Capt Sully – famed for heroic NYC river landing – reveals crucial  factor in DC jet crash & says ‘everything is harder’

THE aviator famed for his heroic level landing connected a New York stream has suggested a important complication could person been a origin successful the American Airlines pitchy crash.

All 64 radical connected committee the level were killed erstwhile it collided with a helicopter implicit Washington DC's Potomac River connected Wednesday night.

Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger said visibility could person been hampered arsenic determination would person been "fewer crushed lights disposable implicit the h2o than implicit onshore astatine night".

He added: "It mightiness person made it a small spot harder to see. But that’s supposition. We don’t know."

The erstwhile pilot, renowned for safely landing a rider level connected the Hudson River successful 2009, said "everything is harder" astatine night.

He told the New York Times: "Nighttime ever makes things antithetic astir seeing different craft — fundamentally each you tin bash is spot the lights connected them. 

More connected the level crash

"You person to effort to fig out: Are they supra you oregon beneath you? Or however acold away?

"Or which absorption are they headed?"

Investigators are now analyzing achromatic container data and collecting debris from the wreckages successful the stream arsenic they effort to pinpoint what caused the disaster.

It was the archetypal fatal level clang successful the US for astir 16 years.

Captain Sully said: "We’ve had to larn important lessons virtually with humor excessively often, and we had yet gotten beyond that, to wherever we could larn from incidents, and not accident."

A series of evident errors person besides been pointed to arsenic grieving families of the 67 victims hold for answers.

New Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy admitted the clang was "absolutely" preventable.

Air postulation power staffing numbers were "not normal", according to an archetypal Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) report.

The controller who was directing helicopters was besides instructing planes connected Wednesday night, erstwhile these jobs are typically assigned to 2 people.

Experts person said instructions from the relation could person been clearer arsenic the level came to onshore astatine Ronald Reagan Airport.

Less than 30 seconds earlier the crash, 1 controller asked the chopper if it could spot the plane.

They said: "'PAT 2-5, bash you person the CRJ successful sight?"

The controller made different telephone to the chopper conscionable moments later, saying: "PAT 25 walk down the CRJ."

Seconds later, the level and Black Hawk chopper collided.

The chopper is understood to person been flying extracurricular its approved way - and could person been excessively high.

And conscionable a time earlier the crash, a rider formation had to abort a landing astatine the airport.