The father of one of the American Airlines Flight 5342 pilots, whose plane collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. says he believes the helicopter crew made a “grave error.” Timothy Lilley, father of American Airlines pilot Sam Lilley, is himself a former military pilot.
Lilley notes that visibility over the Potomac River in the nation’s capital can be difficult at night, especially if the Black Hawk pilots were using night vision goggles. “From what I can see, those guys turned right into the jet. I think the PSA jet was doing everything right. The Army pilot made a grave error. It hurts me because those are my brothers, and now my son is dead,” Timothy Lilley said in an interview with local news.
The latest revelations in the deadly air crash—in which all 60 American Airlines passengers, four crew, and three military personnel are presumed dead—suggest the Black Hawk was flying at too high of an altitude as it moved to cross over the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport. Video of the crash appears to show the Black Hawk at an altitude of around 300 feet instead of the limit of 200 feet as it turns directly into the commercial flight that was on descent for landing at the airport.
Additionally, there is some speculation that the Black Hawk pilots may have misidentified another plane as American Airlines Flight 5342, leaving them unaware of the actual incoming aircraft—despite warnings from the airport’s control tower. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has begun investigating the crash, alongside other agencies, aiming to determine the cause. An FAA report disclosed that only one air traffic controller was present at the airport during the collision, which the agency marked as “not normal.”
