LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The investigation into Wednesday’s devastating crash between an American Airlines jet and an army helicopter in Washington, D.C is just beginning, but already, many are wondering about the role of air traffic control.
“I think that is going to be the center of focus,” aviation expert Dr. Dan Bubb told 8 News Now of the National Transportation Safety Board investigation. “Did the pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter make contact with air traffic control?”
Sources told CBS News one air traffic controller was doing a job normally done by two people when the crash happened at Reagan National Airport.
8 News Now asked Dr. Bubb if this could have contributed to the incident. He said he was unable to answer this question until more information was provided.
“I would encourage everybody to wait until we get the NTSB report,” Dr. Bubb said Thursday. “They have access to the technology, the cockpit voice recorder, the black box.”
“We call it the flight data recorder,” Dr. Bubb continued. “And they are going to take a good look at that and do a forensic analysis to see what happened.”
In Southern Nevada, the final NTSB report on a deadly mid-air collision in 2022 was released this month.
On July 17, 2022, two planes – a Piper PA-46 and a Cessna 172N — collided about a quarter-mile from the end of a runway in North Las Vegas as both approached parallel runways, documents said.
The report said an air traffic controller used “poor judgment” when he did not monitor the landings.
Documents claimed pilot error as the main cause of the crash, which killed four people, but also cited air traffic control staffing issues, stating “everyone was exhausted.”
Both cases were tragic and unexpected, Dr. Bubb called the most recent incident in Washington, D.C. and the 67 lives lost a devastating blow to the aviation community.
“It’s been rough,” he concluded. “No doubt about it, our hearts go out to everybody.”
Dr. Bubb told 8 News Now the NTSB investigation into Wednesday’s crash at Reagan National Airport could take anywhere from 30 days to a year.
