Air traffic controllers required to ‘make it work’ dealing with stream of planes before deadly crash, NTSB hearing uncovers

Washington DC CNN The National Transportation Safety Board will question spectators Thursday about air traffic control training a key part of the study into January s deadly midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport It s the second of three days of investigative hearings into what happened in the accident that killed people That night the Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot informed air traffic controllers they could see the American Airlines regional jet operated by PSA Airlines and would avoid it but moments later they collided It s still remarkably hard to identify aircraft when you are flying testified Rich Dressler of Metro Aviation which operates biological helicopters in Washington We use traffic alerts and traffic monitoring systems in our helicopters all the DC operators the civilian and law enforcement side But on January the Black Hawk didn t have its ADS-B tracking transmissions turned on which was a common practice Dressler disclosed helicopter pilots who flew in the Washington area all recognized each other and he was wary of that military unit Is there any unit that when you hear it makes you feel uncomfortable urged Brian Soper NTSB investigator Sadly yes Dressler responded And as I explained the previous evening I don t like saying this I ll say it again on the record I m a former Army aviator and I m a retired Air Force officer and I don t like saying that th aviation battalion gives us all pause in the public And I m speaking from my group there we are all very uncomfortable when those two units are operating We just make it work Multiple air traffic controllers and pilots at Reagan National Airport described the NTSB in on-site interviews they struggled with the constant stream of planes according to Brian Soper NTSB investigator This is we just make it work because we don t have another choice he disclosed There are airplanes coming in and everything was related to the threshold the demand or the amount of traffic He solicited the FAA representative in the hearing what that phrase meant to him As far as a controller perspective and my own personal perspective making it work is utilizing all available tools to you to compensate for the compacted volume explained Clark Allen air traffic control specialist with the FAA Before the accident he stated making it work was routine It can be taxing on a person you know constantly having to give give give or push push push in order to efficiently move traffic Clark noted On Wednesday the day began with an overview of the matter including an -minute detailed timeline of the moments before the helicopter and regional jet collided midair NTSB members later questioned eyewitnesses for the Army and Federal Aviation Administration The NTSB also published thousands of pages of information gathered during the examination including cockpit voice recorder transcripts that detail the final moments before the collision The transcripts proved one second before the collision the helicopter s instructor had explained the pilot to change lesson The helicopter direction at the time of the collision allowed the Black Hawk to fly as close as feet below planes descending to land on runway at Reagan National Airport according to the NTSB In hours of questioning Wednesday the NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy grew frustrated with chosen of the answers given by representatives of the FAA and Army After the hearing concluded for the day she notified reporters she has concerns there is a safety lifestyle difficulty in both Army aviation and the air traffic organization of the FAA The hearing also uncovered that Army helicopters would regularly fly below aircraft that were descending to land at Reagan National Airport and they sometimes used civilian heliports without authorization I don t have concerns about the leadership but I think they have issues below the leadership with respect to flying underneath aircraft Homendy informed reporters Wednesday night At no point should there ever be helicopters flying underneath civilian aircraft that are departing and landing on any runway any runway in the national airspace I m concerned that if it s happening here that it s happening somewhere else Sixty-seven people died in the accident over the Potomac River including passengers and four crew members on the plane and three soldiers on the helicopter The NTSB will meet again on Friday A determination of what caused the crash will come in January