Verified audio shows moments before helicopter and plane collidedpublished at 14:01 Greenwich Mean Time
By Jake
Horton, BBC Verify
We have verified two pieces
of audio from the control tower overseeing air traffic at Ronald Reagan
Washington National Airport.
The timing of the audio –
uploaded to a website which logs air traffic control communications – matches
the timing of the collision at about 01:48 GMT (20:48 ET local time).
In one clip you hear what
appears to be an air traffic controller say: “PAT 2-5 [helicopter] CRJ
[passenger aircraft] in sight… PAT 2-5 responding CRJ.”
This is followed by what
appears to be the helicopter pilot saying: “The aircraft is in sight,
requesting visual separation.”
About 15 second later in the
clip you can hear what appears to be someone in the background say “ooh”.
In a separate recording from
the control tower, you can hear additional dialogue in the moments before the
crash. What appears to be a flight controller says: “PAT 2-5 CRJ in
sight… PAT 2-5 pass behind CRJ.”
Shortly after you hear an
“ooh” – as in the first clip – and then about 12 seconds later someone says:
“Tower did you see that?”
