American Airlines jet collides midair with US Army Black Hawk near Reagan National Airport, D.C.

8:53 pm - near Reagan National Airport
American Airlines Flight 5342, which departed from Wichita, Kansas

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/plane-crash-dca-potomac-washington-dc-01-29-25/index.html?t=1738206614132

 

Search and rescue in Potomac River



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I remember this well.

From the archives: Heroes pull people from icy Potomac after 1982 jet crash
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/from-the-archives-heroes-pull-people-from-icy-potomac-after-1982-jet-crash/3513565/

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> American Airlines says 60 passengers and 4 crew on board
> Black Hawk helicopter had a crew of 3

Reports of possible 4 survivors

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Hopefully this will cause the military to change their policy of turning off ADS-B all the time.

 

This one will not have any happy endings.

 

Another good initial description:

 

Update from Jan Brown:

 

Tower: "Visual Separation Approved"
So the Blackhawk pilot had the responsibility to stay away from other aircraft he claimed to see, in particular the CRJ he was specifically warned about.
And he was supposed to be under 200'. Which he wasn't.
[*** P&R deleted ***]

 

The tower overall was operating on less than 2/3 staffing level. That meant one guy was running rotor wing traffic plus arrivals and departures, the job of 2 guys.

And I am not a pilot but have always been amazed how busy and how crowded airspace over DC is. Then I learn civilian and military operate on 2 different frequencies so anyone flying is only hearing half of the voices up there. Seems to me thats a really stupid policy in such a crowded environment.

There is a lot of blame to go around here.
We wont even go into the idea of night vision training flights in such crowded airspace.

 

With planes on final to runway 33 crossing the river at <400 feet, and a supposed hard ceiling for helicopters of 200' (from what I understand, "hugging" the east bank of the river), that sure doesn't leave a whole lot of margin.

The controller instructed the helo to pass behind the CRJ, which he was told was visually identified by the helo pilot.
In hindsight, could he have instructed the helo to stop or wait until the CRJ cleared the river?
What would a second ATC, just for helos, have done differently?

side note: it always amazes me that all this radio chatter, much of it muffled/garbled and spoken very rapidly, is understood by both the tower and pilots.

The CRJ pilot sounds so young on the radio. He seems to be the one party that did absolutely nothing wrong.
If the altitude shown below are accurate he was descending as he crossed the east bank to 375', then pulled up to 400' at the last transmission.
Maybe both the helo and the CRJ both pulled when they finally saw each other, too late?

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He switched runways early enough that the PSA CRJ did not have to make any sudden moves. Maybe the previous flight took too long to get off the runway, so a change was requested. This happens every day at every airport several times daily. That was not the reason for the accident, and as far as I can see ATC did nothing wrong. The Blackhawk crew did not follow ATC instructions. That has nothing to do with staffing levels in the tower.

 

The argument can certainly be made that approved staffing levels could have provided closer supervision to 2 aircraft on a collision course and one not following flight level guidance. That is an argument that will get 64 families a large payday in a future court case and rightfully so. I cannot wait to watch the TV coverage.

 

I remember it also. True heroes.

 

The helo appears to make a late, hard right turn which put him on the final collision course. If he had continued along the eastern shoreline he'd have passed safely, if not exactly comfortably, behind the CRJ.
The resolution of the flight tracker isn't high enough to judge where exactly he made this fateful turn, but he was cooking along! At 113kt / 130mph there was very little time for one or two ATCs to have recognized the deadly implications of the helo's late turn and called for evasive action by either craft.
Maybe Elon will get "full self-flying" in all planes, since it works so perfectly in Teslas


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They will sue everyone involved no matter if at fault or not. The night vision goggle makers will get a Subpoena!! That actually could have contributed, but the person who told them to use them will be pointed out.

 

No question they will but if you are operating at under 2/3s ATCs and they bang into each other and a bunch of people die......you are defenseless.

Several will properly pay and that will be one very high on the list. Army better leave room in the budget too. They'll be top of the list.

Despite piloting issues taxpayers pay a lot to keep planes from hitting each other and the people responsible for it did not do their job.If pilots were perfect the ATCs would not have a job. They are not and we know that. In shooting we have 3 basic rules for safe gun handling. Violate any one and you get embarrassed. Violate 2 and someone can die. That night at least 2 rules got broken.

 

Dark night. Multiple aircraft in air. Tons of background lights, static and moving, in urban area, the ATC 'should have' IMO said "CRJ approaching FROM YOUR LEFT at 350 ft"
(to be sure helo pilot was looking at the 'correct' aircraft)

There is some speculation that the helo pilot did NOT identify the CRJ to his left, but a different aircraft. How/why would he collide with an aircraft he had eyes on?
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The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane while on final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn't the helicopter go up or down, or turn

the blackhawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot. it was far above the 200 foot limit. that’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???

 

????? not following that statement at all.

Actually, if pilots were perfect there would be a >95% reduction in aviation accidents.

 

New vid/angle - CLEAR AS DAY



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There was another near miss between a helicopter from the same squadron and a Southwest flight 24 hours before... the reality is that the airline crew did nothing wrong, the helicopter crew was arguably at fault for a) flying too high, and b) saying (or implying) that they could maintain visual separation with the traffic. However, at the end of the day, this was a systemic problem-- they should never have been that close in the first place.

The FAA has now closed those helicopter routes altogether.

 

Better late than never.......

 

Heard an Army helicopter pilot interviewed on the radio. According to her in the Gulf flying with night vision their hard deck was 300 AGL. Here in a crowded area with a lot of background visual clutter they are limited to below 200?