WASHINGTON: In what appeared to be a major disclosure about the investigation, US President Donald Trump said on Friday the Blackhawk helicopter that collided with a regional passenger jet in Washington, D.C. was flying too high at the time of the accident.
The US Army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US military helicopters regularly fly a route over the Potomac river near the busy Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, known as Route 4. For safety reasons, the altitude on those helicopter flights is capped at 200 feet (61 metres).
“The Blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. It was far above the 200-foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
The crash remains under investigation by federal transportation authorities.
Department of Defence to examine military chopper’s flight recorder; report expected in 30 days
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier said there appeared to have been an elevation issue with the Blackhawk, and said army investigators were on the ground looking into the matter.
However, Hegseth and the army said the three-member crew of soldiers on the Blackhawk were experienced. The army said the instructor pilot, who was the designated pilot in command, had 1,000 flying hours while the other pilot had 500 hours.
The third soldier was a crew chief, typically riding in the back of the helicopter.
Investigators also recovered the so-called black boxes from the plane, an American Airlines Bombardier jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, which collided with the Blackhawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River as it prepared to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
No one survived. The names of all the victims have not been released, but they included promising young figure skaters and people from Kansas, where the flight originated.
Senator Maria Cantwell said that the dead also included citizens from Russia, the Philippines and Germany, and Chinese state media Xinhua reported two Chinese citizens had been killed in the crash.
Initial report in 30 days
Investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Bombardier CRJ700 passenger jet, the National Transportation Safety Board said. A preliminary report about the incident is expected within 30 days.
