The flight tracking system of a US Army Black Hawk helicopter was turned off before it collided with an American Airlines flight on the night of January 29, killing 67 people on both planes, according to Senator Ted Cruz.
UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter equipped with modern surveillance system
Called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), the technology broadcasts the Black Hawk helicopter's location, altitude and speed, allowing air traffic controllers to track details of the aircraft's movements.
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, has been briefed on the investigation into the recent Washington, D.C., air crash by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Responding to several American newspapers such as USA Today and The New York Times today, February 7 (Vietnam time), Mr. Cruz expressed concern about the ADS-B system on the helicopter being turned off.
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ADS-B allows air traffic controllers to have additional reference data in addition to radar, which can have data delays of several seconds, and thus provides another layer of protection for helicopters.
"It was a training flight, so there was no reason to turn off ADS-B on the helicopter," Cruz said after a meeting with the NTSB and FAA.
The ADS-B system also includes a display that shows pilots the location of other aircraft in the sky or on the runway.
The helicopter crashed during a routine training mission. Data suggests the Black Hawk from Wichita, Kansas, may have been flying higher than its maximum altitude for the mission, which is just 200 feet.
Authorities have now recovered all major parts of the helicopter and the American Airlines passenger plane from the Potomac River. Investigators hope to learn more about the aviation tragedy once they have access to the helicopter wreckage.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tham-kich-o-my-truc-thang-black-hawk-tat-he-thong-giam-sat-hanh-trinh-truoc-vu-tai-nan-185250207111630141.htm
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