Black Hawk helicopter pilots likely using night-vision before crash

The pilots of the US Army helicopter that collided with an American Airlines Group Inc. regional jet near Washington last week were likely wearing night-vision goggles at the time of the accident.

Preliminary information including the type of mission they were flying and crew communications indicates the pilots were using the device, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday.

Cockpit voice recordings did not capture pilots of the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk stating that they were “flying unaided,” which flight crews would typically say when operating the aircraft without the devices. 

The use of night-vision goggles is a potentially important factor in unraveling why the crash occurred because they can limit peripheral vision.

Homendy stressed that the information is preliminary and a probable cause won’t be identified until the NTSB’s probe is complete. 

The detail is another piece of evidence about what proceeded the worst US civil aviation disaster in decades. The two aircraft slammed into each other midair before crashing into the Potomac River, killing 67 people.

The NTSB has already said the American jet was flying at about 325 feet — plus or minus 25 feet — above the river at the time of the midair collision. Radar and other data indicate the Black Hawk was also flying around that altitude, above a 200-foot limit imposed on helicopter flights in that area near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.