Data Indicates That The Pilots Of The American Airlines Plane Tried One Last Time To Save Everyone Just Before The Deadly Crash

According to data, in a last-ditch effort to save everyone on board, Captain Jonathan Campos and First Officer Samuel Lilley rushed towards the military helicopter at 140 mph.

At 8:47 p.m. ET on Wednesday, January 29, a PSA Airlines aircraft, which is owned by American Airlines, collided with a Black Hawk helicopter that was transporting three US soldiers on a training trip.

 

Flight 5342, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington, DC, was en route to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when the mid-air collision happened.

It was the first major aviation incident in the United States in 16 years and the deadliest plane accident since 2001 when the wreckage of the plane and the chopper landed into the Potomac River. No survivors were discovered, even though 300 first responders tried to provide assistance.

 

Data from the aircraft’s black box shows that 34-year-old pilot Campos and his 28-year-old co-pilot Lilley attempted to raise the plane in the final seconds before the disaster.

During a press conference on Saturday, February 1, Todd Inman, a representative of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said, “There was a slight change in pitch, an increase in pitch, at one point very close to the impact.”

Furthermore, the safety board claims that the first data from the aircraft’s flight recorder (via CNN) did not match the control tower’s report of the plane’s height at the time of the disaster.

The control tower recorded the helicopter’s height at 200 feet at the time of collision, while the flight recorder reported it at roughly 325 feet.

If the crash did happen at 325 feet, it would have meant that the helicopter had risen above the 200-foot maximum altitude at which helicopters are allowed to fly in the area, though investigations are still ongoing.

They don’t have the data from the helicopter, Iman added. “Obviously an impact occurred, and I would say when an impact occurs, that is typically where the altitude of both aircraft were at the moment.”

Prior to the crash, Campos had a phone conversation with his uncle.

John Lane, his uncle, told the MailOnline that he spoke with his nephew “for ten minutes” as he boarded the aircraft and that he “sounded really happy.”

“I can’t believe it,” he said. He sounded really content. He was excited to take a cruise on the cruise liner Icon of the Seas the following week.

To accompany him on the trip, ten family members were scheduled to go to Florida. There was supposed to be a huge party.

 

In response to the event, American Airlines issued the following statement:

“American Eagle Flight 5342 was involved in an accident at DCA while it was traveling from Wichita, Kansas (ICT) to Washington, D.C. (DCA).” PSA Airlines flew the flight with a CRJ-700.

The aircraft carried four crew members and sixty passengers. We are worried about the crew and passengers on the plane. We are communicating with law enforcement and supporting emergency response activities.

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