The control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on Wednesday evening alerted the military helicopter twice to the presence of an American Airlines plane: once two minutes before impact, the other 12 seconds before the crash. The Washington Post revealed this after listening to recordings of the exchanges between air traffic controllers and the Black Hawk .
Now the mystery lies in the fact that both times the crew responded that they could see the plane and requested "visual separation" , that is, permission to maintain a safe distance.
However, around 8:48 p.m. (Washington time), approximately 12 seconds after the second warning from the control tower, the helicopter crashed into the American Airlines aircraft and both fell into the Potomac River .
The air tragedy that occurred in the Italian night between Wednesday and Thursday left 67 dead: 60 passengers and 4 crew members of the American Airlines flight, plus 3 soldiers inside the helicopter.
(Online Union)