The military helicopter that collided with an American Airlines flight over Washington, DC, was flying nearly twice as high as it should have been — but the Black Hawk was not equipped with a new technology that would have alerted air traffic control to its dangerously deviated path, The Post can reveal.
The revelations come as questions plague the Pentagon over why the Army would allow its pilots to train in an area home to the most densely trafficked air path convergences in the country — and as the Federal Aviation Administration prohibited most helicopter traffic in the area as the deadly midair collision continues to be investigated.
The Black Hawk chopper was flying more than 300 feet above the Potomac River Wednesday night when it smashed into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport-bound Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan., as the plane was landing, killing 67 people aboard both aircraft. Aviation guidelines require helicopters on that route to stay below 200 feet.