Ex-Black Hawk Pilot Pushes for Collision Avoidance System in Military Aircrafts
A former Black Hawk helicopter operator has suggested the U.S. military install collision avoidance systems into military aircrafts. On Wednesday night, a Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight…
A former Black Hawk helicopter operator has suggested the U.S. military install collision avoidance systems into military aircrafts.
On Wednesday night, a Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight as it made its decent into Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington D.C. around 9 p.m. EST, plunging into the Potomac River with all 67 passengers onboard both aircraft now presumed dead.
Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mich.) a former Black Hawk helicopter pilot, told “Fox & Friends First” on Friday that military aircrafts should have systems put into them to avoid any future collisions.
“One thing I am interested in looking at is should we outfit our military aircraft with the collision avoidance system that the civilian airliners have,” Barrett said. “Those systems only work if the two aircraft can talk to one another through their transponders. If one has it and one doesn’t, oftentimes that won’t alert the other pilot that there could be a midair collision.”
“Would it have prevented this accident? That is a question that remains open right now, but these are all things that we need to gather more facts around,” Barrett said.