Expert names possible cause of US plane crash

The pilot of the helicopter that collided with a passenger plane in the United States could have mistaken a bright moving light in the sky for an aircraft, which may have caused the tragedy. This was stated by aviation analyst and former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo in an interview with CNN on January 31.

The expert reviewed the video provided by CNN, which depicts the moment of collision of the aircrafts. She noted that there is a bright moving light source in the video and suggested that the helicopter pilot could have mistaken it for the aircraft he was supposed to be tracking.

"When I first watched the video, my attention was focused on the moving light, not the stationary light, which was not actually stationary. It's all about the observation position. There are concerns that the helicopter pilot could have focused on the brighter moving light and mistaken it for the aircraft he was supposed to be tracking," Schiavo said.

She also noted that night flights present many challenges because at night pilots primarily pay attention to moving lights that can distract them.

On the night of Jan. 30, an American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. They fell into the Potomac River after the crash. There were 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the plane. According to the latest data, more than 40 bodies of the victims were extracted from the river.

US President Donald Trump reported the absence of survivors in the airplane crash in Washington. He called the crash horrific and said the tragedy could have been avoided if the control tower had told the helicopter crew to change course.

CNN said that one of the flight recorders (black boxes) of the crashed passenger plane had been recovered from the Potomac River.