An air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had seen American Airlines Flight 5342 just seconds before the tragedy.
This marked the end of the plane’s communication with air traffic control.
As would have been standard procedure if the training mission had been real, the Black Hawk chopper’s technology that would typically aid air traffic control in better tracking the helicopter was likewise turned off.
The Army’s director of aviation, Brig. Gen. Matthew Braman, has stated unequivocally that a number of factors ultimately played a role in the crash.
“I believe what we’ll discover in the end is that there were several things that, if any one of them had been different, could have very well changed the outcome of that evening,” he stated.
