A CRUCIAL safety system was turned off on the military helicopter that smashed into an American Airlines passenger plane and killed 67 people last week, Senator Ted Cruz has said.
The Black Hawk had its automatic dependent surveillance broadcast turned off during the horrific midair collision, Cruz, the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said.
Salvage crews sifted through the Potomac River in Washington DC and retrieved flight data after a mid-air collision that killed 67 people
As of Wednesday, the wreckage from the passenger plane and Black Hawk was still being pulled from the waters
Cruz gave the update to reporters after a closed-door briefing by the National Transportation Safety Board.
He said it's unclear why the helicopter turned off the key tech system, which helps aircraft determine its position.
"This was a training mission, so there was no compelling national security reason for ADS-B to be turned off," Cruz said, according to Reuters.
NTSB told The U.S. Sun they refuse to speculate on Cruz's comment as the Black Hawk hasn't been recovered from the wreckage in the Potomac River yet.
"More information will become available when most of the aircraft, including the helicopter, is recovered and examined. The recovery efforts are ongoing," the agency said.
2 comments:
A safety system turned off, chopper flying 100 feet too high and the chopper veers to the right hitting the plane. Something smells...another Kara Hultgreen or something worse.
It sure looked like it was flown right into the plane. If there was someone on board that was a problem for…. Then maybe it was intentional, but…. That does not seem to be the case. Must have been poor training or a missed check by the helo pilot. Probably never know why helo was out of flight and too high. Terrible loss on innocent people with so much future ahead of them. Now at least GOD has them safely in his hands..
Post a Comment