PinnedUpdated July 30, 2025, 1:46 p.m. ETThe Army pilots flying a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into a passenger jet near Reagan National Airport in Washington in January may not have realized the true altitude of their aircraft, a potential moment of confusion that possibly played a role in the collision, according to new evidence that investigators unveiled on Wednesday.The revelation came as the National Transportation Safety Board began three days of public hearings into the midair crash that killed 67 people: all three members of the Black Hawk crew and 64 people aboard an American Airlines jet flying to Washington from Wichita, Kan. The accident was the first fatal crash involving a major American airline in 15 years.N.T.S.B. investigators who tested Black Hawks like the one that crashed said they found that altimeters that measure flying height based on atmospheric pressure, known as barometric altimeters, showed a pilot that the aircraft was flying 80 to 130 feet lower than its actual altitude when over the Potomac River.While federal investigators did not draw any conclusions from that information, the revelation raised questions about whether Capt. Rebecca Lobach, who was piloting the Black Hawk involved in the Jan. 29 accident, could have thought she was flying at a safe altitude, instead of at a height that would send her helicopter directly into the path of a commercial jet that was descending toward the airport.In an animation that recreated the minutes leading to the crash, the N.T.S.B. showed that Capt. Lobach was flying above the maximum allowable height of 200 feet for nearly the entire duration of the time that the Black Hawk was maneuvering through the area around the airport. As it showed the Black Hawk and the American Airlines jet on a collision course, the animation included recordings of what air traffic controllers were telling the pilots of both aircraft, and showed parts of the transcript of discussions taking place in the cockpit of the helicopter.The materials and the testimony of helicopter experts were expected to provide the clearest picture to date about the extent to which faulty systems and human error contributed to the multiple failures that led to the crash.Here’s what else to know:Age concerns: Scott Rosengren, an Army engineer, testified that if it were up to him, he would remove all of the Black Hawk helicopters of the type involved in the January accident from the fleet. Among the concerns he cited is the aircraft’s age. The UH-60L Black Hawks came online in 1989 and were discontinued in 2006. The one involved in the accident was delivered to the military in 2001, and had gone through several software upgrades in the years since.Altimeters: The N.T.S.B.’s new evidence sparked a layered debate about whether discrepancies with the Black Hawk’s altitude readings could be considered particularly problematic. Kylene Lewis, a chief warrant officer and helicopter test pilot with the Army, said that when flying below 200 feet she would normally rely on radar altimeters, which might have been more accurate. But she said she would also reference the barometric one when flying along routes with strict altitude limits, such as the one Capt. Lobach was flying above the Potomac.Documents: Officials also released of a trove of more than 200 new documents and materials. They showed that the pilots seemed unaware of the impending danger until the final seconds before impact, and that the pilots of the Black Hawk tried to turn east — a maneuver that might have allowed them to avoid crashing into the jet as it approached the airport. Read more ›David A. Fahrenthold and Kate Kelly contributed reporting.July 30, 2025, 2:29 p.m. ETThe N.T.S.B. hearing is back in session with a discussion about the helicopter routes that were able to operate in the airspace around Reagan National before the crash. Investigators are starting with a review of communications, noting that the Army Black Hawk crew did not hear the air traffic controller’s instructions to pass behind the American Airlines jet, just seconds before impact.July 30, 2025, 2:13 p.m. ETCredit...Kenny Holston/The New York TimesThe deadly midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington highlights the complexity of navigating an airspace with many civilian and military aircraft.The airport has three runways that intersect, but only one is used for nearly all of its hundreds of daily flights. With the routes of aircraft routinely criss-crossing one another, there is little room for error as planes descend onto the runways. To stay out of the way of commercial jets, helicopters in this area are supposed to fly along a route designated by the Federal Aviation Administration at an altitude no higher than 200 feet.Air traffic data from January shows that helicopters flying along the Potomac River must navigate amid the takeoffs and landings of hundreds of planes daily. They are advised by the F.A.A. to stick to a tight air corridor above the eastern bank of the river.The American Airlines flight was cleared to land on Runway 1 before being instructed by an air traffic controller shortly before the collision to pivot its landing route to the intersecting Runway 33.The last-minute request to switch runways at Reagan National is “very common,” said Shawn Pruchnicki, a former airline pilot and an assistant professor at the Center for Aviation Studies at Ohio State University, who said he has piloted aircraft into the airport more than a hundred times.Skies were clear on the night when the two aircraft collided. But, in case of low visibility, like in poor weather, the F.A.A. has designed “instrument approaches,” or descents that involve a series of steps pilots must follow to maneuver down to the runway safely.July 30, 2025, 1:25 p.m. ETThe hearing has broken for lunch, and is expected to resume at 2:15 p.m. Eastern time with a panel that will focus on the helicopter routes around Reagan National Airport.July 30, 2025, 1:14 p.m. ETMultiple Army witnesses have now echoed concerns about the F.A.A.’s vertical separation requirement of 500 feet between aircraft around Reagan National Airport, suggesting that restriction was not sufficient. “In my opinion, the amount of clearance between the helicopter route and potentially the aircraft passing over top of it was concerning,” said Kylene Lewis, an Army helicopter test pilot. It’s worth noting that the Army flight experts on this panel said they have never piloted the helicopter routes in the area around Reagan National Airport.July 30, 2025, 12:57 p.m. ETThe F.A.A. requires at least 500 feet of vertical separation between aircraft in congested airspaces such as the one around Reagan National Airport. Under questioning from the board member J. Todd Inman, Scott Rosengren, an Army engineer, said that requirement made him uncomfortable and suggested the restriction should be increased, given how much of a discrepancy there could be between altimeter readings and an aircraft’s actual height.“The fact that we have less than 500-foot separation is of concern to me personally,” he said.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York TimesJuly 30, 2025, 12:35 p.m. ETScott Rosengren, an Army engineer, testified that he would remove all of the Black Hawk helicopters of the type involved in the Jan. 29 accident from the fleet. “If I was king for a day I would take all Limas out of the fleet today,” he said, referring to the Black Hawk UH-60L model.VideoCreditCredit...National Transportation Safety Board, via Associated PressJuly 30, 2025, 10:59 a.m. ETDavid FahrentholdSome of the Army pilots interviewed by crash investigators said they were surprised that an air-traffic controller did not tell the Black Hawk to simply stop and wait for the landing aircraft to cross its path. They said it was common for controllers to tell southbound helicopters to wait over a Potomac River island called Hains Point. “If I was southbound I was told to hold north by Hains Point. Not one single time ever did they let me cross the approach path” of Runway 33, where the passenger jet was landing that night, said Chief Warrant Officer 5 David Van Vechten Jr. A transcript of his interview was released by the N.T.S.B. on Wednesday.Chief Warrant Officer 5 David Van Vechten Jr.And every single time if I was traveling northbound they would tell me to hold south by the golf balls, and if I was southbound I was told to hold north by Hains Point. Not one single time ever did they let me cross the approach path of 3 3 or the departure of 1 5 when I was on route one. So I've never seen that allowed. They've never even given the option to request visual separation.July 30, 2025, 10:56 a.m. ETKate KellyKate Kelly has been covering the deadly Jan. 29 crash in Washington.Experts on Black Hawk helicopters were questioned at a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on Wednesday.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York TimesIn the final seconds of their flight in the Washington, D.C. area on Jan. 29, the pilots aboard an Army Black Hawk helicopter discussed turning east toward the bank of the Potomac River, a maneuver that, had they had time to complete it, could have saved scores of lives.The change might have removed the helicopter from the direct line of American Airlines Flight 5342 as it was trying to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport.“Alright, kinda come left for me ma’am, I think that’s why he’s asking,” the instructor pilot said to the Army pilot flying the helicopter, referring to guidance from the air traffic controller.“Sure,” the pilot replied, according to a transcript released by the National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday morning.“We’re kinda —” the instructor said, without finishing.“Oh-kay. Fine,” the pilot said.“Out towards the middle,” the instructor said, likely referring to the Potomac River they were overflying.Approximately two seconds later, they crashed into the plane.Those statements, which were captured on a cockpit voice recorder that was recovered from the scene of the crash, were released Wednesday morning by the N.T.S.B. near the start of a three-day hearing on the facts of the midair collision, which killed the three soldiers aboard the helicopter as well as 64 civilians aboard an American Airlines flight that was en route to Washington from Wichita, Kan.The new documents, which include a transcript of the cockpit conversation between Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, the pilot flying the Black Hawk, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, the instructor pilot, suggest that while Mr. Eaves understood that the air traffic controller wanted the pilots to veer left, to a safer position, the imminent danger of their predicament was not entirely clear.The commercial jet that Black Hawk was asked to avoid was landing on a trajectory bound for Runway 33, a rarely used runway for arrivals at National Airport and one that the helicopter crew may not have considered as part of their flight plan.The N.T.S.B. has noted that the helicopter route used on Jan. 29 places those aircraft in dangerous proximity to planes landing on Runway 33. On the board’s recommendations, the Federal Aviation Administration has since suspended helicopter traffic along the route the Black Hawk took in January, when Runway 33 is in use.The N.T.S.B.’s preliminary findings, which were released in March in summary form, suggested, without nuance, that Captain Lobach and Mr. Eaves noted different readings on their respective altitude measures in the cockpit and that Mr. Eaves indicated that Captain Lobach should turn left shortly before the Black Hawk crashed into the commercial jet.July 30, 2025, 10:20 a.m. ETN.T.S.B. experts just explained why the helicopter might have been flying at such a high altitude in the moments before the crash. In testing, they found that the altimeters — the devices that tell pilots how high off the ground they are — in Black Hawk helicopters could have a discrepancy of as much as 130 feet when flying over the Potomac River. The revelation about faulty altimeters is a potentially pivotal development in understanding what went wrong on Jan. 29. It suggests that the pilot of the Army Black Hawk could have thought she was following to the rules and flying below 200 feet, when in fact she was dozens of feet higher.July 30, 2025, 9:48 a.m. ETThe animation ended with video of the final moments before the midair collision. It shows the Army helicopter flying directly into the American Airlines plane as it made its descent.July 30, 2025, 9:48 a.m. ETThe N.T.S.B. just played an 11-minute video animation of the crash, which includes recordings of the air traffic controller’s instructions to both aircraft that night — the first time that audio has been heard publicly. The animation also shows how both aircraft were on a crash course, as the helicopter was flying above the maximum heights allowed for effectively its entire transit through the critical region.July 30, 2025, 9:33 a.m. ETFive witnesses waited to start the National Transportation Safety Board hearing related to the crash at Reagan Airport.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York TimesThe first day of the crash hearings is, in essence, helicopter day. It is set to feature a panel on the Army Black Hawk’s air data systems and altimeters in the morning, and an examination of the helicopter routes through the restricted airspace around Ronald Reagan National Airport, known as Class B airspace, which the F.A.A. has severely restricted in the wake of the crash.To that end, the first panel, on the Black Hawk’s data systems and altimeters — a device that measures how high, or low, the helicopter is — will feature five witnesses who may not be household names. All, though, have expertise in helicopter aviation, engineering and the particular systems unique to that aircraft.Three of the witnesses are from the Army, one is from the F.A.A., and another is from Sikorsky Aircraft, which makes the Black Hawk, the type of helicopter involved in the fatal midair collision with an American Airlines jet in January.The second panel, on the helicopter routes through restricted airspace, will feature nine witnesses: four experts in aviation safety and air traffic control from the F.A.A., three from the Army, one from a company called Metro Aviation that specializes in helicopters used for emergency operations, and one former researcher for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration who specialized in the psychology of safety, including artificial intelligence.July 30, 2025, 9:31 a.m. ETThe N.T.S.B. had planned to post a full docket of materials online when the hearing gaveled in earlier this morning. But about half of the documents are still missing, including the transcripts from the cockpits of both aircraft involved in the accident, the air traffic control tower’s communications, and a combined document that details how all of those communications played out on the night of Jan. 29. Staff members are scrambling to remedy the error, even as officials running the hearing encourage the public to peruse the documents online.July 30, 2025, 9:20 a.m. ETA summary of the Black Hawk crew’s final conversation, just released by the N.T.S.B., indicates that the pilots intended to maneuver east — a direction that would have moved them away from the oncoming jet they crashed into — in the final seconds of their flight.July 30, 2025, 9:19 a.m. ETJennifer Homendy, the N.T.S.B. chairwoman, just offered condolences to the families and friends of the crash victims. “On behalf of the entire agency, we are so sorry for your loss,” she said, adding: “We are working diligently to make sure we know what occurred, how it occurred and to prevent it from ever happening again.” There are several people here in the room who lost loved ones, including Doug Lane, whose wife, Christine, and son Spencer were killed on American Airlines Flight 5342. They are not scheduled to give official testimony.July 30, 2025, 9:10 a.m. ETA large trove of documents related to the crash have been released by the N.T.S.B. Those documents were expected to include transcripts of the cockpit recordings from both American Airlines Flight 5342 and the Army Black Hawk, and of the air traffic control transmissions to all aircraft in the area.July 30, 2025, 9:07 a.m. ETThomas Chapman, one of the board members, is recusing himself from the hearings and the investigation because of flight privileges he continues to enjoy on American Airlines — it was American Airlines Flight 5342 that was hit by an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Jan. 29. That means that only three board members will be presiding over the hearings.July 30, 2025, 9:01 a.m. ETJennifer Homendy, the chairwoman of the N.T.S.B., has gaveled in the hearing.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York TimesJuly 30, 2025, 8:38 a.m. ETKate KellyKate Kelly has been covering the deadly Jan. 29 air crash near Washington.The fuselage of the American Airlines plane involved in a collision with a Black Hawk helicopter was recovered from the Potomac River days after the crash.Credit...Al Drago for The New York TimesOn Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board will convene for three days of hearings into the Jan. 29 midair collision near Ronald Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people.The N.T.S.B., an independent government agency that investigates transportation accidents, has already issued its initial findings on the facts and timeline of the episode, in which an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into an American Airlines commercial flight above the Potomac River.The board’s final report, which will identify the cause of the accident, is not expected until next year. But this week’s hearings, which will include sworn testimony from witnesses to the accident and parties to the crash, including the Army, will provide the clearest picture yet of what went wrong.Here are some of the key questions that have yet to be answered:Why was the Black Hawk flying too high?According to the N.T.S.B.’s preliminary report, the pilot flying the Black Hawk, Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, was told to descend to 200 feet, which was the mandated altitude for helicopters on the route. Yet she evidently had difficulty maintaining that level, putting the Black Hawk in a position where it crashed into the plane at roughly 300 feet.Was Captain Lobach having trouble controlling the helicopter? Or were her altimeters — instruments that measure altitude — not working properly?What was the conversation aboard the Black Hawk?The N.T.S.B. has provided a concise and paraphrased version of what it deems to be key moments from the cockpit voice recordings aboard the Army helicopter, which was carrying a crew of three: Captain Lobach; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, her instructor on the training flight; and Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, the crew chief, or technical expert.What we don’t know is whether the crew members had any idea how close they were to a catastrophic event, or how concerned they were about either their altitude or a potential problem with their altimeters, which were providing differing readings to Captain Lobach and Mr. Eaves. How concerned did they seem about these factors? Is there any evidence of a last-minute attempt to change altitude or course?What was going on in the air traffic control tower at National Airport?Investigators with the N.T.S.B. have found that five air traffic controllers were working various positions at the time of the crash. However, one of the positions had been combined with another to handle both helicopter and airplane traffic hours earlier. The Federal Aviation Administration, which runs the National Airport control tower, has described the staffing that night as “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.”The helicopter position is not typically combined with another position until 9:30 in the evening, people briefed on the practice have told The New York Times, but a supervisor in the tower that night allowed a controller to leave early, prompting the early combination, those people have also said. When, precisely, did that person leave and why? And was the controller who was left performing both positions feeling fatigued or overtaxed by the double duty?How big of a problem was Runway 33?While the American Airlines flight was in its final stretch, the control tower asked its pilots to pivot their course from Runway 1, National Airport’s most commonly used arrivals runway, to an alternative, Runway 33. The pilots agreed, putting the airplane on a landing trajectory that risked placing it dangerously close to approaching helicopter traffic.The N.T.S.B. has said that Runway 33 is used for flight arrivals only 4 percent of the time. Austin Roth, a retired Army Black Hawk instructor pilot who flew those routes many times, said in an interview with The Times that he doubted that the Army crew would have been prepared for a Runway 33 landing, given that runway’s rare use.Considering all those factors, should the American Airlines crew have refused to land on Runway 33? Was the Black Hawk crew aware of the Runway 33 traffic path it should have been watching? More broadly, why did the F.A.A. allow helicopters to even operate on the route the Black Hawk was flying, when Runway 33 was in use for a landing?Would a real-time aircraft location broadcasting system have made a difference?Army officials sought, and received, permission to fly helicopters in the National Airport airspace without using a system known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out, or ADS-B Out. Concerned lawmakers, including Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who is the chairman of the Senate’s transportation committee, have flagged the lack of ADS-B as a potentially key contributor to the crash, but the Army has insisted it would not have helped.Is there evidence suggesting that the system would, in fact, have played a preventive role? An affirmative answer could have broad implications for the Army unit that operates flights in the area in the future.July 30, 2025, 8:35 a.m. ETThe hearings into the Jan. 29 midair collision near Ronald Reagan National Airport are taking place in the National Transportation Safety Board’s boardroom, which happens to be located in a basement underneath the International Spy Museum. With about 30 minutes until the opening gavel, the line of attendees waiting to go through security stretched far outside the facility — the longest line some staff have seen for a hearing like this, they have quipped. It’s one of many signs of how important and pivotal this crash, the first deadly plane crash in the United States in 15 years, has been to considerations of airline safety in Washington.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York TimesJan. 30, 2025, 6:03 a.m. ETCongestion at Ronald Reagan National Airport has been the subject of debate over the years.Credit...Joshua Roberts/ReutersRonald Reagan Washington National Airport just outside the U.S. capital operates in a complex airspace where domestic flights, military planes, helicopters and other aircraft are in close proximity, relying on electronic safeguards and human decision-making to avoid catastrophe.Debates over congestion at Reagan have increased in recent years, along with concerns over near-miss crashes.Last year, there was a close-call incident at Reagan National Airport involving another American Airlines plane that had been cleared for takeoff but nearly collided with an incoming King Air plane that had been cleared for landing on a nearby runway. Less than two months earlier, JetBlue and Southwest planes nearly collided on a runway at the same airport.There were at least eight near-midair collisions at Reagan National Airport in 2024, according to Federal Aviation Administration data.Flights into and out of Reagan National Airport — the U.S. capital’s most convenient domestic air terminal — have traditionally been limited to destinations within 1,250 miles of the airport, which restricts long-distance flights.Still, lawmakers have lobbied to expand Reagan’s flight perimeter and add flights into and out of the airport, which many of Washington’s power brokers use. In 2023, dozens of lawmakers lobbied for 28 additional round-trip flights per day out of the airport, many of which would serve their districts, easing their journeys home.At the time, the F.A.A. warned that adding flights to Reagan would strain the system.The American Airlines plane that collided with a U.S. Army helicopter on Wednesday night near Reagan, known as DCA, had been traveling from Wichita, Kan., to Washington on a route that was just added last year, in part due to the lobbying efforts of Senator Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas.“I know that flight, I’ve flown it many times myself,” Senator Moran said at an early morning news conference. “I lobbied American Airlines to begin having a direct, nonstop flight service to DCA.”Mark Walker contributed reporting.