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NTSB Silent On Black Hawk’s ADS-B Status

Avionics gear on the Army Black Hawk helicopter was recovered Friday.

 

Russ Niles

Updated Feb 9, 2025 4:06 AM EST

 

NTSB video screenshot

The NTSB has declined to confirm statements by Sen. Ted Cruz that the crew of an Army Black Hawk helicopter had the aircraft's ADS-B Out transmitter "turned off" when it was in a collision with a PSA CRJ700 at Reagan National Airport in late January. The NTSB said in a media update on Saturday that it has recovered all the big pieces of wreckage from both aircraft and "retrieved additional avionics" from the Black Hawk but it's still not discussing the status of the ADS-B components at the time of the crash. "We don’t have any information to share on that at this time," an NTSB spokeswoman told AVweb. "The examination of key components for both aircraft is ongoing.  No conclusions have been drawn at this time."

 Chair Jennifer Homendy said something similar on Friday but that was before the recovery of the wreckage was completed. The spokeswoman said there is no timeline set for discussing that information.

Cruz, who is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, told reporters on Thursday that he'd been briefed on the accident and appeared to be linking the status of the transmitter to the chain of events ending with the collision. "This was a training mission, so there was no compelling national security reason for ADS-B to be turned off," Cruz said, adding that he's "asked the Army to reconsider and assess with what frequency is the Army turning off ADS-B Out on military missions, particularly missions that do not have a sensitive national security component."

The ADS-B Out's status is part of the discussion of the helicopter's altitude. The corridor it was flying had a ceiling of 200 feet but the CRJ's flight data recorder had it at 325 feet, plus or minus 25 feet, at the time of the collision. "The investigation needs to proceed," Cruz said. "We need to understand why that is the case." As part of that investigation the NTSB has examined an airworthy "exemplar" Black Hawk from the Army to "compare switch and other settings from the accident helicopter."

In 2019, the FAA issued a rule that allows the military broad discretion on when they disable ADS-B Out. They make considerable use of that discretion according to plane spotters who report that military aircraft often fail to be depicted on any of the major ADS-B tracking websites.

AIRWAYS

Osman Jamil

Feb 3, 2025

DALLAS — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continues its investigation into the fatal midair collision between an American Airlines (AA) CRJ-700 regional jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (CDA). 

According to the NTSB, there are substantial differences in altimeter readings from various sources. The CRJ-700 flight recorder depicted an altitude reading for the aircraft as 325 feet, whereas it had an uncertainty of plus-minus 25 feet. 

Conversely, the control tower's data stated the Black Hawk's altitude at 200 feet. Since readings taken by a control tower are mostly approximate, the NTSB could obtain more accurate information from the Black Hawk's black box, which sustained water damage as the helicopter plunged into the Potomac River.

In addition to the black box data, the NTSB investigation will consider eyewitness accounts and recorded communications to determine whether two aircraft were on a collision course. NTSB investigator Brice Banning said this case is too complex and has been analyzed in detail since then. 

Multiple factors, such as air traffic control directives, pilot decision-making, and possible mechanical failures, must be considered.

Final Moments Before the Crash

Data from the CRJ-700 flight show how the pilots reacted seconds before impact. The cockpit voice recorder indicates that at this moment, the flight crew was alerted to the helicopter and initiated evasive action by raising the aircraft pitch. Still, nothing could stop the collision. An impact sound is present one second after before the data abruptly terminates.

The aircraft, carrying 64 passengers and crew, could not complete its final approach from Wichita, Kansas due to the Black Hawk reportedly flying off its assigned track with three soldiers on board during a training mission.

According to an earlier New York Times report, the helicopter may have been flying higher than usual during the crash.

Recovery Efforts, Identification of Victims

Rescue and salvage operations have been going on ever since the crash, where teams work through the clock to take out bodies and airplane rubble from the Potomac River. To date, 55 victims have been recovered, identified, and their bodies taken on board. 

As of Sunday February 2, efforts were still ongoing to find the remaining bodies believed to be trapped inside the fuselage submerged in the plane. Salvage barges, or cranes, will start lifting out the airplane wreckage from the river on Monday morning.

Among the victims were passengers as young as 11 years old, union workers, and foreign nationals from the Philippines and China. The tragedy has left a profound impact on families and communities across multiple nations as investigators work to determine the sequence of events that led to the fatal collision.

Next Steps in the Investigation

According to the NTSB, the investigation will take a few months, but preliminary findings may be reported in the next couple of weeks. The final report will likely be released within more than a year with a complete crash analysis.

The analysis of both aircraft's radar data, cockpit voice recordings, and maintenance records will continue. The collision will also be simulated to understand the accident's dynamics better.

Further, the families of the deceased have been assured that they will be informed throughout the investigation. Meanwhile, aviation safety officials have promised to implement all NTSB's final report recommendations to avoid future catastrophes.

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