Latest news with #UH-60LBlackHawk
Miami Herald
02-07-2025
- Climate
- Miami Herald
Family of 6 spent nearly 24 hours stranded on Alaska river in storm, officials say
A family of six was rescued after their boat became trapped on a river sandbar and they were stranded for almost 24 hours as winds gusted and rain fell, Alaska officials said. The summer storm conditions were too bad for people nearby to reach the one child and five adults on the Kuskokwim River, near Tuntutuliak, according to officials. But a UH-60L Black Hawk crew from the Alaska Army National Guard's 207th Aviation Battalion was dispatched and found the family after a search, the national guard said in a July 1 news release. The family was able to get messages to state troopers before their cellphone batteries gave out, officials said. Heavy rain pelted the rescuers, who also battled fog and 45 mph wind gusts, according to officials. The helicopter 'executed a low hover,' and two of the rescuers waded through water that was close to 4 feet deep to reach the family, officials said. One woman 'could barely move or communicate due to length of exposure in the elements,' officials said. 'We could tell that the group hadn't anticipated being stranded for that amount of time with the clothes and gear they were wearing,' Chief Warrant Officer 3 Nick Lime said, per the release. 'We were able to get to them out of there at an ideal time.' The crew helped warm up the family members, who 'were close to hypothermic,' while flying to the Bethel Armory, where ambulances picked them up and took them to a hospital, officials said. Along with Lime, Chief Warrant Officer 3s Bryan Kruse and Colten Bell and Alaska State Trooper Trevor Norris participated in the June 30 rescue, officials said. Tuntutuliak is in southwestern Alaska.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Deadly DC plane crash leads transportation safety board to make urgent recommendations
Helicopters should not be allowed to travel in a four-mile stretch over the Potomac River following the deadly air collision near Washington in January, according to urgent safety recommendations outlined by National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy on Tuesday. On Jan. 29, an American Airlines jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers while the plane was coming in for a landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport. The crash sent both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River. All 67 people aboard the two aircrafts were killed. 'Urgent recommendations require immediate action to prevent similar accidents or incidents,' Homendy said. 'When we issue them, we believe a critical safety issue must be addressed without delay. For this investigation, we're reviewing airport operations and prior incidents, including near-mid-air collision events.' There were 944,179 commercial operations at the airport between October 2021 and December 2024. Over that span, there were 15,214 occurrences or close-proximity events between commercial airplanes and helicopters, meaning aircrafts were within one nautical mile of colliding with a helicopter and vertical separation was less than 400 feet, according to the transportation board investigation. Two-thirds of the events occurred in the evening. 'We remain concerned about future midair collisions at [Ronald Reagan National Airport], which is why we are recommending a permanent solution today,' Homendy said. Homendy recommends the Federal Aviation Administration permanently prohibit helicopter travel along Route 4 between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge when two of the runways are being used for departures and arrivals at the airport. An alternative helicopter route that can be used to 'facilitate travel between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge when that segment of Route 4 is closed.' 'We've determined that the existing separation distances between helicopter traffic operating on Route 4 and aircraft landing on runway 33 are insufficient and pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety by increasing a midair collision at [Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport],' Homendy said. The Black Hawk's cockpit voice and flight data recorder does not record information about date, time or position, according to Homendy. The changes are needed amid ongoing concerns by the board about potentially more collisions occurring between helicopters and planes near Washington National Airport. 'As I mentioned in the press conference, there is inconsistency in the data, which led us to declare the press altitude parameter on the Black Hawk is invalid,' Homendy said. The NTSB continues to investigate the collision. 'Right now, we are still in the fact-finding phase of this investigation,' Homendy said. 'I often say, 'The easiest and quickest part of the investigation is determining what happened. The part that takes longer is the how and why.'' _____
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Deadly DC plane crash leads transportation safety board to make urgent recommendations
Helicopters should not be allowed to travel in a four-mile stretch over the Potomac River following the deadly air collision near Washington in January, according to urgent safety recommendations outlined by National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy on Tuesday. On Jan. 29, an American Airlines jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter carrying three soldiers while the plane was coming in for a landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport. The crash sent both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River. All 67 people aboard the two aircrafts were killed. 'Urgent recommendations require immediate action to prevent similar accidents or incidents,' Homendy said. 'When we issue them, we believe a critical safety issue must be addressed without delay. For this investigation, we're reviewing airport operations and prior incidents, including near-mid-air collision events.' There were 944,179 commercial operations at the airport between October 2021 and December 2024. Over that span, there were 15,214 occurrences or close-proximity events between commercial airplanes and helicopters, meaning aircrafts were within one nautical mile of colliding with a helicopter and vertical separation was less than 400 feet, according to the transportation board investigation. Two-thirds of the events occurred in the evening. 'We remain concerned about future midair collisions at [Ronald Reagan National Airport], which is why we are recommending a permanent solution today,' Homendy said. Homendy recommends the Federal Aviation Administration permanently prohibit helicopter travel along Route 4 between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge when two of the runways are being used for departures and arrivals at the airport. An alternative helicopter route that can be used to 'facilitate travel between Hains Point and the Wilson Bridge when that segment of Route 4 is closed.' 'We've determined that the existing separation distances between helicopter traffic operating on Route 4 and aircraft landing on runway 33 are insufficient and pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety by increasing a midair collision at [Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport],' Homendy said. The Black Hawk's cockpit voice and flight data recorder does not record information about date, time or position, according to Homendy. The changes are needed amid ongoing concerns by the board about potentially more collisions occurring between helicopters and planes near Washington National Airport. 'As I mentioned in the press conference, there is inconsistency in the data, which led us to declare the press altitude parameter on the Black Hawk is invalid,' Homendy said. The NTSB continues to investigate the collision. 'Right now, we are still in the fact-finding phase of this investigation,' Homendy said. 'I often say, 'The easiest and quickest part of the investigation is determining what happened. The part that takes longer is the how and why.'' _____
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
28 agencies were authorized to fly helicopters near Reagan Airport before deadly crash
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army was one of 28 government agencies authorized to fly helicopters near Ronald Reagan National Airport before its Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines passenger jet last week, killing 67. That constant helicopter traffic near such a busy airport is one of many aspects now under review by investigators. As the wreckage of both aircraft are recovered, authorities are also looking at why the helicopter may have been flying above a 200-foot flight restriction. More details are becoming clear, including that there was no rule on how far inland or over the water the helicopter could be. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Here's what investigators have found, including a new interview with a key Army aviation official: The unit is stretched thin The 12th Aviation Battalion based at Davison Army Air Field at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, has a classified mission to ensure continuity of government by getting certain officials to safety in case of an attack. It is also tasked with ferrying high-ranking government and military officials to bases throughout the region. The battalion is stretched thin, both for aircraft and personnel. It also flies older Black Hawks. Of the roughly 100 older UH-60L Black Hawk variants left in the Army's fleet of 2,000 Black Hawks, eight are assigned to the battalion. After the crash, there are seven. In addition, the unit has six newer UH-60M models known as 'gold tops.' NTSB: Night vision goggles likely used The crew was likely wearing night vision goggles at the time of the crash, National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday. Homendy said investigators listening to the recovered cockpit voice recorder do not hear the crew say they are flying 'unaided' — which they would have indicated if they did not have goggles on. In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the director of Army aviation and a former UH-60 Black Hawk pilot, said crews train to fly at night with or without the goggles. Whether to wear them is the call of the pilot in command, but if they are worn, all three crew members will have them on. 'Army policy says that as a crew, you will either all be goggled up or you'll all de-goggle together,' Braman said. Night vision goggles can make depth perception and determining the closing distance to an object more difficult as the lights appear as bright blooms that can be hard to distinguish. Crews train to handle those challenges, Braman said, and are taught to cross-check distance, such as by briefly looking out from under the goggles. Was a key altitude tracker turned off? After NTSB briefing Thursday, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said investigators told them the Black Hawk had ADS-B turned off. ADS-B, short for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, provides more accurate and real-time tracking of an aircraft's location, ground speed and altitude, whereas the radar sweeps of an aircraft can be delayed by several seconds. On a training mission, there was 'no compelling national security reason' for ADS-B to be turned off, Cruz said. A person familiar with that briefing said investigators did not confirm whether it was on or off. While military aircraft can turn ADS-B off in order to protect sensitive missions, it is supposed to be turned off only for limited circumstances. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to provide additional details about the private briefing. 'Route 4' corridor used by 28 agencies Braman said the Army's 12th Battalion is part of one of 28 agencies who use the low-altitude helicopter routes around Reagan National Airport. That includes the Department of Defense, individual military services, local, state and federal law enforcement, emergency medical services, the National Guard, Coast Guard and others. 'There is a very large amount of users,' Braman said. In the days since the crash the FAA has largely closed the airspace to military helicopter traffic, which the Army is dealing with by finding alternate routes. Colorado Republican Rep. Gabe Evans is a former Black Hawk pilot. As more data comes out in the course of the investigation, it can be used to adjust air traffic routes — but the military will still need to train, he said. 'We must find the balance between being a (priority air travel) air space and an air travel hub — while also making public safety the No. 1 priority,' Evans said. In addition, while any helicopter traveling on Route 4 — which runs along the Potomac River across from the airport — must adhere to the 200-foot altitude ceiling, there was no similar limitation in place for latitude. Early unofficial reports online had speculated the Black Hawk was too far inland or possibly too far over the water. But there's no guidance from the FAA on a lateral boundary, such as 'do not go over land' or 'do not fly over the center of the river' — something that may change as regulators continue to look into causes of the crash. What could explain the 300-foot altitude? The collision likely occurred at about 325 feet above ground, according to data collected from the passenger jet. The Black Hawk was supposed to fly no higher than 200 feet above ground — which has raised a lot of questions as to why it may have been above its limits. Some of that information is provided by a barometric altimeter, which provides the crew altitude information based on air pressure readings. In the older Black Hawks, crews check that the barometric altimeter is working before each flight by manually turning a knob to set the altimeter to the current pressure broadcast by the airfield they are taking off from. If the reading on the altimeter then varies from the airfield reading by more than 70 feet, the helicopter is out of compliance and should not fly, Braman said. The barometric altimeter is just one of two systems in the cockpit that would give the crew awareness of how high they were flying. The second, the radar altimeter, is based on the helicopter sending a radio frequency signal from an antennae to the ground and would have provided the crew additional real-time information on their height. As investigators go through the cockpit voice recorder data, they'll be able to determine if the barometric altimeter was set correctly, Braman said. Most Army helicopters, and particularly the older UH-60L variants, are not equipped with a modern traffic collision avoidance system, known as TCAS — because it's not as effective at the low altitudes that Army helicopters normally operate in, Braman said. Even if the Black Hawk had remained at its required altitude, 'it would never be permissible for an airplane to be landing above a helicopter at 200 feet,' Braman said, and there should have been additional deconfliction actions taken. —- Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak reported from New York.
The Independent
07-02-2025
- General
- The Independent
28 agencies were authorized to fly helicopters near Reagan Airport before deadly crash
The Army was one of 28 government agencies authorized to fly helicopters near Ronald Reagan National Airport before its Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines passenger jet last week, killing 67. That constant helicopter traffic near such a busy airport is one of many aspects now under review by investigators. As the wreckage of both aircraft are recovered, authorities are also looking at why the helicopter may have been flying above a 200-foot flight restriction. More details are becoming clear, including that there was no rule on how far inland or over the water the helicopter could be. Here's what investigators have found, including a new interview with a key Army aviation official: The unit is stretched thin The 12th Aviation Battalion based at Davison Army Air Field at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, has a classified mission to ensure continuity of government by getting certain officials to safety in case of an attack. It is also tasked with ferrying high-ranking government and military officials to bases throughout the region. The battalion is stretched thin, both for aircraft and personnel. It also flies older Black Hawks. Of the roughly 100 older UH-60L Black Hawk variants left in the Army's fleet of 2,000 Black Hawks, eight are assigned to the battalion. After the crash, there are seven. In addition, the unit has six newer UH-60M models known as 'gold tops.' NTSB: Night vision goggles likely used The crew was likely wearing night vision goggles at the time of the crash, National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Homendy told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday. Homendy said investigators listening to the recovered cockpit voice recorder do not hear the crew say they are flying 'unaided' — which they would have indicated if they did not have goggles on. In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, the director of Army aviation and a former UH-60 Black Hawk pilot, said crews train to fly at night with or without the goggles. Whether to wear them is the call of the pilot in command, but if they are worn, all three crew members will have them on. 'Army policy says that as a crew, you will either all be goggled up or you'll all de-goggle together,' Braman said. Night vision goggles can make depth perception and determining the closing distance to an object more difficult as the lights appear as bright blooms that can be hard to distinguish. Crews train to handle those challenges, Braman said, and are taught to cross-check distance, such as by briefly looking out from under the goggles. Was a key altitude tracker turned off? After NTSB briefing Thursday, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said investigators told them the Black Hawk had ADS-B turned off. ADS-B, short for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, provides more accurate and real-time tracking of an aircraft's location, ground speed and altitude, whereas the radar sweeps of an aircraft can be delayed by several seconds. On a training mission, there was 'no compelling national security reason' for ADS-B to be turned off, Cruz said. A person familiar with that briefing said investigators did not confirm whether it was on or off. While military aircraft can turn ADS-B off in order to protect sensitive missions, it is supposed to be turned off only for limited circumstances. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to provide additional details about the private briefing. 'Route 4' corridor used by 28 agencies Braman said the Army's 12th Battalion is part of one of 28 agencies who use the low-altitude helicopter routes around Reagan National Airport. That includes the Department of Defense, individual military services, local, state and federal law enforcement, emergency medical services, the National Guard, Coast Guard and others. 'There is a very large amount of users,' Braman said. In the days since the crash the FAA has largely closed the airspace to military helicopter traffic, which the Army is dealing with by finding alternate routes. Colorado Republican Rep. Gabe Evans is a former Black Hawk pilot. As more data comes out in the course of the investigation, it can be used to adjust air traffic routes — but the military will still need to train, he said. 'We must find the balance between being a (priority air travel) air space and an air travel hub — while also making public safety the No. 1 priority,' Evans said. In addition, while any helicopter traveling on Route 4 — which runs along the Potomac River across from the airport — must adhere to the 200-foot altitude ceiling, there was no similar limitation in place for latitude. Early unofficial reports online had speculated the Black Hawk was too far inland or possibly too far over the water. But there's no guidance from the FAA on a lateral boundary, such as 'do not go over land' or 'do not fly over the center of the river' — something that may change as regulators continue to look into causes of the crash. What could explain the 300-foot altitude? The collision likely occurred at about 325 feet above ground, according to data collected from the passenger jet. The Black Hawk was supposed to fly no higher than 200 feet above ground — which has raised a lot of questions as to why it may have been above its limits. Some of that information is provided by a barometric altimeter, which provides the crew altitude information based on air pressure readings. In the older Black Hawks, crews check that the barometric altimeter is working before each flight by manually turning a knob to set the altimeter to the current pressure broadcast by the airfield they are taking off from. If the reading on the altimeter then varies from the airfield reading by more than 70 feet, the helicopter is out of compliance and should not fly, Braman said. The barometric altimeter is just one of two systems in the cockpit that would give the crew awareness of how high they were flying. The second, the radar altimeter, is based on the helicopter sending a radio frequency signal from an antennae to the ground and would have provided the crew additional real-time information on their height. As investigators go through the cockpit voice recorder data, they'll be able to determine if the barometric altimeter was set correctly, Braman said. Most Army helicopters, and particularly the older UH-60L variants, are not equipped with a modern traffic collision avoidance system, known as TCAS — because it's not as effective at the low altitudes that Army helicopters normally operate in, Braman said. Even if the Black Hawk had remained at its required altitude, 'it would never be permissible for an airplane to be landing above a helicopter at 200 feet,' Braman said, and there should have been additional deconfliction actions taken. —-
