Figure Skating
- Thread starter bob the dog
- Start date
Probably wouldn't have saved them in that plane crash.
Also, what the fuck happened there? Seems like some sort of fuck up in what is supposed to be the world's richest and most powerful country.
Maybe the President was right in his comments today.
America's worst plane crash since 2001.
Also, what the fuck happened there? Seems like some sort of fuck up in what is supposed to be the world's richest and most powerful country.
Maybe the President was right in his comments today.
America's worst plane crash since 2001.
Last edited:
JFC - you think DEI is the reason for the crash?
I bet you've got no clue what it takes to be an ATC, do you?
You're even stupider than I thought.
Yep, safest country for aviation on the planet.
Well, you know who was President when it happened.
Sing it for me, now!
"It's not his FAAAAUUUUULLLLTTTT!"
Of course not. It's Biden's fault. And Obama's. Trump said so.
Pilots have long worried about D.C.’s complex airspace
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Ryan J. Foley, Jim Mustian And Michael Biesecker
Published Jan 30, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 5 minute read
WASHINGTON — The airspace around Washington, D.C., is congested and complex — a combination aviation experts have long worried could lead to catastrophe.
Those fears materialized Wednesday night when an American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter, taking the lives of 67 people, including three soldiers and more than a dozen figure skaters.
Even in peak flying conditions, experts said, the airspace around Reagan Washington National Airport can challenge the most experienced pilots, who must navigate hundreds of other commercial planes, military aircraft and restricted areas around sensitive sites.
“This was a disaster waiting to happen,” said Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines captain and chief executive officer of Aero Consulting Experts. “Those of us who have been around a long time have been yelling into a vacuum that something like this would happen because our systems are stretched to extremes.”
There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision, but officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas. Investigators have already begun examining every aspect of the crash, including questions about why the Army Black Hawk helicopter was 100 feet above its permitted altitude and whether the air traffic control tower was properly staffed. A Federal Aviation Administration report obtained by The Associated Press described staffing levels as “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.”
As authorities piece together the nation’s deadliest U.S. airline crash since 2001, the tragedy has raised new concerns about the specific dangers at Reagan National, which has seen a series of near-misses in recent years. Experts and some lawmakers said they are concerned that the airspace is about to get more congested in the wake of Congress’ decision last year to ease restrictions that had limited the airport to nonstop flights within 2,012 kilometres of Washington, with few exceptions.
Lawmakers enabled airlines to launch new routes to destinations like Seattle and San Francisco. The plan fueled intense debate about congestion versus convenience, with some legislators heralding new flights to their home states while others warned of potential tragedy. The flight that crashed Wednesday was not part of the expansion. It was added by American Airlines in January of last year amid a push by Kansas lawmakers for more service between Reagan National and Wichita.
Airliners and helicopters in close proximity
Commercial aircraft flying in and out of Reagan National have long had to contend with military helicopters traversing the same airspace within at-times startling proximity.
“Even if everybody is doing what they’re supposed to be doing, you’ve only got a few hundred feet separation between aircraft coming in to land and the many helicopters along that route,” said Jim Brauchle, a former U.S. Air Force navigator and aviation attorney. “It doesn’t leave a whole lot margin of error.”
Pilots have long warned of a “nightmare scenario” near the airport with commercial jetliners and military helicopters crossing paths, especially at night when the bright lights of the city can make seeing oncoming aircraft more difficult.
Retired U.S. Army National Guard pilot Darrell Feller said the deadly collision reminded him of a near-miss he experienced a decade ago when he was flying a military helicopter south along the Potomac River near Reagan National.
An air traffic controller advised him to be on the lookout for a jetliner landing on Runway 3-3, an approach that requires planes to fly directly over the route used by military and law enforcement helicopters transiting the nation’s capital.
Not always easy to spot airliners
Feller was unable to pick out the oncoming jetliner against the lights of the city and cars on a nearby bridge. He immediately descended, skimming just 50 feet over the water to ensure the descending jetliner would pass over him.
“I could not see him. I lost him in the city lights,” Feller, who retired from the Army in 2014, recounted Thursday. “It did scare me.”
Feller’s experience was eerily similar to what experts said may have happened with the crew of the Army helicopter Wednesday shortly before 9 p.m. as they flew south along the Potomac and collided with an American Airlines Flight 5342 landing at Runway 3-3.
As the American Airlines jet approached the airport, air traffic controllers asked its pilots if they could land on Runway 3-3 rather than the longer — and busier — north-south runway. The jet’s pilots altered their approach, heading over the east bank of the Potomac before heading back over the river to land on 3-3.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the Army helicopter if it had the American Airlines plane in sight, and the military pilot responded that he did. The controller then instructed the Black Hawk to pass behind the jet. Seconds after that last transmission, the two aircraft collided in a fireball.
Feller, who served as an instructor pilot for the D.C. National Guard, said he had several rules for new pilots to avoid such collisions. He warned them to stay below the mandated 200-foot ceiling for helicopters. And he urged them to be on guard for planes landing on 3-3 because they could be difficult to spot.
Those planes’ “landing lights are not pointed directly at you,” Feller said, adding that those lights also get “mixed up with ground lights, with cars.”
Not the first such deadly crash
Wednesday’s crash was reminiscent of a deadly collision in 1949, when Washington’s airspace was considerably less crowded. A passenger plane on final approach to what is now Reagan Airport collided with a military plane, plunging both aircraft to the Potomac River and killing 55 people. At the time, it was the deadliest air crash in the U.S.
Jack Schonely, a retired Los Angeles Police Department helicopter pilot, said he’s been a passenger on helicopter rides through D.C. and was always struck by how complicated it seems for the pilots.
“You’ve got two large airports. You’ve got multiple restricted areas. You’ve got altitude restrictions. Routine restrictions, and a lot of air traffic,” he said. “There’s a lot going on in a tight area.”
Robert Clifford, an aviation attorney, said the U.S. government should temporarily halt military helicopter flights in the airspace used by commercial airlines near Reagan National.
“I can’t get over how stunningly clear it is that this was a preventable crash and this should never, ever have occurred,” Clifford said. “There have been discussions for some time about the congestion associated with that and the potential for disaster. And we saw it come home last night.”
— Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa. Associated Press journalists Michael R. Sisak and Joseph Frederick in New York, Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Ryan J. Foley, Jim Mustian And Michael Biesecker
Published Jan 30, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 5 minute read
WASHINGTON — The airspace around Washington, D.C., is congested and complex — a combination aviation experts have long worried could lead to catastrophe.
Those fears materialized Wednesday night when an American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter, taking the lives of 67 people, including three soldiers and more than a dozen figure skaters.
Even in peak flying conditions, experts said, the airspace around Reagan Washington National Airport can challenge the most experienced pilots, who must navigate hundreds of other commercial planes, military aircraft and restricted areas around sensitive sites.
“This was a disaster waiting to happen,” said Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines captain and chief executive officer of Aero Consulting Experts. “Those of us who have been around a long time have been yelling into a vacuum that something like this would happen because our systems are stretched to extremes.”
There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision, but officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas. Investigators have already begun examining every aspect of the crash, including questions about why the Army Black Hawk helicopter was 100 feet above its permitted altitude and whether the air traffic control tower was properly staffed. A Federal Aviation Administration report obtained by The Associated Press described staffing levels as “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.”
As authorities piece together the nation’s deadliest U.S. airline crash since 2001, the tragedy has raised new concerns about the specific dangers at Reagan National, which has seen a series of near-misses in recent years. Experts and some lawmakers said they are concerned that the airspace is about to get more congested in the wake of Congress’ decision last year to ease restrictions that had limited the airport to nonstop flights within 2,012 kilometres of Washington, with few exceptions.
Lawmakers enabled airlines to launch new routes to destinations like Seattle and San Francisco. The plan fueled intense debate about congestion versus convenience, with some legislators heralding new flights to their home states while others warned of potential tragedy. The flight that crashed Wednesday was not part of the expansion. It was added by American Airlines in January of last year amid a push by Kansas lawmakers for more service between Reagan National and Wichita.
Airliners and helicopters in close proximity
Commercial aircraft flying in and out of Reagan National have long had to contend with military helicopters traversing the same airspace within at-times startling proximity.
“Even if everybody is doing what they’re supposed to be doing, you’ve only got a few hundred feet separation between aircraft coming in to land and the many helicopters along that route,” said Jim Brauchle, a former U.S. Air Force navigator and aviation attorney. “It doesn’t leave a whole lot margin of error.”
Pilots have long warned of a “nightmare scenario” near the airport with commercial jetliners and military helicopters crossing paths, especially at night when the bright lights of the city can make seeing oncoming aircraft more difficult.
Retired U.S. Army National Guard pilot Darrell Feller said the deadly collision reminded him of a near-miss he experienced a decade ago when he was flying a military helicopter south along the Potomac River near Reagan National.
An air traffic controller advised him to be on the lookout for a jetliner landing on Runway 3-3, an approach that requires planes to fly directly over the route used by military and law enforcement helicopters transiting the nation’s capital.
Not always easy to spot airliners
Feller was unable to pick out the oncoming jetliner against the lights of the city and cars on a nearby bridge. He immediately descended, skimming just 50 feet over the water to ensure the descending jetliner would pass over him.
“I could not see him. I lost him in the city lights,” Feller, who retired from the Army in 2014, recounted Thursday. “It did scare me.”
Feller’s experience was eerily similar to what experts said may have happened with the crew of the Army helicopter Wednesday shortly before 9 p.m. as they flew south along the Potomac and collided with an American Airlines Flight 5342 landing at Runway 3-3.
As the American Airlines jet approached the airport, air traffic controllers asked its pilots if they could land on Runway 3-3 rather than the longer — and busier — north-south runway. The jet’s pilots altered their approach, heading over the east bank of the Potomac before heading back over the river to land on 3-3.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the Army helicopter if it had the American Airlines plane in sight, and the military pilot responded that he did. The controller then instructed the Black Hawk to pass behind the jet. Seconds after that last transmission, the two aircraft collided in a fireball.
Feller, who served as an instructor pilot for the D.C. National Guard, said he had several rules for new pilots to avoid such collisions. He warned them to stay below the mandated 200-foot ceiling for helicopters. And he urged them to be on guard for planes landing on 3-3 because they could be difficult to spot.
Those planes’ “landing lights are not pointed directly at you,” Feller said, adding that those lights also get “mixed up with ground lights, with cars.”
Not the first such deadly crash
Wednesday’s crash was reminiscent of a deadly collision in 1949, when Washington’s airspace was considerably less crowded. A passenger plane on final approach to what is now Reagan Airport collided with a military plane, plunging both aircraft to the Potomac River and killing 55 people. At the time, it was the deadliest air crash in the U.S.
Jack Schonely, a retired Los Angeles Police Department helicopter pilot, said he’s been a passenger on helicopter rides through D.C. and was always struck by how complicated it seems for the pilots.
“You’ve got two large airports. You’ve got multiple restricted areas. You’ve got altitude restrictions. Routine restrictions, and a lot of air traffic,” he said. “There’s a lot going on in a tight area.”
Robert Clifford, an aviation attorney, said the U.S. government should temporarily halt military helicopter flights in the airspace used by commercial airlines near Reagan National.
“I can’t get over how stunningly clear it is that this was a preventable crash and this should never, ever have occurred,” Clifford said. “There have been discussions for some time about the congestion associated with that and the potential for disaster. And we saw it come home last night.”
— Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa. Associated Press journalists Michael R. Sisak and Joseph Frederick in New York, Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.
'This was a disaster waiting to happen': Pilots have long worried about D.C.’s complex airspace
"This was a disaster waiting to happen," said Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines captain.
Pilots have reported repeated close calls similar to fatal collision near D.C. airport
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Tara Copp, Michael R. Sisak And Aaron Kessler
Published Jan 31, 2025 • 5 minute read
WASHINGTON — Airline pilots flying into Washington, D.C., have reported nearly a dozen near misses that were scarily similar to this week’s midair collision that killed 67 people — the type of close calls that led one aviator to complain that Reagan National Airport was “probably the most dangerous” in the nation.
An Associated Press review of a federal database that catalogs such concerns found scores of reports over the last two decades of near-misses and warnings about congested skies over the nation’s capital, with pilots repeatedly complaining about military helicopters getting too close to passenger jets.
Last May, one of those helicopters passed just 300 feet (91 metres) below a commercial airliner, triggering a cockpit collision avoidance alert and prompting the jet’s pilot to file a report in the Aviation Safety Reporting System, a database maintained by NASA that allows pilots and crew to submit voluntary, anonymous and confidential safety concerns.
“I never saw it,” the jetliner pilot wrote, adding that he “never received a warning” about the helicopter from air traffic controllers.
Such complaints highlighted the tension that has developed between commercial airline pilots unnerved by the helicopters and the military units that have critical national security duties and must maintain flying skills to execute them.
It is not clear if federal authorities were aware of such concerns or took any steps to mitigate the risks. But on Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration paused almost all helicopter flights from operating near the airport, with exceptions for police and emergency response. The president’s helicopter transport, Marine One, is also exempt.
The pause came after an Army Black Hawk helicopter on a nighttime training run collided with an American Airlines jet that was about to land at the airport Wednesday night, plunging both into the dark, cold Potomac River. No one survived.
Investigators are examining whether the helicopter was flying higher than its allowed limit and whether control tower staffing was an issue. A preliminary FAA report noted that one controller was performing duties typically handled by two people at certain times of the day.
In the week before the crash, at least two planes had to abort landings because helicopters got too close. In the days since, some officials have questioned why the military flies so close to the airport.
“I have not yet heard a good reason why military helicopters are doing training exercises in the same airspace as commercial airliners — at night and with peak congestion. I hope these exercises in Reagan airspace will be suspended indefinitely until the investigation is complete,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tweeted.
More than a half dozen military, federal and local agencies operate helicopters in the airspace near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and they need those same air routes to train for and execute their missions, current and former Army pilots said.
The Black Hawk lost in the collision was part of Fort Belvoir’s Virginia’s 12th Aviation Battalion, which “has had some classified, very important missions related to our nation’s worst day,” said Brad Bowman, a Black Hawk pilot who served in 12th Aviation Battalion for two years, referring to 9/11. “You want to have training be as realistic as possible. And that means trying to replicate what you’re actually going to be doing when you conduct your mission.”
In an attack, the unit is tasked with ensuring continuity of government by getting officials to secure locations, which means being able to fly officials from the White House, Pentagon and other locations. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bowman took part in managing some of those flights, he said.
“Anyone who suggests that we can’t have military helicopters flying in Washington, D.C., doesn’t understand national security and the threats we confront and what is necessary to defend our citizens,” Bowman said.
The unit also ferries high-ranking military and government officials around the region, missions that are flown “every day by multiple aircraft,” said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation. “The Pentagon’s right there. And we have to go in and pick up Pentagon leaders.”
Wednesday’s crash — and the reports in the federal database _ highlighted the unique challenges of flying into Reagan National Airport. It has been described by some as a postage stamp of an airport, with water on three sides and constant congestion along the busy Potomac River corridor.
Though it’s been upgraded with modern terminals and other amenities, the bustling airport is an aviation relic dating to the era before World War II, when all planes had propellers and airstrips were built on small footprints close to downtowns.
The AP’s review of the NASA database found that commercial airline pilots repeatedly lodged concerns about the congested airspace and the risks of helicopters and planes flying in close proximity.
Reagan Airport “is probably the most dangerous airport in the United States,” one pilot wrote in 2015. “The controllers are pushing, pushing, pushing in an attempt to handle the traffic they have.”
Low-level military helicopter traffic in the area “complicates matters,” the pilot said.
In another 2015 incident, a jetliner pilot reported a near-midair collision with a helicopter after being instructed to land on Runway 3-3 instead of Runway 1, the airport’s main north-south landing strip. It was the same type of scenario that preceded Wednesday’s crash.
The co-pilot took the controls and maneuvered the plane “to prevent it from becoming a midair collision,” the pilot wrote, adding that a wider approach to the airport “would have almost definitely ended in the collision of two aircraft.”
After frantically working to avoid a similar collision in 2013, an air traffic controller wrote in the database that “our helicopter operation is an abomination of the picture of safe aircraft movement.”
Such incidents — and repeated warnings about helicopter traffic near the airport — had led pilots and others in the aviation industry to grow complacent about the risks, another pilot wrote in the database.
“What would normally be alarming at any other airport in the country,” the pilot reported, “has become commonplace.”
— AP reporter Michael Biesecker contributed from Washington.
torontosun.com
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Tara Copp, Michael R. Sisak And Aaron Kessler
Published Jan 31, 2025 • 5 minute read
WASHINGTON — Airline pilots flying into Washington, D.C., have reported nearly a dozen near misses that were scarily similar to this week’s midair collision that killed 67 people — the type of close calls that led one aviator to complain that Reagan National Airport was “probably the most dangerous” in the nation.
An Associated Press review of a federal database that catalogs such concerns found scores of reports over the last two decades of near-misses and warnings about congested skies over the nation’s capital, with pilots repeatedly complaining about military helicopters getting too close to passenger jets.
Last May, one of those helicopters passed just 300 feet (91 metres) below a commercial airliner, triggering a cockpit collision avoidance alert and prompting the jet’s pilot to file a report in the Aviation Safety Reporting System, a database maintained by NASA that allows pilots and crew to submit voluntary, anonymous and confidential safety concerns.
“I never saw it,” the jetliner pilot wrote, adding that he “never received a warning” about the helicopter from air traffic controllers.
Such complaints highlighted the tension that has developed between commercial airline pilots unnerved by the helicopters and the military units that have critical national security duties and must maintain flying skills to execute them.
It is not clear if federal authorities were aware of such concerns or took any steps to mitigate the risks. But on Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration paused almost all helicopter flights from operating near the airport, with exceptions for police and emergency response. The president’s helicopter transport, Marine One, is also exempt.
The pause came after an Army Black Hawk helicopter on a nighttime training run collided with an American Airlines jet that was about to land at the airport Wednesday night, plunging both into the dark, cold Potomac River. No one survived.
Investigators are examining whether the helicopter was flying higher than its allowed limit and whether control tower staffing was an issue. A preliminary FAA report noted that one controller was performing duties typically handled by two people at certain times of the day.
In the week before the crash, at least two planes had to abort landings because helicopters got too close. In the days since, some officials have questioned why the military flies so close to the airport.
“I have not yet heard a good reason why military helicopters are doing training exercises in the same airspace as commercial airliners — at night and with peak congestion. I hope these exercises in Reagan airspace will be suspended indefinitely until the investigation is complete,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., tweeted.
More than a half dozen military, federal and local agencies operate helicopters in the airspace near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and they need those same air routes to train for and execute their missions, current and former Army pilots said.
The Black Hawk lost in the collision was part of Fort Belvoir’s Virginia’s 12th Aviation Battalion, which “has had some classified, very important missions related to our nation’s worst day,” said Brad Bowman, a Black Hawk pilot who served in 12th Aviation Battalion for two years, referring to 9/11. “You want to have training be as realistic as possible. And that means trying to replicate what you’re actually going to be doing when you conduct your mission.”
In an attack, the unit is tasked with ensuring continuity of government by getting officials to secure locations, which means being able to fly officials from the White House, Pentagon and other locations. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bowman took part in managing some of those flights, he said.
“Anyone who suggests that we can’t have military helicopters flying in Washington, D.C., doesn’t understand national security and the threats we confront and what is necessary to defend our citizens,” Bowman said.
The unit also ferries high-ranking military and government officials around the region, missions that are flown “every day by multiple aircraft,” said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation. “The Pentagon’s right there. And we have to go in and pick up Pentagon leaders.”
Wednesday’s crash — and the reports in the federal database _ highlighted the unique challenges of flying into Reagan National Airport. It has been described by some as a postage stamp of an airport, with water on three sides and constant congestion along the busy Potomac River corridor.
Though it’s been upgraded with modern terminals and other amenities, the bustling airport is an aviation relic dating to the era before World War II, when all planes had propellers and airstrips were built on small footprints close to downtowns.
The AP’s review of the NASA database found that commercial airline pilots repeatedly lodged concerns about the congested airspace and the risks of helicopters and planes flying in close proximity.
Reagan Airport “is probably the most dangerous airport in the United States,” one pilot wrote in 2015. “The controllers are pushing, pushing, pushing in an attempt to handle the traffic they have.”
Low-level military helicopter traffic in the area “complicates matters,” the pilot said.
In another 2015 incident, a jetliner pilot reported a near-midair collision with a helicopter after being instructed to land on Runway 3-3 instead of Runway 1, the airport’s main north-south landing strip. It was the same type of scenario that preceded Wednesday’s crash.
The co-pilot took the controls and maneuvered the plane “to prevent it from becoming a midair collision,” the pilot wrote, adding that a wider approach to the airport “would have almost definitely ended in the collision of two aircraft.”
After frantically working to avoid a similar collision in 2013, an air traffic controller wrote in the database that “our helicopter operation is an abomination of the picture of safe aircraft movement.”
Such incidents — and repeated warnings about helicopter traffic near the airport — had led pilots and others in the aviation industry to grow complacent about the risks, another pilot wrote in the database.
“What would normally be alarming at any other airport in the country,” the pilot reported, “has become commonplace.”
— AP reporter Michael Biesecker contributed from Washington.
Pilots have reported repeated close calls similar to fatal collision near D.C. airport
Airline pilots flying into D.C. have reported nearly a dozen near misses that were scarily similar to this week's midair collision.
It's the busiest airspace in the world. Controllers gotta be on their game and be the best you ever saw. And that means "Aryans only."
Too bad Trump imposed DEI on controllers in 2019.
It's Bidenobama's fault.
Too bad Trump imposed DEI on controllers in 2019.
It's Bidenobama's fault.
Relying heavily on technology to aid them in their job with a plan for control bult in to the design of the program.
What it did make me think about was how important was it for those people to attend a figure skating competition half way across the country. I understand competition but this surely illustrates the ludicrous pursuit of a superficial priority.
Stay home and work in the garden is time better spent. But there is the industry that needs to be fed....
Most air travel is "superficial." Holidays. Business meetings that could be done just as well on-line (or not at all). Suchlike.
Trump suggested that it could be one of many reasons why this happened. They'll find out when the investigation is complete.
Well it's not his fault even tho' he's being blamed. He's been in office, what 9 days? So of course it's his fault.
Of course not. It's Bidenobamatrudeau's fault.
You do understand that the FAA's DEI policy was implemented on 11 April 2019, right? I wonder who was President then?
This is probably at stupid question but: Why wouldn't the military construct its own airport further away? For VIP's they could then use vehicles to get them to where they need to go. It seems to me an obvious solution but then, what do I know?Pilots have long worried about D.C.’s complex airspace
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Ryan J. Foley, Jim Mustian And Michael Biesecker
Published Jan 30, 2025 • Last updated 1 day ago • 5 minute read
WASHINGTON — The airspace around Washington, D.C., is congested and complex — a combination aviation experts have long worried could lead to catastrophe.
Those fears materialized Wednesday night when an American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter, taking the lives of 67 people, including three soldiers and more than a dozen figure skaters.
Even in peak flying conditions, experts said, the airspace around Reagan Washington National Airport can challenge the most experienced pilots, who must navigate hundreds of other commercial planes, military aircraft and restricted areas around sensitive sites.
“This was a disaster waiting to happen,” said Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines captain and chief executive officer of Aero Consulting Experts. “Those of us who have been around a long time have been yelling into a vacuum that something like this would happen because our systems are stretched to extremes.”
There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision, but officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas. Investigators have already begun examining every aspect of the crash, including questions about why the Army Black Hawk helicopter was 100 feet above its permitted altitude and whether the air traffic control tower was properly staffed. A Federal Aviation Administration report obtained by The Associated Press described staffing levels as “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.”
As authorities piece together the nation’s deadliest U.S. airline crash since 2001, the tragedy has raised new concerns about the specific dangers at Reagan National, which has seen a series of near-misses in recent years. Experts and some lawmakers said they are concerned that the airspace is about to get more congested in the wake of Congress’ decision last year to ease restrictions that had limited the airport to nonstop flights within 2,012 kilometres of Washington, with few exceptions.
Lawmakers enabled airlines to launch new routes to destinations like Seattle and San Francisco. The plan fueled intense debate about congestion versus convenience, with some legislators heralding new flights to their home states while others warned of potential tragedy. The flight that crashed Wednesday was not part of the expansion. It was added by American Airlines in January of last year amid a push by Kansas lawmakers for more service between Reagan National and Wichita.
Airliners and helicopters in close proximity
Commercial aircraft flying in and out of Reagan National have long had to contend with military helicopters traversing the same airspace within at-times startling proximity.
“Even if everybody is doing what they’re supposed to be doing, you’ve only got a few hundred feet separation between aircraft coming in to land and the many helicopters along that route,” said Jim Brauchle, a former U.S. Air Force navigator and aviation attorney. “It doesn’t leave a whole lot margin of error.”
Pilots have long warned of a “nightmare scenario” near the airport with commercial jetliners and military helicopters crossing paths, especially at night when the bright lights of the city can make seeing oncoming aircraft more difficult.
Retired U.S. Army National Guard pilot Darrell Feller said the deadly collision reminded him of a near-miss he experienced a decade ago when he was flying a military helicopter south along the Potomac River near Reagan National.
An air traffic controller advised him to be on the lookout for a jetliner landing on Runway 3-3, an approach that requires planes to fly directly over the route used by military and law enforcement helicopters transiting the nation’s capital.
Not always easy to spot airliners
Feller was unable to pick out the oncoming jetliner against the lights of the city and cars on a nearby bridge. He immediately descended, skimming just 50 feet over the water to ensure the descending jetliner would pass over him.
“I could not see him. I lost him in the city lights,” Feller, who retired from the Army in 2014, recounted Thursday. “It did scare me.”
Feller’s experience was eerily similar to what experts said may have happened with the crew of the Army helicopter Wednesday shortly before 9 p.m. as they flew south along the Potomac and collided with an American Airlines Flight 5342 landing at Runway 3-3.
As the American Airlines jet approached the airport, air traffic controllers asked its pilots if they could land on Runway 3-3 rather than the longer — and busier — north-south runway. The jet’s pilots altered their approach, heading over the east bank of the Potomac before heading back over the river to land on 3-3.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the Army helicopter if it had the American Airlines plane in sight, and the military pilot responded that he did. The controller then instructed the Black Hawk to pass behind the jet. Seconds after that last transmission, the two aircraft collided in a fireball.
Feller, who served as an instructor pilot for the D.C. National Guard, said he had several rules for new pilots to avoid such collisions. He warned them to stay below the mandated 200-foot ceiling for helicopters. And he urged them to be on guard for planes landing on 3-3 because they could be difficult to spot.
Those planes’ “landing lights are not pointed directly at you,” Feller said, adding that those lights also get “mixed up with ground lights, with cars.”
Not the first such deadly crash
Wednesday’s crash was reminiscent of a deadly collision in 1949, when Washington’s airspace was considerably less crowded. A passenger plane on final approach to what is now Reagan Airport collided with a military plane, plunging both aircraft to the Potomac River and killing 55 people. At the time, it was the deadliest air crash in the U.S.
Jack Schonely, a retired Los Angeles Police Department helicopter pilot, said he’s been a passenger on helicopter rides through D.C. and was always struck by how complicated it seems for the pilots.
“You’ve got two large airports. You’ve got multiple restricted areas. You’ve got altitude restrictions. Routine restrictions, and a lot of air traffic,” he said. “There’s a lot going on in a tight area.”
Robert Clifford, an aviation attorney, said the U.S. government should temporarily halt military helicopter flights in the airspace used by commercial airlines near Reagan National.
“I can’t get over how stunningly clear it is that this was a preventable crash and this should never, ever have occurred,” Clifford said. “There have been discussions for some time about the congestion associated with that and the potential for disaster. And we saw it come home last night.”
— Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa. Associated Press journalists Michael R. Sisak and Joseph Frederick in New York, Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.
'This was a disaster waiting to happen': Pilots have long worried about D.C.’s complex airspace
"This was a disaster waiting to happen," said Ross Aimer, a retired United Airlines captain.
Great idea! We could build one in Maryland and call it Andrews Air Force Base. Maybe throw in another in Virginia and call it Fort Belvoir.
Well, what I meant by "further away" wasn't in another State - in the proximity of the current airport but far enough away not to interfere with civilian airlines. But of course, as usual, you take things to the extreme!
Google Maps is your friend. Both Andrews and Fort Belvoir are quite close to DC. DC is tiny. There are no military installations in DC except the Marine barracks at I street, where the guards are housed.Well, what I meant by "further away" wasn't in another State - in the proximity of the current airport but far enough away not to interfere with civilian airlines. But of course, as usual, you take things to the extreme!
The helo in the crash was flying out of Fort Belvoir.