DC plane crash data show conflicting altitude readings from American Airlines jet and military helicopter

Preliminary flight data from the deadly mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter in Washington, DC has shown a significant discrepancy in altitude readings between the aircraft upon collision.

Data from the flight recorder inside American Eagle flight 5342 suggested it was cruising at about 325ft, with a 25ft margin of error on either side, when the aircraft collided over the Potomac River, adjacent to Reagan National Airport at 8:53 p.m. last Wednesday, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

However, data gathered from the air traffic control tower read that the military helicopter was flying at an altitude of about 200ft upon colliding with the commercial plane. The approximate 100ft discrepancy has not yet been explained.

Officials hope that flight data from the Black Hawk’s black box may reconcile the altitude differences. Investigators are working to extract moisture from the device which was retrieved from the Potomac River Thursday.

Two black boxes from the American Airlines plane were also recovered with a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder being taken for lab analysis, the NTSB said Friday. They also said they plan to refine the tower data, which could be less reliable.

The agency’s investigator in charge of the case, Brice Banning, said the plane's “crew had a verbal reaction” with an increase in pitch – the upward movement of the aircraft’s nose – recorded, followed by the sounds of impact one second later. It is not immediately clear whether it meant the pilots were trying to avoid the crash.

The Independent has contacted the NTSB for more information.

Officials have not yet unveiled the cause of the collision that is believed to have taken the lives of 67 passengers and crew traveling on the two aircraft, with 55 bodies being recovered from the Potomac River’s icy waters by Saturday evening.

However, President Donald Trump said Friday that the Black Hawk helicopter was flying “too high” and “far above its 200 foot limit.” He added: “That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???”

People with knowledge of the matter admitted that the helicopter was flying 100 feet above its maximum altitude, according to The New York Times.

A preliminary report by the Federal Aviation Administration also found that staffing at the Ronald Reagan Airport air traffic control tower was “not normal” at the time of the deadly collision between the aircraft.

An air traffic controller was given the job of two people after one worker clocked off early on the evening of the crash, a source told The Times.

All 64 people aboard the American Airlines jet and three aboard the Army helicopter are believed to have died after the aircraft crash

On Sunday, DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said divers still need to find the bodies of 12 victims who are unaccounted for.

Teenage figure skating stars, a civil rights attorney and a former beauty pageant winner were among those killed in the devastating crash.

Mourners gathered at the end of Runway 33 – where Flight 5342 was meant to land – in a private memorial held for the loved ones of the victims on Sunday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was set to oversee crews begin lifting the rest of the American Airlines regional jet from the bottom of the Potomac River on Monday, Colonel Francis Pera told the Washington Post.