U.S. Senator Jerry Moran released a statement on the three day investigative hearing into the January 29th mid air collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Blackhawk helicopter that killed 67 people, including 7 Kansans. Moran says despite numerous warnings signs of serious problems, little was done to correct them:
Moran says long-term staffing issues at the control tower were compounded by a culture of distrust among air traffic controllers and a toleration for unacceptable risks; found inaccurate altitude readings on the helicopter; and discovered the ADS-B Out technology was not transmitting on the Blackhawk likely due to faulty equipment that the Army failed to identify and has now been found to be an issue on numerous other Army helicopters as well. He assured that Congress will not let these failures go unanswered.
