Thirteen mysterious seconds – can solve the riddle

The helicopter pilot confirmed that he sees Flight 5342.

13 seconds later, a gasping sound is heard from the air traffic control tower.

In between, the disaster is done – and possibly the answer to the riddle.

Just hours after the crash in the US capital, President Trump has already seemed to accuse both the air traffic controllers and the helicopter crew for mistakes in connection with the tragedy that killed 67 people.

He believes that the bid for “gender equality reasons” reduced the qualification requirements for air traffic controllers during his time as president.

Horrible scenes along the river

Trump also questioned why the helicopter crew failed to weigh away the arriving aircraft.

Now it is up to the NTSB, the American Accident Investigation Board, to investigate what went terribly wrong in the air over Washington DC.

During Thursday morning local time when daylight returned, horrible scenes were played along the Potomac River.

Wreck parts bounced in the water. Divers managed to get the broken cabin on the aircraft. Body parts floated along the beach on the Virginia side of the river, says CBS News reporter in place.

Figure skaters and hunters on board

The helicopter lay up and down in the water, but seemed to be relatively intact. The two military pilots were still stuck in their seats.

American Eagle Flight 5342, which flew on behalf of American Airlines, had been in the air for two hours and 30 minutes when the crash occurred during the approach to the Reagan airport.

Then at 20.48 was local time during Wednesday evening.

Until the last seconds, the flight from Wichita in Kansas had been normal.

The flight was almost fully booked.

60 of the 65 seats on the Bombardier CRJ700 plane were booked by figure skating people, a bunch on their way home after a hunting trip and other passengers.

The crew consisted of four more people, two pilots in the cockpit and two in the cabin crew.

13 central seconds

The plane was about to go down on the runway 33 when the collision in the air, which was seen by lots of shocked witnesses in the capital, was a fact.

A military helicopter of the type Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, with three people on board, was on training assignments and flew at low altitude along the Potomac River.

Sound recordings between the air traffic control tower and the traffic in the air around the airport can be crucial in getting answers to the riddle.

Both the aircraft and the helicopter were equipped with a black box where all possible flight data and communication within the crew are preserved.

But communication from the air traffic control tower has already been released, says CNN.

And it shows that it was 13 seconds from the helicopter confirming that the Bombardier plane was seen to cross each other’s paths and collided in the air.

“Has the aircraft in sight”

Communication shows that the air traffic controller was in contact with both the helicopter (Pat 2–5) and the Bombardier plane (CRJ).

– Pat 2–5, do you see CRJ? asks the air traffic controller.

– Pat 2–5, pass behind CRJ, then says.

– Pat 2–5 has aircraft in sight, confirms the helicopter pilot.

After the 13 seconds, a gasping sound is heard from the air traffic control tower.

So far, time in between is a mystery.

The eyewitness Ari Schulman was sitting in the car on his way home when he saw the collision.

Leaning to the right

– I saw the plane and everything seemed normally. It was just on the way over land, maybe 35 meters above the water. Seconds later, the plane leaned right to the right. More than 90 degrees, he tells CNN.

– I could see the underside. It was lit up in a strong orange glow and it was a spark rain under it. Then everything got dark.

Trump’s newly appointed Transport Minister Sean Duffy says at a press conference that nothing abnormally discovered in the communication between the tower and both air vessels before the crash.

They must also have flown according to normal path.

New Defense Minister Pete Hegseth says that the helicopter crew was “relatively experienced” and out on a normal training assignment.

Staff shortage in the tower

The fact that it has previously been close to an accident at the Reagan airport has been given much attention in American media. The airspace over the capital is crowded and lots of planes and helicopters pass over the area every day.

A clue to the disaster may be found in the staff shortage in the airport’s air traffic control tower.

The New York Times states that the workforce during the accident evening “was not normal”. One person had the assignment to do two people’s jobs during the current shift.

For the investigators of the Accident Investigation Board, this is not a job like everyone else.

Not only is the accident the deadliest air crash in more than 15 years on American soil.

The accident site is about a kilometer from NTSB’s headquarters.