Chilling ATC audio reveals Black Hawk helicopter was alerted to plane's presence minutes before collision

WASHINGTON, DC: A nearly full Bombardier CRJ700 jet of the American Airlines approached Runway 33 of the Reagan National Airport, just south of the capital, around 8.48 pm on January 29, Wednesday, when it collided midair with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying a crew of three on a training flight.

Videos captured the sky enveloped in a red-orange fireball, followed by smoke and burning debris. The two aircraft plunged into the Potomac River below and sadly 67 lives were lost. 

According to recently released air traffic control audio, the military Black Hawk helicopter pilot claimed to have seen the American Airlines passenger airliner and repeatedly asked for permission to maneuver around it without additional ground backup.

In the video below around the 4.48-minute mark you can hear one of the air traffic controllers say, "Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three," indicating the two aircraft had collided.  

ATC audio reveals Black Hawk helicopter was notified of American Airlines flight

At about 8.43 pm on Wednesday, an air traffic controller at Reagan National contacted the jet.

“Can you take Runway 33?” the controller asked, directing the plane to a shorter runway that intersects the busy main runway.

“Yeah, we can do 33,” the pilot responded.

“Can confirm Runway 33, Runway 33 cleared to land …”

According to radio recordings, air traffic controllers warned the approaching US Army helicopter twice that an American Airlines jet was approaching.

The first warning was given two minutes prior to the airplanes colliding on Wednesday night, January 29, close to Reagan National Airport.

The audio from the ATC illustrates how the helicopter deliberately requested "visual separation" from the passenger aircraft, the CRJ (Canadair Regional Jet) while utilizing the code Priority Air Transport 25 (PAT-25).

This indicates that the pilot of the helicopter asked for permission to continue, assuming responsibility for keeping an eye out for and avoiding the airliner, per Sky News.

Helicopter crew was asked, 'PAT-25, do you have the CRJ in sight?'

Although the audio recordings are difficult to comprehend due to the poor quality, aviation experts who examined the communications for The Washington Post reported that each time, a Black Hawk helicopter crew member replied that he could see the plane and asked for "visual separation", which meant the crew would keep a safe distance. And, the request was approved each time.

The final conversations between the three crew members of the helicopter, call sign PAT25, before its collision with the CRJ700 Bombardier plane carrying 64 passengers and crew, were captured on audio from LiveATC.net, a reputable source for in-flight recording. Listen to the audio below: 

Air traffic control (ATC) asked if they could see the passenger plane, and the request was made in response.

ATC: "PAT-25, do you have the CRJ in sight? PAT-25, pass behind the CRJ."

PAT-25 : "PAT25 has the traffic in sight [unintelligible], request visual separation."

ATC: "Confirmed."

Did the helicopter have time to avoid the American Airlines plane?

A short while later, the helicopter repeated this identical request after air traffic control once more warned them of the location of the CRJ passenger jet.

ATC: "PAT-25, there's traffic just south of the Wilson Bridge, CRJ is at 1,200ft setting up for Runway 33.

PAT-25: "Requesting visual separation."

ATC: "Visual separation approved."

It is not clear if the helicopter (PAT-25) was responding to the wrong aircraft.

Another air traffic controller is heard saying, "PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ," in another clip at 8:47 pm (ET) on Wednesday, January 29.

The radio transmissions indicate that the  Black Hawk had enough time to avoid the plane, according to three aviation experts.

That the helicopter crew said it would do so but did not, experts told The Post, suggests that the crew may have been talking about something else — such as another aircraft in the area — and not the American Airlines flight as mentioned by the air traffic controller.

A few seconds later, a different plane called air traffic control, presumably in reference to the crash, asked, "Tower, did you see that?"

The jets were then diverted to go around Reagan Washington National Airport's runway 33 by an air traffic controller.

The planes crashed several hundred feet above the Potomac River at around 8.48 pm, 12 seconds after the control tower's second notice.

"I don't know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach into 33. We're going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future," said another controller.

The helicopter may have been flying at a lower altitude

The Black Hawk was reportedly flying at a low altitude along Route 4 along the eastern shore of the Potomac which is reserved as a special corridor for law enforcement, medevac, military, and government helicopters. Helicopters in the corridor must be at or below 200 feet above sea level.

The military helicopter may have been flying outside its approved flight path, at a higher altitude than it was supposed to be, and at least half a mile off the approved route, the New York Times reported.

A different aircraft almost struck helicopter just 24 hours before American Airlines collision

Confusion had also resulted from the helicopters and passenger jets being mixed up near the airport just twenty-four hours earlier.

Another American Airlines aircraft, flight 4514, had to make an evasive maneuver to avoid a helicopter close to the airport on the evening of January 28.

The plane made a safe landing on the second try. The alleged helicopter was then seen 40 seconds later at 1,600 feet in the air, having turned away from the airliner.

The US National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a number of factors, including staffing at the airport's air traffic control tower, as part of its probe into Wednesday's tragedy.

According to Sky's US partner network, one air traffic controller left work early on the day of the collision. There was reportedly only one person remaining to keep an eye on helicopter and airplane traffic.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) first study on the incident, staffing at Reagan Washington National Airport was "not normal" before the accident.