In the last hour, there was a mid air collision between a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by PSA Airlines (operating as American Eagle AA5342 ICT-DCA) and a helicopter (exact type unknown at the time of this post- speculated to be Army or DHS Blackhawk) over the Potomac River just short of runway 33.
A local stationary camera caught the collision and the result was catastrophic.
Hard to makes heads or tails out of that video. Jet arrival on 15 and helicopter passing the Pentagon SW to NE maybe? Makes no sense. That is the most tightly controlled piece of civilian airspace in America.
Awful. Unfortunately I know from direct personal experience exactly how 67 families are feeling right now and will feel in the months to come, and wouldn’t wish that on anyone. God be with the families.
First US Airline fatal crash since Colgan, probably the best run we’ve had in terms of safety. What a horrible shame.
Gut wrenching…
Was the CRJ on a visual approach?
No TCAS resolutions at that altitude.
Could differences between military and civilian procedures have contributed?
The NTSB is going to have their hands full and pressure from all sides, on this one…
Yeah, that’s nothing short of amazing.
An accident like this affects a lot of people, besides the poor souls onboard. Families and friends, ATC involved, recovery personell, investigators and everybody who saw the collision will never forget…
American Airlines flight 5342 was cleared to land at Reagan National Airport moments before the crash, while the Black Hawk helicopter did not respond to warnings. An air traffic controller asked the helicopter, “PAT 2-5, do you have the CRJ in sight?” and then instructed, "PAT 2-5, pass behind the CRJ."
It is very likely that the responses were registered on UHF frequency instead of VHF. The military helicopters often transmit on UHF…so the tower and approach controllers can hear them, but the civilian VHF frequencies cannot hear their replies.
Tragic accident. Very early in the speculation phase…but that airspace is very heavily congested…and there are tons of lights and traffic both near and far going to DCA and Dulles (IAD)…as well as tons of low level government helicopters (Park Police, Military, Coast Guard, State). It wouldn’t surprise me if the Army helicopter (PAT 25) didn’t perhaps see other traffic and became target fixated on it thinking that was the traffic he was going to pass behind. Just a total guess. The low level helicopter river traffic routes have been in place for decades…not a whole lot of reason to deviate from normal procedures.
Yeah… Visual separation in darkness. All you see are the lights. Can’t really tell what type it is and judging distance is much harder. And this in the middle of a city with light all around you.
Also again…wildly early speculation…but the CRJ was circling to land runway 33 from an initial approach to runway 1…that would usually (and did) cause the CRJ to break off to the east and be over the eastern shore of the Potomac River…where he is far more likely to be lost in the lights on that side of the river. I’m wondering if the Blackhawk pilot was looking down the river at following traffic approaching and mis-identified the traffic he was supposed to pass behind. An aircraft coming up the river for the approach to runway 1 would be lit up with all kinds of landing and recog lights and would have been the first and easiest aircraft to spot. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called “traffic in sight” only later to realize I was seeing traffic lined up on a parallel runway. It happens. And at night…judging distance and closure can be extremely difficult.
The accident helicopter’s cut south inside Hains Point seems odd but maybe perfectly normal.
Note also that the RNAV takes you well over the eastern bank (Joint Base Anacostia). If visually circling to 33 from 01, our company charts specifically allow for overflight of that side.
Please listen to the ATC audio @BeachAV8R posted above. The controller’s calm professionalism for the last 5 minutes post-collision is impressive.
If true, the military will probably need to make some changes, at least where ADSB is concerned. Also, visual separation at night is just stupid. We all have known this.
Enough for the CRJ to see it on TCAS, but that’s not the most reliable positional presentation, and at that altitude any RA is inhibited… Would think they got a TA anyway?
TA warnings are inhibited below 300’. And in any case, the airline pilots are focused outside, as they should be. Nothing below the windscreen helps you below 500’ except speed and VSI. This is wholly on the helicopter.
