A former air traffic controller claimed the tragic D.C. plane crash that killed 67 people was entirely the fault of air traffic control (ATC) because they gave incorrect instructions.
In an appearance on Newsmax Friday, former ATC operator Michael Pearson explained how the communications of air traffic control revealed the mid-air collision was not the fault of the American Airline pilots or the black hawk helicopter pilots.
“It’s 100% air traffic control’s fault. It’s not only me, but approximately 45 current FAA managers and air traffic controllers agree with me. I spent about six hours looking at the data track and listening to the voice tapes the very night it happened,” Pearson said.
“Before the media, it was very apparent to me, and I can tell you exactly why air trafficking did not issue proper traffic instructions.”
After playing a snippet of the ATC audio, host Greg Kelly pointed out the ATC operator failed to detail the path of an American Airline CRJ-700 passenger jet and position of the aircrafts to each other.
“Not only that,” Pearson said, “you have to have a means of separation ensured both before and after the application of visual separation; they had none. They should have kept that helicopter at least 500 feet or a mile and a half longitudinally from that airplane.”
Pearson, now a private pilot, also noted the ATC operator failed to quickly respond to the alarm warning of a collision alert triggered by the intersecting paths between the two aircraft.
“Last but not least, the data track shows that the conflict alert was going off as these two airplanes were emerging, courses headed toward each other,” Pearson pointed out. “There’s a loud CA, and it flashes on your screen, it’s red, and there’s a very loud, it’s like a smoke alarm going off, audible warning in that tower. And it looks to me like that, seven to nine seconds, that was going off, and the controller failed to undertake what’s called merging target procedures.”
This comes after reports emerged that a supervisor at the Reagan National Airport tower let an air traffic controller leave early from his shift shortly before Wednesday night’s deadly collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter over the Potomac River that left 67 dead.
Additionally, understaffed and overworked air traffic control crews have long been an issue at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, according to lawmakers and former operators.
RELATED: Army Refuses to Identify Female Black Hawk Pilot Killed in DC Collision
Be sure to visit TheAlexJonesStore.com for merch, nutraceuticals and more!