I heard 1 of those Press Briefings where that Fat Guy in between his sobbing about having to deal with the relatives of the dead, quickly referenced a roughly "3-4 second refresh rate" there inside the Control Tower. It wouldn't surprise me if they were using old technology inside that control tower. Maybe, whatever the Air Traffic Controller is eyeballing on his screen is actually a few seconds Behind the current position of the plane(s)/copter(s) in the sky? I am still trying to figure out how as commanded, the copter could fly" behind" the jet airplane. The copter was heading roughly S and the Jet Airplane was heading roughly N. How does one get Behind the other when they are moving almost directly toward each other? As yet, I have Not heard a name attached to that Air Traffic Controller, yrs of experience, Nothing. And, they have also dropped mention of why they were understaffed inside the control tower by 30%, or why someone left "early". Once again, the Fake Newser's have danced over to other "stuff" like battering Trump for Tariffs that were Never imposed.
It seems to me that the controller was probably anticipating the left turn of the airliner to line up with the runway. And the controller probably thought that all the helicopter would have had to do was slow down enough to let the plane turn left in front of him. Then the helicopter could have passed behind the plane. (Much the same as you should do if, upon approaching an intersection of two roads in an automobile, someone turns left in front of you and you need to slow down a little in order to give the other automobile a little time to get out of your way.)
It appears to me that the controller was told by the helicopter pilot that the he had the plane in sight (although, sadly, it appears he was looking at the wrong plane approaching another runway). Therefore most people, who are knowledgeable about these things, believe the controller did all that was required. Otherwise, if the helicopter pilot had not indicated he had the plane in sight, I think the controller should have (and would have) given the helicopter pilot explicit instructions to help him avoid a collision.
It appears to me that the helicopter was climbing at the time of the collision. It appears to me that it had been at the 200-feet altitude and inexplicably began to climb shortly before the collision. If that’s the case, and the pilot was in the right-hand seat, the plane would have been approaching the helicopter’s position from high and to the left of the helicopter (especially after the helicopter began it’s apparent right-hand turn). That might have been a blind spot for the helicopter pilot. Otherwise, it seems to me that the helicopter pilot should have seen the plane and avoided the collision.
The investigation should shed some light on all the aspects. Hopefully a preliminary finding will be forthcoming before long.
