane’s nose up seconds before crashing into the military chopper, according to National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman.
“At one point very close to the impact, there was a slight change in pitch, an increase in pitch,” Inman said during a press conference on Saturday (February 1).
Preliminary data also showed conflicting readings on the altitudes of both the American Airlines passenger jet and the military helicopter, according to the NTSB. The airline was reported to be at an altitude of 325 feet, plus or minus 25 feet, while the helicopter was at 200 feet, at the time of the crash, according to Inman.
The helicopter would’ve been 125 feet above its maximum allowed altitude for the area if the crash occurred at an altitude of 325 feet, though investigators “currently don’t have the readout from the Black Hawk” and, therefore, are unable to provide information regarding altitude, according to Inman, who added, “obviously an impact occurred, and I would say when an impact occurs, that is typically where the altitude of both aircraft were at the moment.”
First responders were treating the collision as a rescue mission as officials “don’t believe there are any survivors,” among the suspected 64 passengers aboard American Airlines Flight 5324 and three soldiers — all of whom have been identified — on the Army helicopter, District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly said during a news briefing last Thursday (January 30) morning via CBS News.
Recent Comments