Originally Posted by
PuraVidaTransport
If the Army pilots mistook another aircraft for the CRJ they were warned of at least three times, can someone look at the radar and explain which aircraft they thought was the CRJ? I see none they could have possible been watching instead. Considering the distance from one warning to the next and the Army pilot's assurance of seeing the CRJ both times, I don't see how any light on the ground could have been their focus either.
AAL3130 on final to runway 1. The diagram at my
#432 shows how there was only 12 degrees difference in bearing between it and the CRJ. Someone else did a reconstruction showing that the differences in height and range made the elevation angles similar too. It's very difficult to judge distance at night (and impossible on NVGs). And unlike the CRJ, the AAL was pointing directly towards the helo so its landing lights would have looked brighter.
I suspect the helicopter's gradual turn to the right was a result of the pilots fixating on AAL3130 and instinctively flying to pass just behind it, without realising how far away it was.
Edit: this is the reconstruction which shows the similarity in elevation. Captain Steve and Juan Browne have put forward the same theory on their channels but without quite the same compelling graphics.