The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held yesterday a press conference with the media regarding the investigation into the tragic collision between the Bombardier CRJ-700 airplane and the Sikorsky H-60 military helicopter that occurred last Wednesday above Washington. The chairman of the NTSB, Jennifer Homendy, expressed her condolences to the families of the victims, confirming the collaboration with all the different government agencies. The head of the investigation is Bryce Banning, senior aviation accident investigator, who stated that a preliminary report of the facts will be made available within the next 30 days; the final report will be published later.

As usual, several working groups have been established. The "operations" team will focus on flight history and crewmember duties, while the "structures" team will document the wreckage and analyse the impact. The "helicopter" team will focus on rotorcraft-specific aspects, while the human performance team will look at human factors, such as fatigue or lack of training. The "powerplant" and "systems" teams will look at the engines, their components, hydraulics, electrical systems and flight control systems, respectively. Air traffic control communications and flight data will be examined by the air traffic control team. Finally, the survival factors team will assess emergency response and rescue operations.

According to local press reports, it appears that the black boxes of both aircraft were recovered tonight, which will now be analyzed to reconstruct the dynamics of the tragedy; in the meantime, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has provided data relating to air traffic control operations in the corridor at the time of the collision.

Another significant detail that has emerged concerns the control tower: it seems that a single person was simultaneously managing two different stations, dealing with both local air traffic and that relating to helicopters.

Homendy concluded the conference with a call for patience and understanding, emphasizing that every detail must be carefully verified before definitive conclusions can be made.

See for details AVIONEWS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.