Data from the deadliest U.S. air accident in a generation show conflicting altitude readings

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1idrvqu/radar_tracking_of_aa5342_and_pat25_before_and/

Priority Air Transport, even it got priority it doesn't mean it will be invincible on the air, there's physical law need to be considered.

reddit?

that’s like quoting comments from here as a serious source.

Captain Rebecca M. Lobach, 28, of Durham, North Carolina, is the third soldier on board the doomed helicopter.

Bird strikes, poor visibility, overcrowded airspace. . . Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This could happen to anyone.

...and blamed diversity initiatives for undermining air safety,....

What sort of leader would pronounce such when bodies are still being recovered?

Fodder for the devotees.

Truthfulness has never been counted among the political virtues, and lies have always been regarded as justifiable tools in political dealings.... Hannah Arendt

This could happen to anyone.

Yeah, now that Trump's meddling little fingers are deep in the government cookie jar. I'm no Nostradamus, but the worst is yet to come on the felon's watch.

This could happen to anyone.

Yeah, now that Trump's meddling little fingers are deep in the government cookie jar. I'm no Nostradamus, but the worst is yet to come on the felon's watch.

An investigation needs to explain why both aircraft were flying at the same altitude.

In a generation? There was just another incident in Philly.

The helicopter was flying to high and no one in the helicopter spotted the plane in time. Is it deliberate or a failure of the instruments?

It’s just bad luck. The airspace there is overcrowded and the visibility is limited at best together with flying at high speeds. Human error being what it is makes it more a question of when, unfortunately.

An investigation needs to explain why both aircraft were flying at the same altitude.

That goes without saying and is obviously ongoing. It's far too early to be drawing ANY final conclusions, one can only speculate but it seems that the helicopter may have been flying too high. However, time will tell and there will be discussion regarding barometric altimeters and radio altimeters, etc.

tower data has a low refresh rate compared to flight data recorder.

As more and more data and information comes out, it's looking to be more and more like a sequence of unfortunate circumstances which led to this. Possible faulty equipment, a history of near misses at this already heavily used airport, extreme conditions, etc. What Trump's nonsensical assumption of DEI hires has only done is stoked hatred against women, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, the LGBTQ community, and the underprivileged. Trump should look in the mirror to see if he himself actually hired people who were qualified, and not because they may be his family, friends, or people who like him.

The investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board is a long process and we should wait for their findings. They are a trusted group who will make their judgements based on facts and the truth; something that Trump knows nothing about.

It won't matter if the actual, qualified, fact first investigators find that the helicopter was at 200 ft, and the plane descending faster than it was supposed to crossed the altitude line into the helicopter, or that both were off their altitudes, and their altimeters slightly off, Trump has declared and that's all that matters to some people.

Whatever the outcome the one thing that must change is that these aircraft must never be allowed to fly so close, even if they are flying at permitted separation. I just can't understand why there is a system which allows a helicopter to fly so close to a landing passenger aircraft. It seems that flying at 200ft through the glideslope of an aircraft which is at 300ft is OK; 100ft separation is OK??

The helicopter was flying to high and no one in the helicopter spotted the plane in time. Is it deliberate or a failure of the instruments?

It looks like the jet was 100 feet too low.

An aircraft altimeter displays an altitude adjusted for barometric pressure. The pilot has to enter the local sea level barometric pressure into the instrument for it to display the correct altitude above mean sea level, give or take 50 feet. The sea level barometric pressure is available by tuning the radio to what is called ATIS, for Automatic Terminal Information System which is a recording of current weather, winds, what runway is active, any restrictions and the barometric pressure. In addition approach control may also give you an "altimeter setting" when clearing you for an instrument approach. We do not know what altimeter settings the two aircraft were using and if perhaps one was incorrect. The helicopter also probably has a radar altimeter (Navy helos do, don't know about Army helos) that tells you your distance above terrain. It could be a situation where the Army helo was using an altimeter setting they entered on take off and the jet was given another altimeter setting. Their altimeters could have both been showing their respective pilots they were at the required altitudes and yet both could be wrong. That is a question the mishap investigators will seek to answer.

Aircraft instrumentation isn't perfect. There's a range of "accuracy" for each instrument and local conditions and other considerations can impact that accuracy. Most of the time, it isn't THAT important, until it is absolutely critical.

DT knows much more about this.

Their altimeters could have both been showing their respective pilots they were at the required altitudes and yet both could be wrong.

200 ft vertical separation just isn't sufficient for a busy airspace with poor visibility and crossing flight paths. A better answer would be to not have crossing flight paths without 1ft separation, minimal, so provide greater buffers for instrument and pilot mistakes.

From the peanut gallery, that seems to be the simple answer.