San Diego plane crash victims: Dad, 3 sons killed after Cessna 414 went down in water off Point Loma coast
Although the FAA has yet to officially name the victims, they have been identified as pilot Landon Baldwin and his wife, Torrie (Beus) Baldwin, Jeremy Bingham and his sons, Ayden, Gavin, and Bailey, according to The Mirror US. All six victims were reportedly from Gila Valley, Arizona.
Kat Kountry 94.5, a local radio station, shared an emotional tribute for the Bingham family that reads, 'Jeremy Bingham and his 3 sons, Bailey, Gavin and Ayden were in a plane crash in San Diego, resulting in the most unimaginable, and losing all 4 of them.'
'Jeremy was a pillar to this community. He and Stephanie have done an amazing job raising incredible kids. They have always been the first in line to help where help is needed,' the tribute adds, per the outlet.
A separate heartbreaking tribute was shared on social media for the Baldwins. Mourners remember Landon as a 'devoted husband, father, and friend,' while Torrie as a person whose heart was 'full of love.'
'It's hard to put into words the heartbreak our community is feeling right now… Together, they were raising two beautiful young children. The loss is beyond comprehension. There [sic] children are now left without their parents.'
The small plane crashed nearly 3 miles west of the southern California city at 12:30 pm shortly after takeoff on Sunday. Before the deadly incident, the pilot informed air traffic controllers that he was struggling to climb.
A controller told him to climb to 4,000 feet after learning that the plane was flying at just 1,000 feet, according to Live ATC audio.
However, when the controller told the pilot to land at a nearby US naval airport, he repeatedly signalled the 'Mayday' distress call before losing radar contact.
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Economic Times
2 hours ago
- Economic Times
Bombardier-Black Hawk crash in Washington DC cause: Faulty altimeter blinded pilots, lax airspace rules; Army-FAA clash during hearing
A deadly midair collision occurred in Washington this January. Sixty-seven people died in the accident. A broken altimeter and ignored safety warnings were the main causes. The National Transportation Safety Board held a hearing this week. The FAA and the Army are shifting blame. The controller was overwhelmed with work. Safety warnings were repeatedly ignored for years. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The broken altimeter that misled pilots Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads FAA, Army shift blame in heated testimony Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The controller was overwhelmed with work Safety warnings were repeatedly ignored Final report due in 2026 A broken altimeter, ignored safety warnings, and poor coordination between federal agencies were key factors in the deadly midair collision over Washington in January that killed 67 people, according to findings revealed during a three-day fact-finding hearing by the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB ) this January 29, a Bombardier CRJ700 jet collided with a Black Hawk helicopter while descending into Reagan Airport near the White House, marking the deadliest US aviation disaster since included young figure skaters, their families, coaches, and several union workers. Now, months later, the NTSB's hearing has offered the most detailed picture yet of what went Army helicopter was flying 278 feet above ground, well above the 200-foot ceiling allowed for its route, when it collided with the descending investigators say the pilots may not have known they were too high. The helicopter's barometric altimeter showed a reading 80 to 100 feet lower than its actual discrepancy, recorded by the flight data recorder, was not an isolated incident. Similar issues were later found in other helicopters from the same Army unit. A Sikorsky representative told AP that the crashed Black Hawk was an older model without advanced air data computers found in newer Chief Warrant Officer Kylene Lewis told the NTSB, as reported by AP, that an 80- to 100-foot discrepancy between a helicopter's altimeters isn't alarming, as pilots rely more on radar altimeters at lower Army pilots aim to maintain their target altitude within 100 feet, making such discrepancies the hearings, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and the Army sought to deflect responsibility. Yet testimony pointed to multiple opportunities where safer choices could have prevented the major concern was the extremely narrow separation distance, just 75 feet or around 23 meters, approved by the FAA between helicopters and landing aircraft at Reagan's secondary particular runway is only used in about 5 per cent of flights but played a critical role on the night of the pilots testified that flying beneath landing planes was often routine, as long as they followed their approved routes. However, the air traffic controller never warned the passenger jet about the helicopter's proximity, assuming it wouldn't have changed the the night of the crash, a controller asked the helicopter pilots twice if they saw the jet, and they confirmed they did, requesting visual raised concerns about the crew's ability to see the plane through night vision goggles and whether they were looking in the right to NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, the controller, whose identity remains unknown, managed 21 aircraft in the 10 minutes before the collision. He was handling both helicopter and jet traffic simultaneously. According to a Washington Post report, in his interview, he stated that he felt overwhelmed and considered asking for help, but the traffic soon became manageable.A pilot arriving just before the crash noted that the controller seemed 'exceptionally busy' and was 'not instilling a lot of confidence.'As per the AP report, the controller admitted that the plane's pilots were not warned of a collision course, believing it wouldn't have made a difference. The plane, descending to land, attempted to pull up after receiving a warning, but it was too before the crash, FAA teams had raised alarms about the growing risk of helicopter operations around Reagan. In 2022, one working group urged the agency to add caution advisories to flight charts. The FAA a radar facility manager wrote to the FAA recommending a reduction in air traffic due to safety risks. Those concerns also went her closing remarks, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy accused the FAA of failing to act on repeated warnings. She criticized the agency for transferring out airport managers after the crash instead of addressing the root problems.'Every sign was there that there was a safety risk,' Homendy said during the NTSB is expected to release its final report next year. While it is unlikely to identify a single cause, this week's hearings confirmed a troubling mix of equipment failure, institutional inaction, and operational shortcuts that ultimately led to one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent US history.
Mint
5 hours ago
- Mint
Broken altimeter, ignored warnings: Hearings reveal what went wrong in DC crash that killed 67
Over three days of sometimes contentious hearings this week, the National Transportation Safety Board interrogated Federal Aviation Administration and Army officials about a list of things that went wrong and contributed to a Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet colliding over Washington, D.C., killing 67 people. The biggest revelations: The helicopter's altimeter gauge was broken, and controllers warned the FAA years earlier about the dangers that helicopters presented. At one point NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy scolded the FAA for not addressing safety concerns. 'Are you kidding me? Sixty-seven people are dead! How do you explain that? Our bureaucratic process?' she said. 'Fix it. Do better.' Victims of the January crash included a group of elite young figure skaters, their parents and coaches and four union steamfitters from the Washington area. Here is a look at the major takeaways from the hearings about the collision, which alarmed travelers before a string of other crashes and close calls this year added to their worries about flying: The helicopter was flying at 278 feet (85 meters) — well above the 200-foot (61-meter) ceiling on that route — when it collided with the airliner. But investigators said the pilots might not have realized that because the barometric altimeter they were relying on was reading 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) lower than the altitude registered by the flight data recorder. The NTSB subsequently found similar discrepancies in the altimeters of three other helicopters from the same unit. An expert with Sikorsky, which makes the Black Hawks, said the one that crashed was an older model that lacked the air data computers that make for more accurate altitude readings in newer versions. Army Chief Warrant Officer Kylene Lewis told the board that an 80- to 100-foot (24- to 30-meter) discrepancy between the different altimeters on a helicopter would not be alarming, because at lower altitudes she would be relying more on the radar altimeter than the barometric altimeter. Plus Army pilots strive to stay within 100 feet (30 meters) of target altitude on flights, so they could still do that even with their altimeters that far off. But Rick Dressler of medevac operator Metro Aviation told the NTSB that imprecision would not fly with his helicopters. When a helicopter route like the one the Black Hawk was flying that night includes an altitude limit, Dressler said, his pilots consider that a hard ceiling. Both tried to deflect responsibility for the crash, but the testimony highlighted plenty of things that might have been done differently. The NTSB's final report will be done next year, but there likely will not be one single cause identified for the crash. 'I think it was a week of reckoning for the FAA and the U.S. Army in this accident,' aviation safety consultant and former crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti said. Army officials said the greater concern is that the FAA approved routes around Ronald Reagan International Airport with separation distances as small as 75 feet (23 meters) between helicopters and planes when planes are landing on a certain runway at Reagan. 'The fact that we have less than 500-foot separation is a concern for me,' said Scott Rosengren, chief engineer in the office that manages the Army's utility helicopters. Army Chief Warrant Officer David Van Vechten said he was surprised the air traffic controller let the helicopter proceed while the airliner was circling to land at Reagan's secondary runway, which is used when traffic for the main runway stacks up and accounts for about 5% of flights. Van Vechten said he was never allowed to fly under a landing plane as the Black Hawk did, but only a handful of the hundreds of times he flew that route involved planes landing on that runway. Other pilots in the unit told crash investigators it was routine to be directed to fly under landing planes, and they believed that was safe if they stuck to the approved route. Frank McIntosh, the head of the FAA's air traffic control organization, said he thinks controllers at Reagan 'were really dependent upon the use of visual separation' to keep traffic moving through the busy airspace. The NTSB said controllers repeatedly said they would just 'make it work.' They sometimes used 'squeeze plays' to land planes with minimal separation. On the night of the crash, a controller twice asked the helicopter pilots whether they had the jet in sight, and the pilots said they did and asked for visual separation approval so they could use their own eyes to maintain distance. Testimony at the hearing raised serious questions about how well the crew could spot the plane while wearing night vision goggles and whether the pilots were even looking in the right spot. The controller acknowledged in an interview that the plane's pilots were never warned when the helicopter was on a collision path, but controllers did not think telling the plane would have made a difference at that point. The plane was descending to land and tried to pull up at the last second after getting a warning in the cockpit, but it was too late. An FAA working group tried to get a warning added to helicopter charts back in 2022 urging pilots to use caution whenever the secondary runway was in use, but the agency refused. The working group said 'helicopter operations are occurring in a proximity that has triggered safety events. These events have been trending in the wrong direction and increasing year over year.' Separately, a different group at the airport discussed moving the helicopter route, but those discussions did not go anywhere. And a manager at a regional radar facility in the area urged the FAA in writing to reduce the number of planes taking off and landing at Reagan because of safety concerns. The NTSB has also said the FAA failed to recognize a troubling history of 85 near misses around Reagan in the three years before the collision, NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said 'every sign was there that there was a safety risk and the tower was telling you that.' But after the accident, the FAA transferred managers out of the airport instead of acknowledging that they had been warned. 'What you did is you transferred people out instead of taking ownership over the fact that everybody in FAA in the tower was saying there was a problem,' Homendy said. 'But you guys are pointing out, 'Welp, our bureaucratic process. Somebody should have brought it up at some other symposium.'' Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam contributed.
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Washington Air Crash: How altitude glitch, night goggles & missed warnings led to tragedy
A deadly collision occurred near Reagan National Airport. A US Army Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet crashed. All 67 people on board died. Investigations revealed misread altitudes and poor communication. Visibility was limited. Air Traffic Control missed warnings. The FAA faced scrutiny for its post-crash procedures. Systemic problems in both the Army and FAA contributed to the accident. FILE - Salvage crews work on recovering wreckage near the site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in Arlington, Va. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Altitude confusion in a no-room-for-error corridor Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Night vision goggles and ground lights Air Traffic Control missed key warnings No alcohol testing, incomplete FAA cooperation Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads A broken system or human error? A fatal mid-air collision that killed all 67 people aboard a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial passenger jet near Reagan National Airport in January unfolded through a cascade of small but fatal failures, according to testimony before the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) last over three days, the hearings exposed a mix of misread altitudes, limited visibility, poor communication, and longstanding regulatory oversights. Investigators say these overlapping issues narrowed the margin for error to near January 29, a Bombardier CRJ700 jet carrying passengers from Wichita, Kansas — including elite figure skaters and union workers — collided with a Black Hawk helicopter during its final descent into Reagan Airport, just miles from the White House. The crash was the deadliest aviation disaster in the U.S. since 2001.A key revelation came from flight tests that revealed discrepancies between two critical altitude instruments onboard the Black Hawk. 'The altimeters showed an 80- to 130-foot difference in flight,' AFP quoted NTSB investigator Marie Moler's testimony, citing the variation between radar and barometric readings. 'Once the helicopter rotors were turning and producing lift and thrust, the altimeter readings lowered significantly and stayed lower throughout the flights.'NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy called the finding 'significant,' warning that what the crew saw might not have reflected their true altitude. 'A 100-foot difference is significant,' she said, especially in the tightly regulated Potomac corridor, where helicopters must stay below 200 major factor: visibility. The Black Hawk pilots were flying with night vision goggles that narrowed their field of view and reduced the ability to distinguish the plane's lights from city lights. Experts said this could have made it nearly impossible to visually locate the oncoming aircraft.'Knowing where to look. That's key,' AP quoted Stephen Casner, a human factors expert who previously worked with NASA, as also revealed that an air traffic controller spotted the proximity between the two aircraft and asked the helicopter crew if they had the plane in sight. However, when the controller instructed the pilots to 'pass behind' the jetliner, that transmission wasn't fully heard — the helicopter's microphone was keyed at the same time, cutting off the instruction, according to AP seeing the helicopter from the tower and an alarm sounding, the controller did not warn the jet. FAA officials later admitted the controller should have done transcripts released post-crash, the controller told investigators they weren't sure a warning would have changed the also faced tough questions about post-crash procedures. Nick Fuller, FAA's acting deputy chief of operations, testified that controllers were not tested for alcohol because 'the agency did not immediately believe the crash was fatal' and the optimal two-hour testing window had explanation didn't satisfy NTSB board members. 'There's significant frustration between what's actually occurring and what's being said for public consumption,' said board member Todd officials also scolded the FAA for failing to fully cooperate with the investigation, citing repeated refusals to provide requested documents. Homendy urged the FAA to 'do better,' citing years of ignored warnings about the area's congested helicopter Schiavo, former U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General, told AP the crash was the result of systemic problems on both the Army and FAA sides.'The Black Hawks' altimeters could be off by as much as 100 feet and were still considered acceptable,' Schiavo said. She added that the outdated aircraft and "loose supervision" created a dangerous operating also noted that controllers had no visual maps of military helicopter routes on their screens. 'Everything about the military helicopter operation was not up to the standards of commercial aviation,' she told AP. 'It's a shocking lack of attention to precision all the way around.'Schiavo said she still calls the FAA 'the Tombstone Agency,' adding: 'They would only make change after people die. And sadly, 30 years later, that seems to still be the case.'While the NTSB has not yet identified a definitive cause — a final report is expected next year — former crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti told AP that the tragedy reflected a 'Swiss cheese model' of disaster.'It just goes to show you that an accident isn't caused by one single thing,' he said. 'This accident was caused by layer after layer of deficiencies that piled up at just the right moment.'(With inputs from AP, AFP)
