Black Hawk safety feature was off during mid-air collision with passenger plane over DCA: report

During the mid-air collision between the US Black Hawk helicopter and the commercial American Airlines flight near Reagan International Airport, a key safety system was reportedly off in the military aircraft.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) told reporters the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast system (ADS-B), permitted in military aircraft, had been turned off during the crash, according to the New York Post. “This was a training mission, so there was no compelling national security reason for ADS-B to be turned off," Cruz said of the situation.

ADS-B is an advanced surveillance system that is able to track other aircraft and their locations and is significantly more accurate than radar tracking systems. The helicopter had been flying around 100 feet above the maximum limit at the time of the crash and it was reportedly a half-mile off course.

Since 2018, military aircraft have been able to fly with their ADS-B systems off, which was questioned in a hearing last week by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA). The pilot of the helicopter was reportedly wearing night-vision goggles at the time of the crash.

During the collision last week, both aircraft came tumbling down into the Potomac River below. There were 67 people in total both on the plane and the helicopter, there were no survivors from the crash. In the crash's aftermath, the FAA has enacted restrictions for helicopter flights around the Reagan airport. In addition to this, two runways have remained closed in the clean-up and recovery effort. Since that time, there was a small plane crash in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that took at least seven lives as well as injured several others.